The Cornwall Film Festival returns in 2017 with the theme of Discovery, exploring ideas through film culture, opening up new possibilities to rethink personal and political spaces and investigating new meeting points in film.

With masterclasses, ten speakers, director Q&A’s and an international film programme alongside home grown talent, the festival invites audiences to discover a wealth of new experiences.

Starting at 10am on the Saturday with a showcase of local filmmaking talent from the 2017 Cornwall Film Festival Short Film Competition, followed by the 2017 Official Selection and Competition Winners, with national and international filmmaking talent on show.

Saturday's afternoon feature is The Florida Project by Sean Baker, a candyfloss-coloured drama about life in a motel just outside Disneyland, starring Willem Dafoe and with an incredible central performance by six-year-old Brooklynn Prince. That will be followed by The Party, British director and screenwriter Sally Potter’s political comedy wrapped around a tragedy about a dinner party gone very wrong.

On Saturday evening there will be a gala event, featuring an awards presentation with Falmouth University Film & Television School and the regional premier of The Square, winner of the 2017 Palme d’Or at Cannes and Sweden’s nomination for the 2017 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. The film is a thrillingly weird study of an art gallery director whose life goes into meltdown after his mobile phone is stolen.

On Sunday the afternoon feature is Wilderness, filmed and written in Cornwall. Writer Neil Fox will talk about the story of John, a touring jazz musician who has never met a woman like Alice, and their urgent and physical love. That will be followed by another regional premier, for The Killing of a Sacred Deer, a psychological thriller-horror film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, in which eminent surgeon Steven bonds with a fatherless 16 year-old, but things turn sinister after he introduces the boy to his family.

For documentary lovers, Even When I Fall, shown on Saturday transforms individual experiences into a thoughtful, wide-ranging piece focusde on the importance of education at Circus Kathmandu – Nepal’s first and only circus. Viewers will be joined by Cornish born co-director Sky Neal.

There will be a local documentary double bill on Sunday morning, with The Last Fisherman featuring Malcolm, at 70 years old the last man on the Rame Peninsula to fish with handmade pots, a wooden boat and nets. That will be screened with The Yukon Assignment, a breathtaking exploration of one of the Earth’s last wildernesses and the story of how adventure can sometimes bring us together, irrespective of age.

God’s Own Country, shown on Sunday afternoon, has been picking up awards left and right, and tells the story of Johnny Saxby, a taciturn young man, who lives on a failing Yorkshire farm with his father and grandmother. Ahead of the screening Patrick Gale, author of the new BBC drama, Man in an Orange Shirt, will be on stage to discuss the impact of the Gay Britannia season and the importance of queer content on screen in 21st century Britain.

There will also be a Cultivator Film Cluster Masterclass from industry expert Samantha Horley discussing How to Make a Film the Market Wants, a free camera skills workshop thank to the European Social Fund, and a vloggers workshop.

The festival will finish with the rousing, crowd-pleasing Patti Cake$, featuring Danielle Macdonald in a breakout role as an indomitable, if unorthodox, aspiring rapper.

The festival returns to The Poly on November 11 and 12. Festival tickets are available at thepoly.org from £6.50 for adults. Passes for Saturday are £35, Sunday costs £25, and weekend passes will be £50.