A WEEKEND of events and screenings got under way last night with the gala opening of Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival 2011.

The main event was the UK premiere of I Am Nasrine, a feature film directed by Tyneside-based Tina Gharavi. But there are plenty of other highlights today and tomorrow.

As far as the film screenings go, there is an alternative look to the programme as befits a festival offering something different.

Neil Jordan’s fantasy The Company of Wolves is what happens when two people with vivid imaginations get stuck into the tale of Little Red Riding Hood.

The 1984 release is Jordan’s adaptation of a book by Angela Carter, a celebrated spinner of fantastical and magical yarns.

It has an 18 certificate. This is not the telling of the time-honoured tale that would make for happy bedtime reading in the nursery, as you will see if you attend tonight’s 9pm screening at The Maltings.

Azur & Asmar: The Princes’ Quest, on the other hand, could be just what the youngsters are looking for.

It is billed as a fairytale fantasy featuring two princes who grow up together but then become rivals as they strive to rescue a legendary fairy.

It is the creation of French writer and animator Michel Ocelot. First screened to acclaim at the Cannes film festival, it has been a family favourite ever since.

Released in 2006 with a U certificate, it has been dubbed into English. A critic suggested that it represented family entertainment so gloriously bright that audiences might need shades.

It is being screened at The Maltings today at 1.30pm.

At 7.30pm tonight there’s the chance to sample the cinema of nearly a century ago when a silent film, The Blue Bird, is screened with live musical accompaniment.

Maurice Tourneur’s film, released in America in 1918, tells the magical tale of Mytyl and Tyltyl, two poor children who are led by a fairy, Berylune, into fantastical lands in search of the blue bird of happiness.

The accompaniment will be supplied by Carl Heslop on the Compton organ which he found abandoned in Berwickshire and restored to its original glory.

Nine mini films will be screened at 3.30pm today under the heading Tall Tales & Short Stories.