FILM / Festivals: Crime and fantasy

The traditional summer flurry of regional film festivals is already under way. The Southampton Film Festival kicked off yesterday and continues until 17 June, while further north Shots in the Dark - billed as 'Britain's only crime and mystery festival' - begins in Nottingham next Thursday (10 June) and runs until 20 June.

'Fantasy Film' is the predominant theme in Southampton and the two-week programme ranges from screenings of cult TV classics first seen in the Sixties and Seventies (one of a series of themed mini-seasons) to computer art and animation.

Shots in the Dark's programme is the biggest ever and includes a lighthearted 'Comic Crime' season with films such as The Ladykillers, Night and the City and Crazy Mama; the first UK retrospective of actor Harvey Keitel and a 'Femmes Fatales' season which includes Double Indemnity, Body Heat, Final Analysis, Basic Instinct and the British premiere of The Assassin, Hollywood's remake of La Femme Nikita. There's also the annual crime-writing convention, 'Shots on the Page', with Sara Paretsky.

Independent readers are offered a selection of free tickets for both of these festivals:

The Southampton Film Festival offers three pairs of free tickets to readers (strictly one pair per person) for each of the films in the mini-seasons mentioned below. For Jazz on a Summer's Weekend: Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Jazz in the Forties which are screened tomorrow. Then Miles and Bird - The Sound of Jazz, Bean and Hawk, Bandstand Jazz (Sun 6 Jun). For the Cult TV Classics season: Gerry Anderson 60s TV Specials, Gerry Anderson 70s Double Bill, Super 60s TV (Sat 12 Jun) and More Super 60s TV and Even More Super 60s TV (Sun 13 Jun). In the Terror and Beyond series: Night of the Living Dead, Bad Taste (Sat 12 Jun) and Frankenstein Unbound, Return of the Living Dead (Sun 13 Jun). To claim your tickets take this page to the North Guild box office, Civic Centre, Southampton (0703 632601).

Shots in the Dark offers a pair of tickets to the first five readers to come to the Festival box office today for the following events: a screening of Alfred Hitchcock's The Lodger and Buster Keaton's Sherlock Junior (Sun 13 Jun); Breakfast with Quentin Tarantino and a screening of Reservoir Dogs (Sun 20 Jun); a screening of Dust Devil directed by Richard Stanley (Mon 14 Jun). The box office is open from 5pm until next Thursday and then from 1pm at Broadway, the Nottingham Media Centre, Broad St, Nottingham (0602 526611). All offers are subject to availability.