Our celebrity ambassadors help programme the 2019 Into Film Festival

For this year's Into Film Festival, we decided to do things a little differently and invite our celebrity ambassadors to choose their favourite children's films to be added to the official programme.

Check out their brilliant choices below and book now to attend screenings of their chosen films at the Festival. Take young people to make the most of a rare opportunity to see some classic films on the big screen - films that inspired some of our finest working actors today. What's more, some of the films chosen are showing in the actors' own home towns, giving the screenings an extra special personal touch.

Naomie Harris - The Sound of Music

"What I love most about this beautiful, classic musical, unbelievably now over 50 years old, is that it never fails to transport me to a time and place where anything is possible and it still makes me laugh, fondly. I think the film has stood the test of time because it contains some important life lessons that are still relevant today, about being a free spirit, having faith in your dreams, the power of good over evil and that love can transform people. The Sound of Music still brings me joy on a rainy Sunday afternoon, a chance to escape to another time and place where I can be found singing along with all those familiar Rodgers and Hammerstein songs, wishing I was another member of the eccentric Von Trapp family!"

Sir Kenneth Branagh - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

"When I was seven I was hypnotised by this film. Fantastical house with an amazing kitchen and a contraption - that looked like a giant version of the board game mousetrap - delivering your breakfast, a flying car and the scariest of movie villains. Big music, big colour, big screen - and funny! I came out of the cinema in love with movies"

Rhys Ifans - Oliver! 

"One of my all-time favourite films"

Katie Leung - Moana

"Moana the protagonist empowers me to no end with her curiosity, courage and hope as she goes on her journey of self-discovery and identity, and I wish she had been around when I was a young girl as she would no doubt have been a huge source of inspiration and important role model growing up".

Matthew Rhys - E.T. 

"This was the first film I ever saw in the cinema. For many reasons, I'm glad it was. That first experience was and still is so enormously vivid. Of course, I may be biased but I think ET might be the perfect film for a first time visit to the cinema...especially if you're seven. The film I think has every exponent that a film should have....an incredible narrative, suspense, thrilling peril that is enormously emotional. But most of all, it has true magic. Which is what every trip to the cinema should potentially have. Let alone your first!".

Ruby Barnhill - Howl's Moving Castle

"I've been watching this film since I was 4 years old and have always loved the beauty of the animation and the imaginative storyline. It makes you feel almost every kind of emotion while watching and has always been one of my go-to films".

Celyn Jones - E.T.

"This film is all from the child's perspective - while the adults are silhouettes or archetypes (apart from the mum), the kids are fully rounded characters. It's about a boy dealing with the divorce of his parents and the only thing that can fill the hole his dad has left is - as Spielberg says - something as extraordinary as an extra-terrestrial! It's a classic that moves me to this day!"

What would you choice be and is it part of this year's programme? Make sure to check out the huge range of events available and get booking soon so you don't miss out!