BRINGING the glamour of Hollywood to Dartmoor later this month will be the Chagford Film Festival which will include a visit from the world’s smallest solar-powered cinema.

Sol Cinema will be visiting the festival for the first time with their miniscule movie theatre. The little cinema is powered by batteries, which store the sun’s energy via a solar panel.

In the run-up to Chagford Film Festival, the Sol Cinema will be gathering sunshine into its 550ah batteries meaning the projector, lights, computers and sound system will all be run entirely on renewable energy.

Some of the other events occuring during the five-day festival in September include a visit by pre-eminent book artist Alan Lee, who put aside his book work to concentrate on Peter Jackson’s The Lords of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies, and will be having lunch with guests to share anecdotes and answer questions about his career.

Along with John Howe, Alan Lee was a lead concept artist for Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy and was recruited by director Guillermo del Toro in 2008 for continuity of design in the subsequent The Hobbit films. Lee remained as lead concept artists when Mr del Toro left The Hobbit and Peter Jackson took over the reins of the project.

Renowned filmmaker Kevin MacDonald and award-winning cameraman Chris Vile will also hold their own lunch events during the festival.

Kevin MacDonald is the director of The Last King of Scotland, State of Play and Touching the Void while Chris Vile has shot documentaries for the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Discovery, National Geographic and the History Channel.

In 2005 he won an Emmy Award for ‘The Crusades, The Crescent and the Cross’ and last year his documentary ‘Pompeii: Life and Death in a Roman Town’ was nominated for a BAFTA.

Neil Tappenden from Visit Chagford, the town’s destination marketing organisation said: ‘Chagford Film Festival brings the glamour of Hollywood to Dartmoor and is a great reason to visit with an exciting mix of films, brilliant events and workshops, presented by top industry professionals.’

Moray Bowater, the managing director of the event’s main sponsor, said: ‘We have seen this festival grow in both the quality of what’s on offer and the audience it has attracted. It is a fantastic event for both visitors and the local community alike, we are very proud to be involved and wish the team every success.’

Chairman of the festival Mary French said Chagford was different.

‘Most festivals are either arty, focused on foreign movies or just there to sell films — but we are quirky,’ she added.

‘To quote Gareth Unwin, the Oscar winning director of the King’s Speech, it is “the best little film festival” he had ever attended.’

The festival runs from September 21 to September 26. For more information visit www.chagfordfilm festival.com