It was a sell-out success for Bridport's film festival, From Page To Screen, with packed audiences and special events.

It returned to town after two years with 21 screenings over five days and brought cinematic classics from the 1920s to the 2020s to more than 1,500 film fans.

Guest curator Edith Bowman had waited more than two years to join the festival in person to share her selection of soundtrack-driven films.

Chosen to represent each decade of the past century of cinema, it started with Hitchcock's early silent gem, The Lodger - with a live piano accompaniment, arranged and played by Bridport Art Centre's director Mick Smith - and culminated in Spencer, acclaimed for its dramatic compositions by Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood.

Edith hosted film introductions as well as post screening interviews with Tom Littledyke after Flee and Mark Hix after Boiling Point.

In response to Flee's powerful depiction of an Afghani refugee's experience of escape, Tom Littledyke shared with her the inside story of his two trips carrying humanitarian aid from his Marshwood Vale pub, The Shave Cross Inn, to displaced Ukrainians. Local restaurateur Mark Hix spoke candidly with Edith after Boiling Point's single take portrait of a night in a professional kitchen, about his concerns for the hospitality industry.

Edith said: "Thanks to the Bridport film festival committee for having me help curate, what I felt, was a fabulous programme that allowed me to share my passion for soundtracks, to enthuse about great storytelling and important storytelling that can encourage us all to think about our actions and how we live our life, and to remind us how cinema encourages us to escape.

"Thank you also to the wonderful people of Bridport and those who travelled to watch the films and listen to the chats, you made me feel so very welcome. I hope I can come back again soon but know that you live in a very special place and the film festival is something you should be extremely proud of."

There was a special event for families at the Lyric Theatre's screening of Disney's original 1940 version of Pinocchio.

The Lyric is home to Stuff and Nonsense Theatre Company, which is on a national tour with its own interpretation of the iconic Italian story, but for one afternoon it was transformed back into the town cinema it was from 1912 5o 1962. After the film, children could make their own puppets with Stuff and Nonsense's Holly Miller.

Holly said: "It was wonderful to have a lively young audience back in the Lyric after the constraints of the past two years, and to see all their brilliant puppet creations set off out the door was a joy."

Bridport Arts Centre director, Mick Smith, closed the festival after his performance at The Lodger.

He said: "It's been fantastic to see From Page To Screen filling Bridport Arts Centre with such enthusiastic audiences - and selling out at the Electric Palace for the opening night's showing of Operation Mincemeat.

"Our sponsors Arts University Bournemouth, The Film Society and Cilla & Camilla have made the event possible once again. And the support we have from the town is phenomenal, supporters like Clocktower Music, The Book Shop and Fruits of the Earth really help to make this Bridport's film festival."

The festival's raffle raised more than £450 for the Disasters Emergency Committee's Ukraine and Afghanistan Appeals.