Excitement is building about the second Wells Film Festival which takes place next month.

Tickets went on sale on January 21 and Joolz Saunders, of Screen-next-the-Sea, which organises the event, said there has been a lot of interest.

She said: 'Ticket sales have been going well. We had between 400 and 450 people at the first festival last year and expect there to be a few more this year.

'We didn't expect to be running the festival again so quickly to be honest but people wanted it to happen so we've had a committee working this year's festival pretty much as soon as the last one ended.

'We've put a great programme together, with a real mixture of films and people are responding well.'

The festival takes place at The Granary Theatre between March 1 and March 3 and has a 'best of British' theme. It will feature films set in the UK and made by British directors.

The festival begins with the 2010 coming-of-age movie Submarine, set in Swansea, at 2.30pm, followed by the BAFTA-winning drama Tyrannosaur, shot in Leeds and Wakefield, at 7.30pm.

The three films lined up for the Saturday are the 2012 thriller, Shadow Dancer, set in Belfast; Ken Loach's 2012 comedy drama, The Angels' Share (Glasgow); and Peace and Conflict, Tony Britten's drama documentary about the Norfolk schooldays of Benjamin Britten.

This was set at Gresham's School, which the composer attended in the late-1920s, and several of the young actors cast as characters were present-day pupils when the location cameras rolled at Holt a while back.

Among those chosen to perform were 18-year-old former Gresham's student Chris Theobald, from Wells, who was cast as the future traitor and Soviet spy, Donald Maclean.

Film-maker Tony Britten is to lead a question-and-answer session at 2.30pm before his film is shown.

There will also be a whiskey-tasting session for all festival ticket-holders, prior to the showing of Angel's Share, a film about whisky. This will be conducted by Lee Newstead of Adnams at Holkham.

The programme for the last day will include the festival's patron and Oscar winner Kevin Brownlow presenting a medley of documentaries at 11am.

Mr Brownlow received his honorary Academy award in 2010 for his role in preserving precious film and cinema history, especially the heritage of the silent movies era.

At 2.30pm Sally Potter's 1992 drama/romance Orlando, featuring Blenheim Palace and nearby Woodstock will be shown and the Battersea-set 1963 comedy, The Wrong Arm of the Law, starring Peter Sellers will be screened at 6pm.

A Festival Club will open again daily during the three days from 10am, and the Wells Action for Fairtrade group will be organising soup and rolls at lunchtimes.

For more information and tickets call 07900 316606 or go to www.wells-cinema.com