The Palace is delighted to again be one of the venues for Ramsgate’s annual celebration of film, now in its 9th edition.
Book tickets for both events via Ramsgate International Film & TV Festival website (not the Palace!) – here
Is Folkestone the Birthplace of Television? (U) + Director Q&A
Sunday 29 March 4-5pm
World premiere of new short documentary Is Folkestone the Birthplace of Television? (UK 2026, 6min) by Kent writer and filmmaker Ben Barton exploring a little-known chapter in the origins of television. Beginning with a forgotten plaque in Folkestone, it follows a trail left behind by television pioneer John Logie Baird and asks: where did the first-ever TV transmission actually take place? This special event also features early archival material.
Closing Gala: The First Film (PG) + Intro
Sunday 29 March 5.30-8pm
Special 10th anniversary screening of a fascinating and entertaining journey to the very beginnings of cinema. The First Film (Dir David Wilkinson, UK 2016, 110min) begins by asserting the commonly held understanding that the first images ever captured on film are the workers leaving a factory in Lyon, shot in 1895 using the Cinématographe camera by Louis Lumière. The oldest surviving film in existence, however, is actually Roundhay Garden Scene, shot by another Frenchman, Louis Le Prince, in Leeds in 1888.Why should history have favoured the Lumieres?
As he explores original locations and interviews experts, Wilkinson is a wonderful, affable tour guide on a voyage of discovery into the parallel experiments of the Lumieres and Le Prince, Edison in the US and more. This eye opening documentary veers from personal crusade to detective story, always with a playful spring in its step. Anybody interested in the beginnings of the cinema will find this a fascinating and rewarding watch.
Directors: Ben Barton & David Wilkinson
Starring: Various
Year: 2026 & 2016
Language: In English
Country: UK
Running time: 1hr + 2hrs 30mins (including onstage presentations)