Promotional feature: If you’re looking for an alternative to big budget blockbusters, and want a unique and rewarding cinema experience this Easter, why not head to The Roses Theatre who are showing a short season of little seen masterpieces that present a child’s eye view of the world.

The season was inspired by critic and film maker Mark Cousins’ new documentary, ‘A Story of Children and Film’, which kicks of the season with a special preview screening and Q&A ahead of its nationwide cinema release next month.

Dubbed ‘The Cinema of Childhood’, these are not children’s films, but enchanting fable like stories with plucky young protagonists that can be enjoyed by a wide age range.

Roses Film Programmer Patrick Bliss said: “I defy anyone not to be charmed by the simplicity and timelessness of these stories. Mark Cousins is one of the UK’s most insightful and engaging film critics, and once you are let into this new world, you will want to see every film he mentions - and that’s just fine with us, as we will be showing many more of them through the year.”

A Story of Children and Film (March 31 7.30pm), follows the landmark 15-part TV series A Story of Film: An Odyssey, to explore childhood on screen in more detail. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with producer Adam Dawtrey, who, incidentally, spent most of his own childhood in Tewkesbury.

On Tuesday April 8 at 6.30pm you will have the opportunity to be among the first people in the UK to see a new restoration of lost American classic Little Fugitive, which will be having its UK Premiere at the Roses. The acclaimed story of a boy who runs away from the fairground when he is tricked into thinking that he has killed his older brother, it effortlessly captures a childlike sense of wonderment and fear and its use of handheld cameras and editing techniques were a large influence on the French New Wave, most notably The 400 Blows.

Finally, Willow and Wind, showing Tuesday April 22 at 6.30pm, is an Iranian fable about a boy who breaks a school window and must mend it himself before he is allowed back into class. With a script by Iranian master Abbas Kiarostami, this simple quest becomes a race against time.

More titles will be announced later in the year.

For more information on these screenings you can either visit The Roses website: www.rosestheatre.org or you can ring The Roses box office on: 01684 295074.