JUST like the travelling showmen of old bringing spectacular imagery and wonderful stories, Flicks in the Sticks is promising to dazzle rural audiences this autumn with over 200 screenings in 60 community venues in Shropshire and Herefordshire.

Ian Kerry, pioneer of the award-winning scheme, said last year's audience figures of 17,000 for a total of 350 screenings demonstrated a big interest in cinema in rural areas.

"This year we wanted to try something different, and give local promoters the opportunity to choose from a really wide selection of films with some special events as well."

For the autumn season there are Oscar winning and multi-nominated blockbusters like the musical Chicago, Roman Polanski's Holocaust epic The Pianist, and the first two Lord of the Rings films.

There are British gems with smaller marketing budgets that may have not had such wide exposure but have delighted audiences, such as Mrs Caldicott's Cabbage War, Last Orders and Shane Meadows' Once Upon a Time in the Midlands.

Classics like Lawrence of Arabia, A Town Like Alice, and The Last Picture Show also feature.

For children there's the Disney animation Treasure Planet, the original Jungle Book, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets, Johnny English starring the irrepressible Rowan Atkinson and The Wild Thornberrys.

Special treats to come recall the magic of the early days of cinema with live musical accompaniment to three silent classics: two Buster Keaton films, The General and the equally funny Sherlock Junior: and the elegiac but little known People on Sunday.