THE Ocean Film Festival World Tour is returning to the UK this autumn, bringing an evening of inspirational, even jaw-dropping ocean-themed films to almost thirty venues across the UK.

And the good news is, the festival is coming to Malvern Theatres.

A spokesman said: "The event, which originates in Australia, features a brand-new selection of the world’s best ocean-themed short films, with action and spell-binding footage from both above and below the water’s surface.

"The 2017 film programme sees intrepid freedivers explore haunting shipwrecks, nomadic sailors face the icy waters of Antarctica, and features awe-inspiring marine life such as humpback wales and the endangered Giant Pacific Mantaray."

Tour director, Nell Teasdale added: "We’re delighted to be bringing the Ocean Film Festival World Tour back to Worcestershire audiences for the fourth year running.

“Featuring incredible cinematography, the films capture the raw beauty and power of the ocean, while celebrating an eclectic and fascinating mix of characters who live for the sea’s salt spray.”

Highlights from the 2017 Ocean Film Tour include Sea Gypsies.

Infinity and her crew are about to embark on an extraordinary voyage: 8,000 miles from New Zealand to Patagonia, taking in the intimidating iceberg-strewn waters of Antarctica along the way.

And just as this is no ordinary journey, this is no ordinary ship with no ordinary sailors. Infinity was built by hand in the 1970s and lacks some of the usual reinforcements considered necessary for such an extreme expedition. That doesn’t deter her crew: a handful of free-spirited nomads, brought together by a love of the open sea and the search for freedom.

Whale Chasers begins "high on the rugged cliffs above New Zealand’s Cook Strait".

The spokesman added: "This motley collection of men in their 70s and 80s are keeping watch for humpback whales as part of the Cook Strait Whale Count – a study into the recovery of New Zealand’s humpback population since the end of New Zealand whaling in 1964.

"It’s tiring but rewarding work, but there’s a reason that the volunteers are so good at the job. Not only are they descendants of New Zealand’s 200-year history of whaling, they were all once whalers themselves."

Fish People is about "the transformative effects of time spent in the ocean—and how we can leave our limitations behind to find deeper meaning in the saltwater wilderness that lies just beyond the shore".

Ocean Film Festival will be screening at Malvern Theatres on Friday October 13. Tickets are on sale at the Box Office 01684 892277 and online at malvern-theatres.co.uk