An annual celebration of real-life storytelling held special significance as it marked its 20th year on the Suffolk coast in the company of acclaimed filmmakers, expert commentators and a veteran projectionist.

Aldeburgh Cinema thronged on opening night of a three-day programme packed with premieres, special appearances and discussion.

Among the guests were BAFTA-nominated actress and festival artistic director Diana Quick, who was among a list of after-screening Q&A hosts for the weekend, also presented by broadcaster Libby Purves and journalist Isabel Hilton.

This year’s Aldeburgh Documentary Festival featured the British Premiere of Natural Resistance, which follows four winemakers in Tuscany, Lessons in Dissent, about Hong Kong’s generation of young activists, and A Life Illuminated, charting the career of Neville Parry, who retired aged 80 in 2013 after more 40 years as Aldeburgh Cinema projectionist.

The film, made by Suffolk New College media tutor Jon Saward, with support from acclaimed broadcaster Humphrey Burton, was one of many to play to packed audiences at the festival, set up in 1995 by Felicity Ann Sieghart.

Meanwhile, multi-award-winning documentarian Roger Graef was presented the Aldeburgh Documentary Festival Lifetime Achievement Award for his five decades of acclaimed work.