CITY Screen, York, is to present a season of folk and fairy tale films as one of 23 Picturehouse cinemas playing host to this retrospective for adults and children alike.

The Enchanted Screen season launches on Sunday with the midday screening of The Red Shoes, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s unsurpassed 1948 British reinvention of the sinister Hans Christian Andersen classic, and will run until Christmas.

The season will feature 20 classic and modern titles from around the world, with choices ranging from such family favourites as Shrek and Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs, on its 80th anniversary, to the dark thrills of Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth and The Company Of Wolves. Home-grown triumphs, such as the aforementioned The Red Shoes and The Box Of Delights, will be showcased alongside the best of world cinema, from East Germany’s The Singing Ringing Tree to Japan’s The Tale Of The Princess Kaguya.

Dr Deborah Allison, senior programmer and event cinema manager at Picturehouse Cinemas, has taken the curatorial lead on selecting the Enchanted Screen season. "There’s something about fairy tales that chimes with all the best things about Christmas," she says. "They radiate the cosy glow of childhood, family and nostalgia, while kindling magic, wonderment, hope and joy.

"But it’s worth remembering these traditional tales were never just meant for kids. Many also feature the dark thrills that make ghost stories an equally popular Yuletide ritual. In that respect, this programme is a sequel to our winter 2016 season, A Warning To The Curious."

The films will be shown in City Screen's various screening strands, led off by Vintage Sundays, which puts "classic films back on the big screen where they belong".

This Sunday, Moira Shearer, Anton Walbrook and Marius Goring star in the digitally restored ballet film The Red Shoes, long championed by American director Martin Scorsese, for whom it has been a great inspiration since childhood days.

York Press:

Pan's Labyrinth, showing in the Enchanted Screen season at City Screen, York, on November 28

Fusing glamour, backstage detail and dance sequences into an audacious, intoxicating melodrama about the competing claims of life and art, it introduced the young Scottish ballerina Moira Shearer, whose flaming red hair became a dominant visual motif. The film survived damning reviews and producer betrayal to take its place as a milestone in film history as possibly Technicolor’s finest hour.

The Red Shoes will be followed by Jean Cocteau's La Belle et la Bête (France, 1950) on November 19; The Tale Of The Princess Kaguya (Japan, 2013), November 26; The Company Of Wolves (UK, 1984), December 3; Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs (USA, 1937), December 10, and The Singing Ringing Tree (East Germany, 1957), December 17. First shown on British television in mini-series form in the black-and-white 1960s, Francesco Stefani's work is said to be even more stunning in colour.

Discover Tuesdays presents Pan’s Labyrinth (Mexico/Spain/USA, 2006) on November 28 and Tale Of Tales (Italy/France/UK, 2015), December 12; the Culture Shock programme welcomes Labyrinth (UK/USA, 1986) on November 13 and Edward Scissorhands (USA, 1990), starring Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder and Vincent Price, on December 11.

The Kids' Club, for children and their parents or carers, shows Frozen (USA, 2013) and the new festive mini-feature Olaf's Frozen Adventure (USA, 2017) on November 25; The Princess And The Frog (USA, 2009), December 2; Shrek (USA, 2001), December 9, and Enchanted (USA, 2007). Toddler Time, for pre-school children and their parents or carers, has a double bill of Julia Donaldson's The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo's Child on December 15 at 11.30am.

The Screen Arts showcase, "bringing the best arts content to the big screen", presents the Royal Opera House in ROH Live: The Nutcracker, on December 5 and the season also gives a special screening to the six-part BBC television series The Box Of Delights (UK, 1984) on December 2 at midday.

Tickets for Picturehouse Presents The Enchanted Screen: A Season of Folk and Fairy Tale Films at City Screen, York, can be booked on 0871 902 5726 or at picturehouses.com/cinema/York_Picturehouse. You can discover more about the full programme at picturehouses.com/EnchantedScreen

To support the season, Picturehouse Cinemas has produced a 72-page colour booklet featuring new writing by a range of scholars and critics, alongside an essay by Britain’s pre-eminent fairy-tale expert, Professor Dame Marina Warner. Complimentary copies will be offered to Enchanted Screen ticket holders while stocks last.