ALAN Latham, one of the producers of the deliciously eccentric comedy drama Sometimes Always Never, will introduce Saturday's 8.30pm screening at City Screen, York.

"After the film ends, we shall be retiring to the Riverside Bar for a celebratory drink, open to any cinemagoers to join us," says City Screen marketing manager Dave Taylor. "We consider this to be a local premiere of the film, thanks to the involvement of the North Yorkshire production company Highfield Grange Studios, previously known as GSP Studios, at Bubwith, near Selby."

The studios at Highfield Grange and local areas were used as locations for shooting the film, which also was filmed around Yorkshire and Liverpool and amid Antony Gormley's Another Place sculptures on Crosby Beach in Merseyside.

City Screen will be showing Sometimes Always Never (12A) from Friday in an initial week-long run for Carl Hunter's debut film starring Bill Nighy, Jenny Agutter, Sam Riley, Alice Lowe and Tim McInnerny.

Based on the short story Triple Word Score by scriptwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce, it tells the story of a family that has an exceptional Scrabble vocabulary but cannot communicate with each other.

York Press:

WORD GAMES: Sam Riley and Bill Nighy in Sometimes Always Never

Nighy plays the father, Alan, a tailor in his sixties, who, like everyone his life, has been touched by a bit of tragedy (one of his sons went missing in his late teens), and disappointment (he has a very distant relationship with his other son and his grandson). Unlike most people, however, Alan believes that all this can be put right.

Monstrously insensitive, Alan barges into his adult son’s home and life, trying to make everyone have more fun, while at the same time being utterly oblivious to the hurt and chaos he causes. He coerces his grandson into playing Scrabble for money; he acquires a new girlfriend; he becomes obsessed with the idea that his missing son can be found and is communicating to him through online word games.

The odd thing is that although he is a monster, the people around him really are becoming happier and more self confident, but can Alan make himself happier too? Can he find his missing son?

Spanning 91 minutes, Sometimes Always Never is described as "intriguing, odd, warm and funny and so much more than a play on words". City Screen will have screenings at 12.45pm and 6pm on Friday; 1.20pm and 8.30pm, Saturday; 12 noon and 5.20pm, Sunday; 2.05pm and 6.40pm, Monday; 1.15pm, Tuesday; 1.20pm and 8.35pm, Wednesday, and 6pm, Thursday. Tickets are on sale on 0871 902 5747 or at picturehouses.com/.