Drama students are busy swotting up on everything from extraterrestrials to great white sharks for this year's Oxford Mail film festival.

The pupils at Cheney School in Headington, Oxford, are exploring the themes of such blockbuster movies as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, ET: The Extra-Terrestrial, Duel and Jaws, to coincide with our Steven Spielberg Season next month.

The festival, which is being co-organised with the Phoenix Picturehouse, in Walton Street, Oxford, celebrates Spielberg's best work.

And according to Ken Palmer, a teacher in English and Drama at Cheney: "Only last week I sat with 30 Year 10 students and asked them their earliest film memory.

"Quietly, from the back, a voice echoed E.T. and a chorus of 'E.T. phone home' rang out."

He added: "The beauty with Spielberg is that he has moved all of us, from the magic of Close Encounters, to the examination of the Holocaust in Schindler's List."

James Naylor, president of the Oxford Film Foundation, said the festival should attract university students. He added: "Students want to see great films, and this is why a Spielberg festival is such a good idea."

Meanwhile, Spielberg expert and broadcaster James Clarke, author of The Pocket Essentials: Steven Spielberg, and a lecturer at the University of Sussex, said: "I think it's wonderful that the Oxford Mail is giving people the chance to see some of his best films.

"And what a great way to get ready for his new film this summer - Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull."

The Spielberg Season will run from Friday, May 16, to Thursday, May 22, at the Phoenix cinema. Tickets - normally £7.50 - will be half price (£3.75) if you present a coupon from that day's Oxford Mail to the Phoenix box office.

For further details, call Jeremy Smith at the Oxford Mail on 01865 425435, visit www.oxfordmail.co.uk/whatson/cinema/spielbergfilmfestival or call the cinema on 0871 704 2062.

ACTING legend John Hurt is set to appear at the UK charity premiere of The Oxford Murders in Oxford tomorrow.

The actor - famous for roles in Alien and Midnight Express - is due to attend an invite-only reception at The Randolph Hotel, in Beaumont Street, at 6.30pm. Afterwards, he is due to give a short introduction to the film at the Odeon cinema in Magdalen Street. A limited number of tickets are available.

Scenes from The Oxford Murders, which also stars The Lord of the Rings star Elijah Wood, left, were filmed in the city last year. The event is raising funds for the NSPCC.

For ticket information, call 01865 723911.