A SELECTION of this year's best ocean-themed short films will be screened at a special event in Abingdon.

The two-hour screening, which will take place at Abingdon School's Amey Theatre on Tuesday, is part of The Ocean Film Festival World Tour that is making its way around the UK throughout September and October, visiting almost 30 venues.

The festival is returning to Abingdon for a second year, for its only stop in Oxfordshire.

Each year the event, which originated in Australia, features a 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 majestic marine life such as humpback whales and the endangered Giant Pacific Manta Ray.

Tour director Nell Teasdale said: “We’re delighted to be bringing the Ocean Film Festival World Tour back to UK 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 which live for the sea’s salt spray."

There will also be a free prize giveaway to win ocean-related goodies at the screening.

Highlights from the 2017 Ocean Film Tour include Sea Gypsies, which follows the Infinity and her crew as they 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.

Meanwhile, Whale Chasers focuses on an unusual group of ‘citizen scientists' based on the rugged cliffs above New Zealand’s Cook Strait.

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.

And in Fishpeople the fun of the ocean is explored through the stories of a unique cast of characters who have dedicated their lives to the sea.

From surfers and spear fishers to a long-distance swimmer, a former coal miner and a group of at-risk kids.

The festival is organised by the team behind Banff Film Festival UK, which screened action-packed films for adrenaline junkies at the Amey Theatre in February and April.

The screening will start at 7.30pm, with doors opening at 6.30pm.

Tickets and information are available via oceanfilmfestival.co.uk.