Bundeena-Maianbar Film Society


Newsletter 010723

The first screening for the Spring Season, 2001 will be held on Saturday, 28 July at 7.30pm in the Bundeena School Hall, Scarborough Street. The main feature will be Mr Hulot's Holiday, a hilarious French comedy. Check out the full description and news of future films on the attachment. Mr Hulot's Holiday will be introduced by Garry Shead, who is so enthusiastic about the film that he must have actually accompanied Mr Hulot on one of his holidays. In any event we might discover what really went on during the holiday!


Thank you first of all to those who have taken out seasonal memberships already. You should have received your card by now. If not please contact one of the Executive Committee members (see below). Membership is growing rapidly and I believe we now have more than 50 members or about-to-become members. Your contributions have solved the financial worry we had earlier of whether we would have sufficient funds to pay back our setup loans and provide working capital. We have now cleared our loans and can look forward to giving you more for your $$. Next year we hope to be able to expand our program by running five screenings per season (six months) with screenings in every month except December and January. In addition we may be able to present some special screenings of films not generally available for scheduled exhibition.


For those of you who have not yet joined but would like to, you can contact one of the Executive to get a copy of the season program and a membership application form. It would be a great help to avoid the queue if this could be completed before Saturday. Alternatively you can join on the night, but please come early (7 - 7.15) so we can get the show on the screen on time.


It might have seemed that the Film Society had gone quiet since the very successful show on 24 March. However, there has been lots of activity going on behind the scenes. We originally come into existence late in 2000 as a working group within the Art of Living Festival structure. The excellent response to the questionnaire given out at the 24 March show gave us confidence that a regular scheduled films could be attractive to the community. Thank you to all those who contributed your thoughts and gave us such encouragement. We have now registered as an Incorporated Association (non-profit, community-based) and are now operating autonomously. Before separating from the Art of Living structure an interim Executive Committee was set up to handle the establishment process and day to day matters following. The office bearers are as follows:


President - David Gosden - 9544-4983
Vice President / Exhibition Manager - Meg Galvin - 9544-0201
Secretary - Maria Peterson - 9527-6885
Treasurer - Alan Jones - 9523-8568
We are looking at ways to provide an opportunity for members at large to make an input to the operations of the Film Society. In particular, the choice of films and programming format will be a continually evolving issue. We can only expect to maintain and build membership if the presentations are of interest to members. To this end we are considering the formation of a Program Advisory Committee to deliberate on such matters and make recommendations. If you are interested in being part of this please let your interest be known to one of the Executive.

Depending on resources (and items to write about) I hope to be able to get together a regular Newsletter. It will remind you of forthcoming shows and other times of interest. At times it might be possible to get hold of special or unusual films at short notice. Because of the short notice, they cannot be scheduled more than a week or two in advance so the best way of promulgating the information is by email. To work within our tight budget and volunteers' time, it will only be possible to distribute items such membership renewals and core season programs by the postal system. So if you know of other Film Society members or interested people who may not be on email or whose email address does not appear in the list above, could you encourage to them to register their email address with David Gosden on 9544-4983 so they can join the emailing list.

The Film Society now has access to two EIKI 16mm projectors which have been thoroughly overhauled and are ready to go. Using two projectors allows us to run a full length feature without an annoying break for reel changes. Because of the size of the hall, it is necessary to place the projectors not far from the middle. They are fairly quiet and should not be too distracting but if you want to hear the quietest whispers on the sound track, it's best not to sit right next to the projectors.

Finally, I'd like to pass on my thanks to those who have helped to get the Society to a fully operational state.


David Gosden
President / Newsletter Editor

23 July, 2001