Latest news and reminders
Membership
First, the good news. A high proportion of members have attended each of our first four screenings – important because it helps to engender a good atmosphere. The numbers attending have in fact been similar to those we would have expected when we were at the College. This is encouraging, but here is the less good news: we have a total membership which is somewhat lower than we had a year ago. On the basis of past experience, we certainly expect additional members to materialise over the next few months. But even allowing for this, we estimate that we are about ten members short.
The financial consequences of this are obvious. We have enough money to pay our bills for some time to come. But it’s not only being able to pay the bills, it’s also a matter of being in a position to replace our projection equipment in, say, four or five years’ time. The extra ten subscriptions are really needed to build up those funds.
We believe that there must be ten or more people living in and around Abingdon and Oxford who would join ABCD if they knew we existed. We have a few ideas of how to remedy this. One is that we need our members to tell their friends and contacts about us, to be our ambassadors, if you like, pointing out the wide range of material we show, including films one is unlikely to get to see in the local area, sometimes introduced by expert speakers. It’s not necessary or desirable to press your friends to join, just to make them aware; and, of course, bringing your friends to individual showings is a very good way of doing this.
One new thing we are planning to do is to send out an email, with a similar overall look to this one, which lists forthcoming films and events and invites recipients to attend. This email would be sent to you for you to forward to whoever you think might like to know about the ABCD Film Society. We hope you will be able to do this.
Reminder: November 21 special event – 7.30 start
Alex Jacoby returns to introduce the Japanese film I WISH. Please note the earlier than usual start time.
Reminder: Annual General Meeting
The A.G.M takes place on November 28th, beginning at 7.30 pm. It usually lasts around 20 – 30 minutes. The meeting will be followed by the feature documentary SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN.
First Short Film on Dec 5
We try to include short films in our programme. The next this season will be NICE TIME on Dec 5 to precede the screening of CAIRO STATION. It’s a celebrated production made in 1956 by Alain Tanner and Claude Goretta, two Swiss film enthusiasts, early in their careers. They were living in London and received a tiny grant from the same BFI fund that got Michael Grigsby on the road.
“In 17 minutes and 190 shots, the two directors captured the hopes and disappointments of mid-1950s crowds – real crowds – in search of amusement and escape in what was considered London’s entertainment centre, with its Eros statue and giant neon signs.” Christophe Dupin (screenonline.com)
Final film before Christmas – FUNNY FACE
As usual there will be seasonal celebrations on Dec 12th – drinks, wine and cheese, mince pies etc, both before and after the film. Details in the next members newsletter, due out early in December.