Film society endures
It has screened films as an alternative to the mainstream since the 1950s and the Palmerston North Film Society has a lineage of lineups that extends to its 2019 season.
The society’s secretary and longstanding member Myra Shotton said it had an eclectic choice this year.
The next film shown, next Monday, is I Am Not Your Negro. ‘‘We have all sorts of films in the programme. You never quite know what you will be sitting down to watch and for those of us who have been going every week for a long time, we learn a lot.’’
To follow, there will be movies from France, Japan, the United States, New Zealand, Finland, Spain, Congo, China, Switzerland, Australia and Vanuatu.
‘‘That’s one of the things I like about the films that we get in,’’ Shotton said, ‘‘they are from all over the world and they show you things you have never seen before.’’
Some are classics and many are new, having come out of International Film Festival, which, Shotton said, searches globally for movies that suit those who ‘‘want to to see films that aren’t mainstream Hollywood’’. ‘‘Our fees are only $4 per film so it is a great way to see some amazing films and documentaries.’’
The films are brought into the country and sent around the 13 societies nationwide.
The society’s motto is ‘‘Live a little in the dark’’ and it has shifted venues nine times and seen technology change from 16 millimetre projection to 35mm film and then on to DVD, since the society began screenings in the 1950s.
The Palmerston North Film Society shows its films on Monday nights at Event Cinema’s theatre 2.