Film society set for another season of fabulous films

The Nelson Film Society begins another season of films next week. We have moved to the State Cinemas, and all films will still be screening on Thursday evenings. For the usual openingnight gala, complementary drinks will be served in the lobby from 5.30pm before the film.

The season opens with The Moo Man, a warm and gentle documentary about a farmer raising dairy cows in Sussex.

Steve Hook has about 75 cows, and the film offers an insight into the running of such a small operation. It was shot over the course of a year.

In today’s world of big supermarkets and oppressive health and safety regulations, it’s considered financially unsound to run this kind of operation. Hook’s business has to be subsidised by the government, as it costs more to produce the milk than he would get if he were to sell it at supermarkets. Hook sells the raw milk locally, at the market and via a home delivery service.

Although he struggles financially to survive, Hook wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s a personal venture, and his cows are like family to him – they all have names and are characters in their own right.

We witness his involvement in calving, we feel his pain when he has to put one of his cows down, and we get a chance to see and share in his excitement when he tries out his new bottling plant.

The directors, Andy Heathcote and Heike Bachelier, interview Hook with sensitivity. They capture the ambience of farming life with some beautiful pastoral scenes filmed over 12 months, divided by the seasons. Heathcote is also the co-producer and cinematographer.

The music is composed and arranged by Stephen Daltry, with piano, accordion, clarinet and percussion.

With plunges in dairy prices in New Zealand and Australia and a decreasing number of dairy farms, a situation also affecting England, Wales and the United States, this is an important film to see and to take note of its final message: ‘‘Support your local farmer – buy local’’.