Those of us that try and take cinema seriously have very few forums where we can truly express our passion and the Monday evening screenings at the Wellington Film Society are the alter at which we worship.
For over 60 years Wellingtonians have been gathering to watch flickering images from all over the world. In the days before the words nerd or geek we were called buffs (and were proud of it) and we still gather in our hundreds at the Paramount picture theatre to bathe in the glory of a rectangular image on a silver screen – shadows cast by films from exotic places (and some from less far afield).
This year’s Feb-Nov programme kicks-off on Monday with a real treat – Garden of Earthly Delights is the first screening in a series of films by acclaimed Polish filmmaker Lech Majewski and it’s a prime example of the kind of screening that only the Film Society can provide. It’s an award-winning art movie about love, loss, morbidity and creation and the director will be present at the screening to take questions.
Other highlights in this year’s broadly curated programme include a couple of early films by Gus Van Sant (Milk), recent documentaries Manufactured Landscapes and Darwin’s Nightmare and rare 35mm presentations of festival favourites La Sentinelle (1992), Diva (1981) and Paradzhanov’s masterpiece The Colour of Pomegranates (1979).
Printed in Wellington’s Capital Times on Wednesday 4 March, 2009.
While filling in for Graeme Tuckett on Nine to Noon this morning I gave the Film Society a bit of a deserved plug. It really is a treasure. You can listen here (or download):
[audio:http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/ntn/ntn-20090304–1148-Film-048.mp3]
