CENSORSHIP

SUPPORTING THE FILM_MAKERS

OUR NUMBERS

Turning our gaze away from the public area towards our own housekeeping, I can tell you that we have, at the moment, 39 active film societies throughout the country. Two of the smaller societies went into recess during the year, but their place was taken by two new societies, at Waihi and Opunake. Nearly every major centre does have an active film society and this year the Federation's Working Committee will be working to encourage the establishment of societies in those towns where we feel that a society could well be established.

Although the country is enjoying the coolest economic recession since the 1930's, the membership figures have kept up surprisingly well. Sixteen societies have recorded increases. There has been an overall nett increase of 712 members. The largest society continues to be the Wellington Film Society with 2261 members.

OUR FILMS

During the year the Federation's Working Committee guided by that indefatiguable seeker-after-films Lindsay Shelton, acquired 28 feature films for inclusion in the current Catalogue. The films concerned, none of which have been seen here before, derive from America, Sweden, France, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom and India. A number of short films, from various countries, have been acquired as well. Aided by a grant from the Arts Council, the Federation has purchased a number of classic films for its classics collection. These include in particular, films by Alfred Hitchcock and D.W. Griffith. The Federation has also acquired a couple of classic MGM films, amusical, Minelli's The Band Wagon and a drama, George Cukor's The Women.

There are now over 150 feature films included in the Federation's current Catalogue. The individual societies have made their choices from these films for 1978. And as a result Rosemary Hope, the Federation's Secretary, has put together, timetabled and generally arranged no less than 580 separate programmes for this year. That is, as Rosemary will modestly confirm, a herculean task.

OUR FUNDING

Thanks to careful film selection by Lindsay Shelton and to careful budgeting by our financial team comprising Steven Tustin, Ron Ritchie, and Vaughan Rosier, the Federation seems to have finished the year in reasonable financial shape. But we must be careful about that. Film costs continue to rise rapidly and the path ahead is strewn with expensive bills to be paid. The Federation does have some contingency plans it can unfurl if the pressure gets too much. In the meantime I think we can say, though, that through watching things very carefully, the Federation's finances are in pretty good order. Later in the day, Steven Tustin will be producing the figures themselves. I must record our gratitude to the Ministry for Sport and Recreation for its grant of $6,000. And I would like to express our gratitude to the Arts Council for its grant of $3,000 to assist us in the purchase of classic films.

ORGANISATION

Rosemary Hope, as our full-time Secretary, is an immensely valuable person to us. The amount of work that she puts in to keep matters running smoothly - or as smoothly as they can in an imperfect world - is amazing. We all owe her a very great debt of gratitude for her skill and dedication. One of the tasks she undertook this year was to tour the regions. She visited 14 different film societies, some in the North Island and some in the South Island. These visits are, I think, very valuable. They give us a better idea of the needs of individual societies so that we may, hopefully, provide a better service. These visits will be a continuing thing.

Rosemary and Lindsay Shelton now do such a large volume of work that the Working Committee now needs to meet less frequently than in the past. Only five meetings were held during the last year. With the thorny problem of censorship removed, for the time being at least, from the Committee's agenda, the Committee was able to concentrate on what its business should really be: the selection of films and the gathering of the funds needed to pay for them. There is a fine range of talent available on the Working Committee and I would like to thank personally all members of that Committee for their wisdom and good humour.

I hope that each of the 39 societies prospers during the year and enjoys good viewing.

Wellington
February 18, 1978
DAVID GASCOIGNE
Chairman, Working Committee