The origins of the Wellington Film Society are tied up with the origins of the film society movement in New Zealand as a whole and are covered in TheBeginnings.

In its first few years, the Society held ten or eleven general monthly meetings a year, in spite of the fact that the supply of suitable films was far from inexhaustible, that it was difficult to find a suitable hall, and that the Society did not at that time have a projector of its own. The President's first Annual Report remarks: 'Your Executive just has not been able to find a hall big enough, cheap enough, and comfortable enough for meetings and screenings. It is doubtful if a place suited to our needs and our pockets at present exists in Wellington'. Meetings were usually held in the British Seamen's Institute Hall, the St John Ambulance Hall, or, for the biggest events, in the Concert Chamber of the Town Hall. In 1947 it became the practice to have two screenings of each month's programme, the second screening being arranged with a view to following it by discussion.

In 1948, most meetings were held in the lecture theatre of the (then) Dominion Museum, a hall with comfortable seating and good projection equipment, but it was rather too large for the membership at the time. Some screenings were also held in the lecture hall of the Wellington Public Library, a smaller and more conveniently situated hall, but neither as comfortable nor as well equipped as the Museum. For the next five years, one screening at 8pm was held at the Museum and a second screening on another day at 5.30pm at the Library. By this time, the number of film societies in the country had grown considerably, and the problems of film distribution had led to the restriction, by the Federation, of monthly screenings to nine per year.

By 1958, the 16mm projection equipment at the Library had been improved and more comfortable seating installed. The Society then transferred all its screenings to the Library, although three screenings each month became necessary to accomodate all the membership. As membership burgeoned from the start of the 70's it became necessary to again include the Museum Theatre as a screening venue. The Library Hall had become too small for the membership which in 1974 had grown to 2200. In 1975 the 5.30pm screenings were transferred to the Paramount Cinema and in the annual report for that year it was reported that the total membership had grown to 2564, which was five times as many as five years previously. This combination of the Museum Theatre and the Paramount continued for the next ten years. Membership peaked at 2665 in 1981.

By 1979, reliabilty of the Paramount's 16mm projector was beginning to be questioned, with a screening abandoned altogether and members being asked to leave. At this stage the committee started considering the purchase of its own projector. The subject came up again following the 1981 Wellington Film Festival when there were several comments on the poor quality shown by the cinema's 16mm projector, despite the cinema management confirming that all the projectors had been overhauled prior to the commencement of the Festival.  In November 1981, the president of the Wellington Film Society reported that he had secured first option on an almost new Eiki EX 6120 16mm pedestal projector. The almost $10,000 projector would be avalable at a considerable discount, being the difference between the original cost and the amount the first owner had already paid. The proposal to purchase was agreed, subject to an independent assessment. Passing that, the projector was duly purchased, and several committee members had the difficult task of manhandling it up the precarious steps to the Paramount's projection box!

In 1985, the Wellington Film Festival (run by the Wellington Film Society), which since 1972 had been screened at the Paramount, found that it had outgrown that venue and moved to the Embassy. The then management of the Paramount decided it wanted no more to do with the Film Society so the Paramount screenings, and the projector, were transferred to the Regent until the end of 1989. (The Society's 16mm projector was moved to the Embassy for use during the Film Festival.)

In 1991, with membership dropping below 1000, a new venue, away from a commercial cinema had to be found. The National Library on the corner of Mulgrave Street and Aitken Street had recently opened and had a 200 seat cinema complete with 16mm and 35mm projection equipment - so the Society moved there. Although 16mm prints remained the mainstay of film society screenings, the society grasped the opportunity to add the occasional 35mm print to the mix.  And there we remained right through the 1990s until 2002, with an occasional film at the Embassy or Paramount (now under new management). Our 16mm projector found its way back to the Paramount when the Film Festival outgrew the Embassy and added the Paramount as an extra venue in 1992.

In 2003, membership of the Film Society had dropped to an alarming 400 and the National Library now seemed to be an out-of-the-way part of town during the evening. Our hireage arrangement meant that we had to screen two films each night to make it worthwhile and the supply of suitable films was drying up. The Paramount, again under new management, offered to host the Film Society once again. The move to a single weekly screening on a Monday night at 6.15pm proved to be most successful - and we used our own 16mm projector again! Also, with many of the films now in 35mm prints we could take advantage of the Paramount's superior sound system. Membership responded to our screenings in the Entertainment Quarter of the city and membership grew to around 650 at the end of 2005.

We screened our last 16mm print in 2011. By 2012 35mm was the predominant format, but DVD and Bluray discs were starting to be used. To get the most out of the new digital formats the Film Society purchased the Roll-Royce of Blu-ray players, an Oppo BDP-103AU, which, as well as providing a superb image when played through the Paramount's DCP (Digital Cinema Package) projector, also provided DVD upscaling if a now-rare DVD was the only source available. In 2014 the entire programme was digital, mainly Bluray, but an occasional film projected from DCP.

The Paramount remained the only cinema in downtown Wellington still capable of screening 35mm prints to archive standards, and from 2015, the Film Society endeavoured to present at least one screening in that format each year to help keep 'film' in film society.

Mid-2017 membership stood at around 500, with an average attendance of 245. The 16mm projector was removed from the projection box when the Paramount installed the DCP projector and put on display at the foot of the entrance stairs to the cinema. The Paramount closed (just after 100 years as a cinema) towards the end of 2017. The 16mm projector is being looked after by a member of the Wellington Film Society committee, who is also a film buff.

In 2018 the Film Society, after exploring several options, moved to the magnificent Embassy Theatre at 10 Kent Terrace. The large auditorum, seating around 700, is more expensive, but attracted a greater membership with average attendances of over 300 per screening. All films are either Bluray (screened from our own Oppo player), or an increasing number of DCPs. In 2019 membership exceeded 700, with average attendance 323.

.