EDITORIAL

Since the publication of the last issue of this Newsletter, another year has started for Film Society screenings. We regret that pressure of work at the N.F.L. made impossible the issue due in November. By the time this is received, all societies will have had their first screenings for 1958. We hope you are satisfied with your programmes for the year: if not, see your programme committee - but Mr. Hayes will not look very favourably on any requests for a change now!

At the end of January, the annual conference of the Institute was held at Christchurch, and was attended by all members of the Working Committee, together with delegates and observers from nine societies. Apologies for non-attendance were received from another ten societies. Congratulations are extended to the newly-elected president, Mrs. Ngaire Nathan, of Blenheim. It was also decided to hold next year's conference at Blenheim, and it is to be hoped that more societies will be able to send representatives there.

The thanks of all who attended the conference are due to the secretary of the host society, Miss O. Spencer-Bower, and those who assisted her in the many organizing details which are necessary to the success of such functions. Thanks, too, to John Oakley, the society's president, for the fine evening of entertainment and hospitality which he gave the visitors on the Saturday evening of the conference, and also to those who took the visitors for a scenic drive on the Sunday.

A report of the business transacted at the conference has been sent to all secretaries, so ask to see it if you are interested. The continued publication of this Newsletter was approved, but it may not be possible (especially in view of the current economic restrictions) to issue it more than twice, or at the most, three times a year. In the first issue, we asked for your opinions and criticisms: only a few were received - the opinions, we are gratified to say, were generally favourable, and most of the advice received has been taken. But remember that this is your Newsletter, and its continuance depends on your reactions and support!

Editor: Mr L. A. Cutts

FILM INSTITUTE OFFICERS, 1958

At the recent conference, the following officers were elected to the executive for this year:
President: Mrs. Ngaire Nathan.
Chairman of Working Committee: Mr. Walter Scott.
Secretary: Mr. Dennis Carey.
Treasurer: Mr. Ron Ritchie.
Programme Organizer: Mr. Ray Hayes.
Committee Members: Mr. Leslie Cutts and Miss Marjorie Williams.

Auditor: Mr. R. C. Bradshaw.

ON BEING ON A FILM SOCIETY COMMITTEE

I thought it might be of interest to Film Society members to note down some of the vicissitudes that might be encountered while being a member of a F.S. committee in a small country town.

Now, of course, the first thing essential for any film society is to have a film projector. Our society was fortunate in that an enthusiastic member volunteered to lend us his machine and screen for each evening. However, he lived a few miles out of town, and would sometimes, I confess, be forgotten about until a few minutes before the screening was due to commence, when it would be discovered that everyone thought that somebody else was to call for him. This lapse would result in a mad dash to the nearest car. But this member left the district, and from then on we had to beg, borrow and scrounge. Various people were asked and most of them were willing to let us borrow their projector provided that they could come along to run the film through. Quite often, though, about an hour before screening time an apologetic wife would telephone to say that (a) the projector wouldn't work; (b) it was in Auckland getting mended: (c) her husband had been called out of town unexpectedly, and she couldn't lend us the machine unless he was there to operate it. This generally meant a series of frantic telephone calls to other lenders, who frequently replied with a, b, or c! Sometimes we ended up hiring a projector, and its operator, at great expense.

The next problem is halls. You are usually faced with the alternatives of the local Women's Clubrooms, comfortable and warm, holding about thirty people and very dear, or the church hall, vast, cheap and very cold. It used to be quite amusing to see the members rolling up each month holding a rug, hot-water bottle, wearing gloves, thick coat and fur-lined boots. Even then, one would almost freeze to the hard, wooden seats. It was a trial of strength that year, but strange to say our membership increased.

Your next difficulty is how to get members. Well, of course, you can put an advertisement in the paper. The difficulty then is how to advertise: does one call a film turgid, realistic or a classic.? Can you legally say: Members and friends welcome? Posters in the shops - no one seems to notice them. The best incentive to join a film society, we discovered, is to book a film like The Blue Angel, starring Marlene Dietrich, with the Censor's certificate stating that this film must be shown to film society members only, and that it is not suitable for the general public. It so happened that this was our first film for the year, and because we had to put the censor's grading in our advertisement, twenty-eight new members turned up that night, duly paid their subscriptions, saw the film, and hardly bothered us again for the remainder of the year!

Now, how to run Annual General Meetings. At the first meeting of a new society, there are usually enough enthusiastic souls to form a committee, but it may happen, as it did to us, that at subsequent annual meetings, only a few stalwarts would turn up. The number present would be counted, usually about a dozen, but we needed fifteen to make a quorum. So the President, and anyone else who had a car, would leave the hall, and return half an hour later with two or three annoyed and sleepy members, and the existing committee would be legally voted in, en bloc, to serve another year.

Other trials may be experienced, such as when our society suggested to the manager of the local cinema that he hold a foreign film festival, our members helping with the organization and taking some of the profits. We were very interested to see in the newspaper a few weeks later that the "local" was advertising a foreign film festival, not bothering to ask the help of the society or to give us any of the profits.

Trifling difficulties, the films being delayed in the post, the projector and/or film breaking in the middle of a screening, the lights fusing, picking next year's programme from a list of films that no one knows anything about, can be taken in one's stride once you have become a fully-fledged film society, and in the end, all these anxieties are compensated for by the wonderful afternoon teas and arguments, often on subjects completely divorced from films, that one can have at committee meetings!
Assistant Editor: Marjorie Williams