The reel thing (From Western Telegraph)

The reel thing

Whether you are looking for an oasis of culture among the mind-numbing desert of modern cinema or just a chance to see well-made films that never make it to Pembrokeshire's cinemas, the Haverfordwest Film Society is worth a look.

The society was formed 16 years ago, when a group of film-lovers banded together to give the people of Pembrokeshire a chance to see films they wouldn't otherwise see.

Meeting in the County Library, the 100-strong society began with a programme of 12 films.

Since then, they have increased the annual programme to 22 films and moved to the comfortable surroundings of the Merlin Theatre at Pembrokeshire College.

Despite the changes, the aim of the society has remained constant - to bring people the widest range of films from the best of world cinema at an affordable cost.

Central to this aim were the society's treasurer and secretary, husband and wife team David and Kay Green.

Kay and David, to all intents and purposes, ran the society; Kay bringing forward films she thought the audience would like, while David looked after the administration.

Following Kay's death last year, David resigned his post. Chairman, Norman Cattanach also stood down, making way for an entirely fresh committee.

New chairman, Michael Glanister heads the committee and is hoping to steer the society on towards larger audiences. He said: "We need to increase our appeal without compromising the reasons for our existence.

"We don't seek a minority audience. We try to show general interest films people are unlikely to see anywhere else. There is a fairly healthy dose of foreign films."

The society received a grant from the Arts Council of Wales for the first time last season and hopes to repeat this next year. All other funds come from subscriptions and tickets sold on the door. For this reason, the occasional mainstream film is essential to bring in a paying crowd and boost the takings.

Although these films (such as 'Billy Elliot' and 'The Insider' last year) may already be out on video, audience figures are still impressive when they are shown.

Mainstream films are just one of the many factors which the committee have to balance when they decide on a season of films.

One of Kay Green's roles was to trawl through film magazines and provide a list of around 25 films with details of each one. The committee would vote on these, based largely on the details she provided. They would look for a reasonably wide variety, making sure they did not end up with ten comedies or ten very serious films in a row.

Chinese, French and Iranian films have all enjoyed particular favour over recent seasons due to the high quality of these countries' output. The last three seasons have included films from 26 different countries.

The society is also a member of the British Federation of Film Societies and members will sometimes attend screenings in London and come back with suggestions.

The upcoming season is the first which will be decided without Kay's input.

Jacqui Janssen will now play a large part in the initial selection of films. Being Dutch, she says her tastes lean towards the continent but hopes to be very open-minded in her choices. The committee has also decided to increase member input in the selection process.

Michael would like to show a couple of good oldies, 'something with Humphrey Bogart in it'.

Another oldie Michael would like to see again is 'The Man Who Would Be King' which, though available on video, would bring back memories of its first release for most of the audience.

He hopes there will not be too many more mainstream films coming in as the society develops, as these are available elsewhere. There is none of the camaraderie that surrounds the repeat viewings of the older films.

The society is hesitating on the change to DVD projection although that change will definitely come. While it would be a great advantage and much less costly, there is not yet a sufficiently large selection of quality films for them choose from.

For Michael, getting young blood into the society is a top priority. He said: "We do need to increase our membership if we are to keep our prices down. Whatever we can do to attract younger people, we will."