The WEA Sydney Film Society is a

nonprofit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

film society A film society is a membership-based club where people can watch screenings of films which would otherwise not be shown in mainstream cinemas. In Spain, Ireland and Italy, they are known as "cineclubs", and in Germany they are known as "filmclubs" ...

based in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. It is a club of

WEA Sydney WEA Sydney is an Australian educational institution which began in 1913 as the Workers' Educational Association (WEA), inspired by the British organisation of the same name. It is a democratic and voluntary adult education movement. Its current ...

, which is part of the

Workers' Educational Association The Workers' Educational Association (WEA), founded in 1903, is the UK's largest voluntary sector provider of adult education and one of Britain's biggest charities. The WEA is a democratic and voluntary adult education movement. It delivers lea ...

History

It was established as ''WEA Film Study Group'' in 1961. The society had its first meeting on 23 February 1961.

Ken Quinnell Ken Quinnell (born 1939) is an Australia screenwriter and film director. Journalism Quinell has a background in publishing and freelancejournalism, including working for ''Screen International'' and ''Rolling Stone''. In the 1960s he was a m ...

was present at the first meeting. The first president was Ian Klava, Pat Roos was the first secretary. Sid Gore was on the first committee. As well as being a founder of the WEA Film Study Group, Ian Klava had memberships of a number of film societies including Sydney University Film Group, Sydney Film Society, the All Nations Club Film Group, the Sydney Cinema Society, and the Catholic Film Society. He also worked for the Department of Information film Unit and was Director of

Sydney Film Festival The Sydney Film Festival is an annual competitive film festival held in Sydney, Australia, usually over 12 days in June. A number of awards are given, the top one being the Sydney Film Prize. the festival's director is Nashen Moodley. Histo ...

from 1962 to 1965. In the first twelve months of its operation the ''WEA Film Study Group'' had presented such films as " Kameradschaft", "

The Sentimental Bloke ''The Sentimental Bloke'' is a 1918 Australian silent film based on the 1915 verse novel ''The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke'' by C. J. Dennis. Produced and directed by Raymond Longford, the film stars Arthur Tauchert, Gilbert Emery, and Lottie Ly ...

", "

Animal Farm ''Animal Farm'' is a beast fable, in the form of satirical allegorical novella, by George Orwell, first published in England on 17 August 1945. It tells the story of a group of farm animals who rebel against their human farmer, hoping to crea ...

", "The Last Laugh", "The Titan" and "Berlin Olympic Games". The society held some film weekends, both residential at Newport and non-residential film weekends. These included an Eisenstein Weekend held in October, 1963 with one of the speakers being

filmmaker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, castin ...

Gil Brealey Gilbert John Brealey (9 April 1932 – 1 April 2018) was an Australian television and film director, producer and writer. Brealey was born in Melbourne, and studied at the University of Melbourne, where he made his first amateur films around th ...

. Another residential film weekend was "Men with guns: an examination of gangster and western films", held at Newport, on 26–28 February 1965 with speakers, Ian McPherson and John Flaus. On the Anzac Day Weekend in 1966, the society held a film weekend at Newport with the theme: "Myth and Reality". On 3 and 4 December 1966, the society held a non-residential film weekend on D. W. Griffith, with such features as

Way Down East ''Way Down East'' is a 1920 American silent romantic drama film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish. It is one of four film adaptations of the melodramatic 19th century play ''Way Down East'' by Lottie Blair Parker. There we ...

(1920), Orphans of The Storm (1922), and

Isn't Life Wonderful ''Isn't Life Wonderful'' is a 1924 American silent romantic drama film directed by D. W. Griffith for his company D. W. Griffith Productions, and distributed by United Artists. It was based on the short story "Isn’t Life Wonderful?" in the ...

(1924) being shown. John Morris, film director at the Australian

Commonwealth Film Unit Film Australia was a company established by the Government of Australia to produce films about Australia in 1973. Its predecessors were the Cinema and Photographic Branch (1913–38), the Australian National Film Board (1939–1955, under differ ...

gave a lecture at the film weekend. Occasionally the ''WEA Film Study Group'' and the Sydney University Film Group have combined to present film screenings. These have included ''

The Siege of Pinchgut ''The Siege of Pinchgut'' (released in the US as ''Four Desperate Men'') is a 1959 British thriller filmed on location in Sydney, Australia, and directed by Harry Watt. It was the last film produced by Ealing Studios, and was entered into the ...

'' (1959), in July 1965, presented at Margaret St., Sydney. After they moved to Clarence St. Sydney, they also presented a weekend "Signs and Meaning in the Cinema" season, based on the famous cinema book by

Peter Wollen Peter Wollen (29 June 1938 – 17 December 2019) was a Film theory, film theorist and filmmaker. He studied English at Christ Church, Oxford. Both Political journalism, political journalist and film theorist, Wollen's ''Signs and Meaning in the ...

, in September and October 1969. In April 1970 they presented at weekend of Silent Comedy. The last time the two societies combined in screenings was 1973. From July 1965 to December 1967 the ''WEA Film Study Group'' published the cinema journal ''FILM DIGEST''. This journal was edited by John Baxter Notable

screenwriters A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. T ...

filmmakers Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a Film, motion picture is #Production, produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through scr ...

and

film critics Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films and the film medium. In general, film criticism can be divided into two categories: journalistic criticism that appears regularly in newspapers, magazines and other popular mass-media outlets ...

such as

Frank Moorhouse Frank Thomas Moorhouse (21 December 1938 – 26 June 2022) was an Australian writer. He won major Australian national prizes for the short story, the novel, the essay, and for script writing. His work has been published in the United Kingdom, ...

Michael Thornhill Michael Thornhill (29 March 1941 – 22 January 2022) was a film producer, screenwriter, and director. Career Thornhill had a background in freelance journalism and publishing including working as a film critic. He was a member of the WEA Fi ...

, John Baxter and

John Flaus John Flaus (born 1934) is an Australian broadcaster and actor. Filmography *'' Rake'' (2014) *''Tracks'' (2013) *''Jack Irish'' (2012-2021) - 3 films and 15 episodes as Wilbur *''Pinion'' (2010) *''I Love You Too'' (2010) *''Mary and Max'' ( ...

have been members of the ''WEA Film Study Group''. Since April 1978 the ''WEA Film Study Group'' has published the Monthly Bulletin to provide film notes and film news to its members. In 1999 it changed its name to WEA Sydney Film Society. Notable Committee members include Ian Klava,

, Denis Trimas, Doug Roberts, Tom Politis, and Leth Maitland.

Activities

It screens a

double-feature The double feature is a motion picture industry phenomenon in which theatres would exhibit two films for the price of one, supplanting an earlier format in which one feature film and various short subject reels would be shown. Opera use Opera h ...

program each Sunday at noon and on occasional Saturdays. There are about 48 programs a year. There is a short recess after Christmas and during the

. The group usually do not screen on public holidays or during public holiday weekends. The Society's screening room is located on the ground floor of the ''WEA Centre'' at 72

Bathurst Street, Sydney Bathurst Street is a street in the Sydney central business district in New South Wales, Australia. Bathurst Street runs for in a west–east direction with traffic flowing in this direction only. It is situated in the southern portion of the ce ...

. Films including

animation Animation is a method by which image, still figures are manipulated to appear as Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent cel, celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited ...

and avant-garde programs came from

, the

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, the

former USSR The post-Soviet states, also known as the former Soviet Union (FSU), the former Soviet Republics and in Russia as the near abroad (russian: links=no, ближнее зарубежье, blizhneye zarubezhye), are the 15 sovereign states that wer ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

and

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Silent films A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, whe ...

projected at appropriate speed, with well-chosen accompaniment continue to be popular.

Art-house An art film (or arthouse film) is typically an independent film, aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience. It is "intended to be a serious, artistic work, often experimental and not designed for mass appeal", "made primarily f ...

films as well as wide-screen

blockbuster Blockbuster or Block Buster may refer to: *Blockbuster (entertainment) a term coined for an extremely successful movie, from which most other uses are derived. Corporations * Blockbuster (retailer), a defunct video and game rental chain ** Bl ...

s such as

55 Days at Peking ''55 Days at Peking'' is a 1963 American epic historical war film dramatizing the siege of the foreign legations' compounds in Peking (now known as Beijing) during the Boxer Rebellion, which took place in China from 1899 to 1901. It was produc ...

have been featured. Most of the films screened by the society are selected from the more than 6,000 titles held by the National Film and Video Lending Service, owned and managed by

National Film and Sound Archive The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national co ...

– the

. Many significant films can only be seen in

by members of the general public if they belong to a

. A number of the titles available on

16mm film 16 mm film is a historically popular and economical gauge of film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 and 35 mm. It is generally used for non-theatrical (e.g., industrial, educ ...

for the film society screenings are not currently available on pay or

free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the FTA Receiver, appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring ...

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

videocassette Videotape is magnetic tape used for storing video and usually sound in addition. Information stored can be in the form of either an analog or digital signal. Videotape is used in both video tape recorders (VTRs) and, more commonly, videocassette ...

or Region 4

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

. WEA Sydney Film Society is a member of the Federation of NSW and Associated Film Societies and the

Australian Council of Film Societies Australian Council of Film Societies ACOFS is the national body for film societies in Australia. The inaugural meeting was held in Sydney in November 1949 and the constitution was adopted at a second meeting which is the official start of ACOFS, in ...

Publications

The society has produced journals other publications. These include film notes for the Newport Film Weekend "Men with guns : an examination of gangster and western films" (1965) by Ian McPherson and John Flaus and the monographs "French film noir" (1978) by Tom Politis and "Stanley Hawes, documentary film-maker" (1980) by Valda Lyle, Tom Politis, and Ross Stell.Stanley Hawes, documentary film-maker by Valda Lyle, Tom Politis, Ross Stell. Sydney : WEA Film Study Group, 1980.

Fiftieth anniversary

The society had its first meeting on 23 February 1961. They celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of its founding by screening two films on 27 February 2011. These films were '' Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession'' (2004) and ''

Overlord An overlord in the English feudal system was a lord of a manor who had subinfeudated a particular manor, estate or fee, to a tenant. The tenant thenceforth owed to the overlord one of a variety of services, usually military service or serje ...

'' (1975).

Bibliography

* * * * * Farmer, Monique. "Cinema society".

Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...

Metro 19 November 1993 p. 2 * Monthly bulletin

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official website
Film organisations in Australia Film societies