Ipswich Film Society

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David Clare (Chairman)

A WELCOME FROM
THE CHAIRMAN

David Clare
CHAIRMAN

Welcome to the Society�s 78th season, which we are once again holding at the Film Theatre in Ipswich�s Corn Exchange building. We offer you a programme which, as usual, celebrates the old and the new. Our ethos has always been to celebrate world cinema of every decade, indeed we are uncommon among film societies in this respect.
Some of our members periodically complain about the number of older titles that we showcase, while others bemoan the preponderance of recent product, with which they are familiar. Which only goes to reinforce our resolve to change nothing! Each person brings his/her own experience to a screening, each has his/her own expectations; but we can all be delighted by a film we would never have thought to watch, and that is our raison d��tre, in my view.
So this year we have films from Scandinavia, Germany, Italy, Korea and Iran, which is, if anything, more traditional than of late and, of course, no season could be complete without something from France, whence two socio-politically engaged films, the first of which The Measure of a Man, offers no easy answers; the other, Intouchables, provides many, but bolsters its populist appeal with �Based on a true story� credentials. Of these films only one (The Blue Angel) could be called �old�, though Wings of Desire is certainly out of another era: the optimism that attended the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Among our other classics are City Lights, Chaplin�s first film after the coming of sound, but one which resolutely adhered to the silent aesthetic on which his whole performance style and cinematic vocabulary depended. It is also our first silent film since Man with a Movie Camera in 2015, though like that film it has its own recorded soundtrack. We also look forward to a new copy of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Howard Hawks� contribution to the buxom musical comedies of the 50s, as well as revisiting two fine social dramas of the British 1960s, at opposite ends of the New Wave: A Taste of Honey and Far From the Madding Crowd.
Indeed, weighty issues are never far from our selection this year (Taxi Tehran, The Death of Stalin), though the handling is invariably light. Finally, we have three outstanding examples of genre cinema in Unforgiven, The Handmaiden and Interstellar, each of which might be said to address adult material. To round off matters we are again showing a short film, an invariably thought-provoking format, at the start of most of our screenings.
We hope you will find much to enjoy and ponder in our selection of films, and if you wish to join for our fantastic value �38 subscription (25 and Under �19), can I encourage you to avail yourself of one of our online booking options. Alternatively, download and print off the application form, and mail it to our Membership Secretary, or collect a copy from the Ipswich Film Theatre, Library, Tourist Office, or a number of other public venues around town.

Apply for Membership and Pay Online
Membership �38.00 - 25 & Under �19.00
Guest �5.00 - 25 & Under �2.50
Ipswich Film Society would like to thank Ipswich
Film Theatre for the continued use of the facilities