The WEA Sydney Film Society is a

nonprofit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

film society A film society is a membership-based Club (organization), club where people can watch Public and private screening, screenings of films which would otherwise not be shown in mainstream Movie theater, cinemas. In Spain, Ireland and Italy, they are kn ...

based in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. 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 Workers' Educational Associations (WEA) are not-for-profit bodies that deliver further education to adults in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. WEA UK WEA UK, founded in 1903, is the UK's largest voluntary sector provider of adult edu ...

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 me ...

was present at the first meeting. The first president was

Ian Klava Ian or Iain is a name of Scottish Gaelic origin, which is derived from the Hebrew given name (Yohanan, ') and corresponds to the English name John. The spelling Ian is an Anglicization of the Scottish Gaelic forename ''Iain''. This name is a popu ...

, 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 ...

", "

Animal Farm ''Animal Farm'' (originally ''Animal Farm: A Fairy Story'') is a satirical allegorical novella, in the form of a beast fable, by George Orwell, first published in England on 17 August 1945. It tells the story of a group of anthropomorphic far ...

", "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 or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...

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 t ...

. 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 David Wark Griffith (January 22, 1875 – July 23, 1948) was an American film director. Considered one of the most influential figures in the history of the motion picture, he pioneered many aspects of film editing and expanded the art of the n ...

, with such features as

Way Down East ''Way Down East'' is a 1920 American silent film, silent melodrama film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish. It is one of four film adaptations of the 19th century play of the same name by Charlotte Blair Parker, Lottie Blair ...

(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 th ...

(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'' (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 an English film theorist and filmmaker. He studied English at Christ Church, Oxford. Both a political journalist and film theorist, Wollen's ''Signs and Meaning in the Cinema'' (1969) helped ...

, 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 screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

filmmakers Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screenwritin ...

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: Academic criticism by film scholars, who study the composition of film theory and publish their findin ...

such as

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

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 is an Australian actor. Career Flaus began acting in 1969 when he was on the set of the short film ''The American Poet's Visit'', directed by Michael Thornhill. Flaus was there to observe the set, but Thornhill had told him to be ...

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

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

Activities

It screens a double-feature 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 filmmaking technique whereby still images are manipulated to create moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Animati ...

and avant-garde programs came from

, the

USA The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, the

former USSR The post-Soviet states, also referred to as the former Soviet Union or the former Soviet republics, are the independent sovereign states that emerged/re-emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Prior to their independence, they ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

and

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Silent films A silent film is a film without 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, wh ...

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

Art-house An art film, arthouse film, or specialty film is 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 prima ...

films as well as wide-screen blockbusters 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 Beijing (then still Peking, in English) during the Boxer Uprising, which took place in China in the summer of 1 ...

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 c ...

– 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 Film gauge, gauge of Photographic film, film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 mm film, 8 mm and 35mm movie film, 35 mm. It ...

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 appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscri ...

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

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, videocasset ...

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 ki ...

. 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, ...

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 ...

'' (1975).

Bibliography

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

Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper in ...

Metro 19 November 1993 p. 2 * Monthly bulletin

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official website
Film organisations in Australia Film societies