The forthcoming 2024/25 season (commencing on 17 October) has now been scheduled (bar one film, yet to be finalise), and we now have agreement with the Distributors for 9 of the 10 films confirmed. They are:

• Thursday 17 October: Anatomy Of A Fall (dir. Justine Triet, France, 2023, 151 mins)
  More than just an enthralling courtroom drama or even a murder mystery. A blistering and complex character study.
• Monday 4 November: Driving Mum (dir. Hilmar Oddsson, Iceland, 2024, 113 mins)
  The death of Jon’s mother impels a journey with her corpse, fulfilling her last wish. With Bresnef the dog also on board, the trip is a game changer for Jon.
• Wednesday 11 December: The Holdovers (dir. Alexander Payne, USA, 2023, 133 mins)
  A Christmas comedy drama in every sense! Paul the instructor stays on campus to mind some stranded boarding school kids over the Christmas break. Relationships are developed and cemented.
• Thursday 23 January: Film to be confirmed
• Wednesday 5 February: Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry (dir. Elena Naveriani, Georgia, 2023, 112 mins)
  A middle-aged single woman in a remote Georgian village has a near-death experience which changes her life for ever: a gentle gem of a film!
• Thursday 27 February: Zone Of Interest (dir. Jonathan Glazer, UK/USA/Poland, 2023, 105 mins)
  Loosely based on Martin Amis’s 2014 novel, Glazer’s critically acclaimed movie has been nominated for, and won, many awards. A poignant study of what Hannah Arendt called ‘the banality of evil’.
• Wednesday 12 March: The Commandant’s Shadow (dir. Daniela Volker, Germany/USA, 2024, 103 mins)
  Here is the documentary companion piece to THE ZONE OF INTEREST, in which the children of the Auschwitz camp commanders reflect on their experience of life after the Holocaust. Note: Members of the audience are invited to remain after the film for a discussion of both films and the season so far – the Studio bar will be open briefly.
• Wednesday 26 March: Io Capitano (dir. Matteo Garrone, Italy/Belgium/France, 2023, 121 mins)
  Filming in Senegal, Morocco and Italy, Garrone is inspired by actual stories of people’s African routes to Europe, exposing the greed, trauma and corruption driving today’s trade in would-be immigrants.
• Thursday 10 April: The Dead Don’t Hurt (dir. Viggo Mortenson, Canada/Denmark/Mexico, 2024, 129 mins)
  Mortenson stars, writes and directs in a gripping and scenic take on The Western. And a fine performance from Vicky Krieps of CORSAGE fame.
• Tuesday 29 April: Monster (dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japan, 2023, 125 mins)
  After BROKER, Kore-eda is back to a Japanese language film, using different takes on a single story to tell the fraught tale of two troubled boys and their parents.

Driving Mum, on 4 November, will be preceded by a short AGM

FILMS SHOWN AT THE STUDIO, CHELMSFORD (CM1 1JG). Doors and bar open from 7 PM. Films start at 8.00 p.m.
Membership: £75 for all 10 films (Details of how to join can be found on our Membership page).
Guests: £12.50 to be signed in by member.

Dear Members,

Another season has ended: our 33rd!!  On April 17 we screened RETURN TO SEOUL, the last of the 10 movies this season. At the film, in front of probably our biggest audience of the year, I was able to announce some good news.  We are planning to present yet season of 10 films, starting in October.  The dates booked for the Studio are:

Thursday 17 October ’24
Monday 4 November
Wednesday 11 December
Thursday 23 January ’25
Wednesday 5 February
Thursday 27 February
Wednesday 12 March
Thursday 27 March
Thursday 10 April
Tuesday 29 April

Demand for bookings at the Studio being so great, we had very little choice of dates to suit us, but we hope these present an attractive addition to your diaries.  The Committee will now begin the process of choosing the movies we shall show.  Your suggestions will be most welcome but, as many of you will know, not all recently released films are available to clubs like ours.  But do get in touch!

Demand for bookings at the Studio being so great, we had very little choice of dates to suit us, but we hope these present an attractive addition to your diaries.  The Committee will now begin the process of choosing the movies we shall show.  Your suggestions will be most welcome but, as many of you will know, not all recently released films are available to clubs like ours.  But do get in touch!

Virtually all of our reserve in the bank will go to hiring the 10 evenings at the Studio.  We are confident that the cost of licences to show the films will be met from your membership subscriptions and guest tickets.  However, the cost of subscriptions will have to increase from £70 this season to £75 for the next one.  Guest tickets will be £12.50.  We have ended this current season with 65 members.  Any fall in membership for the ’24/’25 season will mean that the future of the club will be in serious doubt.  Therefore I do hope you will all continue as members and that you will encourage friends, family and neighbours to join.  It was good to see so many of you taking part in the discussion after UNDER THE FIG TREES.  Everyone was extremely complimentary about the programme and showed a keen desire for the club to survive.

I would like to thank you all for your continuing support of the club.  I hope this has been a rewarding, enjoyable, even an entertaining and ‘challenging’ programme.  On your behalf, I would also like to thank members of the committee for their support, particularly our booking secretary Daden Hunt, our membership secretary Malcolm Reid, our treasurer Lawrence Islip and our website manager Bob Foale.

Wishing you a pleasant summer and looking forward to seeing you all again in October, I am

Peter Bunyan
Chair – CFC