Category Archives: News

COVID-19: May Bulletin

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Dear Members:

I do hope that you and your families are all keeping well, are in reasonably good spirits and coping with the current Covid-19 crisis as best you can.

It’s now some weeks since I got in touch with you all to say that the CFC’s season had been postponed for the foreseeable future as places of public gatherings had been closed.  At the moment Chelmsford Theatres remain closed and there seems no likelihood of them being re-opened in the foreseeable future: possibly theatres, cinemas, concert halls and the like will be the last places to experience any lifting of government restrictions on ‘social distancing’: the arts, in general, face a very uncertain future. Hence, sadly but realistically, this current season of CFC is now abandoned.

I would like to address the issue of the five films the club has not been able to screen and your membership subscription.  The best solution for the Club, which I’m sure you appreciate runs on very tight financial resources, is for members to receive a credit towards a next full season, which would now, hopefully, be 2021-22 latest.  It is not possible for now to say what the subscription would be in the future, or how many films would be screened, but the sum would be deducted for members who re-join.  To anyone who decides not to join the Club when we are able to restart, we can offer a refund.  However, if any of you would like a refund now, do please get in touch with me via my email or phone (pfbunyan@btinternet.com – 01277622716).  Please do not get in touch until after 4 June, when our current season officially ends.

But hope springs eternal…. If there is any chance of showing, say, the last film in our programme on 4 June then we will let you know.  If it becomes feasible to present a short season of films, from winter 2020 into early spring of 2021, for instance, then again, I will be in touch.

The members of the Committee have been exchanging ideas with each other as to ways of promoting the kind of films which the Club exists to show.  There are a number of streaming services, such as Netflix, Mubi, Curzon Home Cinema and BFI player, showing recently released and back-catalogue films.  Some require a subscription, others are pay-to-view. BFI player, for instance is £4.99 per month, while Mubi is £9.99 per month.  It has been suggested that a ‘Watch Party’ could be organised in which those of us who take part watch a film ‘on line’ at a certain time and then share comments.  Again, if and when the details of this can be arranged, I shall be in touch.

I would love to hear from you as to how and if you use the internet to download and stream films.  As for me, I am steadily dusting down and working through my own collection of films on DVD/Blue Ray.  Even one or two on terrestrial TV: three hours recently of ‘The Dear Hunter’ for instance!

BFI Player has just issued its ‘Top 10’ films downloaded over the past few weeks: Calm With Horses; The Assistant; Knives Out; And Then We Danced; In the Cut; La belle époque; A Guide to Second Date Sex; Mr. Jones; Bound and Vivarium.  Films to grace any film club programme: but how good it would be to see them on the big screen!

On behalf of the Committee, I do offer you our very best wishes over the coming weeks: take care and keep well. We’ll meet again…

Peter Bunyan
Chair – Chelmsford Film Club

COVID-19: Important update (17 March)

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Dear Members:

You may already have heard that Chelmsford City Theatres has closed its theatres, the Civic and Cramphorn Studio, with immediate effect in order to help contain the spread of the Coronavirus – COVID-19.

As a result, I write to inform you that the rest of the Chelmsford Film Club season is abandoned, with just five more films due to be shown.  It is now a priority to protect the health of the public by avoiding public gatherings, and most organisations & clubs such as Chelmsford Film Club will be suspending their activities.

On behalf of the organising Committee, may I take this opportunity of thanking you for your continued support and encouragement this season and in the past.  I hope you will agree with me that it has been a very successful one, with some great movies. Certainly this has been reflected in the positive response slips handed in at the end of the screenings, and in the comments made at the well-attended ‘Discussion Event’ held after the showing of ‘Custody’ in January.

Many thanks to all of you who submitted your film choices, which will go towards putting together a season for 2020/21, something the Committee will be working on in the coming weeks.  We will also be considering the five films which have had to be cancelled this season, such as the outstanding ‘Parasite’.

I’m sure you will all agree that cancelling the current programme, the first time this has happened in the Club’s thirty-two year history, is unavoidable and the right thing to do while we all try to deal with the current crisis, and stay fit and well.

We are aware that each of our members has paid for a full season’s membership which at the moment we are unable to deliver.  We will address this aspect when the ongoing situation becomes clearer.

Looking forward to seeing you all in due course.

Peter Bunyan

Chair – Chelmsford Film Club

Cléo From 5 to 7 (Tues 31st March)

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-1736Days -7Hours -16Minutes -46Seconds

Our Next Presentation:  CLÉO FROM 5 TO 7

THE CRAMPHORN THEATRE, CHELMSFORD – Tuesday 31st MARCH @ 8PM

Following the death, last year of Agnès Varda, the Film Club are proud to present one of her greatest films. Recently rereleased, this pioneering classic and glory of the new wave depicts, in a kind of real time, two hours in the life of beautiful singer and glamorous woman-about-town Cleo as she awaits the results of her cancer tests and keeps an ear out for news of Edith Piaff’s recent illness. She befriends a young soldier, en route for Algeria, and possibly his own death. (Read more…)
Please note: The only trailer for this film on the web is the official French trailer, it does not have subtitles.

Our Previous Presentation ‘FOXTROT’

Audience Feedback for Foxtrot

Audience Feedback for Foxtrot

There were 18 reaction slips returned following the screening of this film.  The results were: ‘Excellent’: 5 votes ‘Very Good’: 10 votes ‘Good’: 2 votes ‘Satisfactory’: 1 votes ‘Poor’: 0 votes To read all the comments, click on the following … Continue reading →

Source:

2020/21 Season

On 18th March, the Committee will be meeting to select 16 films for next season. If not already returned, can members please ensure they have returned the selection list to Peter before 16 March (note: this is earlier than previously advised). Details can be obtained from the Next Season Selection List page.

Half-Season Membership

As we have reached the half way stage in the season, the price of membership for the remainder of the season has dropped to £32.50. See the Membership page for details.

Your opinion counts

May we encourage you to complete the Response Slips following the showing of each film – feedback (both positive and negative) helps us to decide what types of films to show in future seasons. In addition, you can leave comments for any of the films we have shown via the Discussion page.

CFC on Twitter and Facebook

To receive regular, automatic notification of our films, why not follow us on either Twitter or Facebook.  Both can be accessed via the side panel on the left.