WEA Film Study Group
Encyclopedia
The WEA Sydney Film Society is a non-profit
film society
based in Sydney
, Australia
.
It is a club of WEA Sydney, which is part of the Workers' Educational Association
.
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.
The society held some film weekends including an Eisenstein
Weekend held in October, 1963 with one of the speakers being filmmaker Gil Brealey
." Another 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."
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
, 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, filmmakers and film critics such as Frank Moorhouse
, Michael Thornhill
, Ken Quinnell
, John Baxter
and John Flaus
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, John Flaus
, Denis Trimas, Doug Roberts, Tom Politis, and Leth Maitland.
. 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
.
Films including animation
and avant-garde programs came from Australia
, the USA
, Great Britain
, Ireland, Canada, France
, Germany
, Italy
, the former USSR
, Egypt
and India
. Silent films projected at appropriate speed, with well-chosen accompaniment continue to be popular. Art-house films as well as wide-screen blockbuster
s such as 55 Days at Peking
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
.
Many significant films can only be seen in Australia
by members of the general public if they belong to a film society
.
A number of the titles available on 16mm film for the film society screenings are not currently available on pay or free-to-air
television
, videocassette or Region 4 DVD
. WEA Sydney Film Society is a member of the Federation of NSW and Associated Film Societies and the Australian Council of Film Societies
.
(2004) and Overlord
(1975).
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
film society
Film society
A film society is a membership club where people can watch screenings of films which would otherwise not be shown in mainstream cinemas. In Spain they are known as "Cineclubs," and in Germany they are known as "Filmclubs"....
based in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
It is a club of WEA Sydney, which is part of the Workers' Educational Association
Workers' Educational Association
The Workers’ Educational Association seeks to provide access to education and lifelong learning for adults from all backgrounds, and in particular those who have previously missed out on education. The International Federation of Workers Education Associations has consultative status to UNESCO...
.
History
It was established as WEA Film Study Group in 1961. The society had its first meeting on 23 February 1961. Ken QuinnellKen Quinnell
Ken Quinnell is a screenwriter and director.He has a background in publishing and freelance journalism including working for Screen International and Rolling Stone. He was a member of the WEA Film Study Group in the 1960s where he met writers Michael Thornhill and Frank Moorhouse...
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.
The society held some film weekends including an Eisenstein
Sergei Eisenstein
Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein , né Eizenshtein, was a pioneering Soviet Russian film director and film theorist, often considered to be the "Father of Montage"...
Weekend held in October, 1963 with one of the speakers being filmmaker Gil Brealey
Gil Brealey
Gil Brealey is an Australian television and film director, producer and writer.Brealey studied at Melbourne University, where he made his first amateur films around the age of 20. He was a member of the Melbourne University Film society and was a speaker at the Eisenstein Weekend organised by the...
." Another 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."
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
The Siege of Pinchgut is a 1959 British thriller film directed by Harry Watt. It was entered into the 9th Berlin International Film Festival. It was the last film from Ealing Studios.-Plot:...
(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
Peter Wollen is a film theorist and writer. He studied English at Christ Church, Oxford. Both political journalist and film theorist, Wollen's Signs and Meaning in the Cinema , helped to transform the discipline of film studies by incorporating the methodology of structuralism and...
, 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
John Baxter (author)
John Baxter is an Australian-born writer, journalist, and film-maker.Baxter has lived in Britain and the United States as well as in his native Sydney, but has made his home in Paris since 1989, where he is married to the film-maker Marie-Dominique Montel...
Notable screenwriters, filmmakers and film critics such as Frank Moorhouse
Frank Moorhouse
Frank Moorhouse is an acclaimed Australian writer with a growing international reputation. He has won major Australian national prizes for the short story, the novel, the essay, and for script writing....
, Michael Thornhill
Michael Thornhill
Michael Thornhill is a film producer, screenwriter, and director.He has a background in freelance journalism and publishing including working as a film critic....
, Ken Quinnell
Ken Quinnell
Ken Quinnell is a screenwriter and director.He has a background in publishing and freelance journalism including working for Screen International and Rolling Stone. He was a member of the WEA Film Study Group in the 1960s where he met writers Michael Thornhill and Frank Moorhouse...
, John Baxter
John Baxter (author)
John Baxter is an Australian-born writer, journalist, and film-maker.Baxter has lived in Britain and the United States as well as in his native Sydney, but has made his home in Paris since 1989, where he is married to the film-maker Marie-Dominique Montel...
and John Flaus
John Flaus
John Flaus is an Australian broadcaster, actor, voice talent, anarchist and raconteur. He was formerly a prominent film academic and theorist. He was born in Maroubra, Sydney....
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, John Flaus
John Flaus
John Flaus is an Australian broadcaster, actor, voice talent, anarchist and raconteur. He was formerly a prominent film academic and theorist. He was born in Maroubra, Sydney....
, 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 Sydney Film FestivalSydney Film Festival
The Sydney Film Festival is an annual film festival held in the Australian city of Sydney and is held over 12 days in June. The competitive film festival draws international and local attention, with films being showcased in several venues across the city centre and includes features,...
. 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, Sydney
Bathurst Street is a cross street in the Central Business District of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is situated in the southern portion of the Sydney central business district and runs from Darling Harbour in the west, across the ridge where it crosses George Street, and...
.
Films including animation
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
and avant-garde programs came from Australia
Cinema of Australia
Cinema of Australia, more commonly referred to as the Australian film industry, refers to the system of production, distribution, and exhibition of films in Australia. Film production commenced in Australia in 1906 with the production of The Story of the Kelly Gang, the earliest feature film made...
, the USA
Cinema of the United States
The cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...
, Great Britain
Cinema of the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom has had a major influence on modern cinema. The first moving pictures developed on celluloid film were made in Hyde Park, London in 1889 by William Friese Greene, a British inventor, who patented the process in 1890. It is generally regarded that the British film industry...
, Ireland, Canada, France
Cinema of France
The Cinema of France comprises the art of film and creative movies made within the nation of France or by French filmmakers abroad.France is the birthplace of cinema and was responsible for many of its early significant contributions. Several important cinematic movements, including the Nouvelle...
, Germany
Cinema of Germany
Cinema in Germany can be traced back to the late 19th century. German cinema has made major technical and artistic contributions to film.Unlike any other national cinemas, which developed in the context of relatively continuous and stable political systems, Germany witnesses major changes to its...
, Italy
Cinema of Italy
The history of Italian cinema began just a few months after the Lumière brothers had patented their Cinematographe, when Pope Leo XIII was filmed for a few seconds in the act of blessing the camera.-Early years:...
, the former USSR
Cinema of Russia
The cinema of Russia began in the Russian Empire, widely developed under the Soviet and in the years following the fall of the Soviet system, the Russian film industry would remain internationally recognised...
, Egypt
Cinema of Egypt
The cinema of Egypt refers to the flourishing Egyptian Arabic-language film industry based in Cairo, the capital of Egypt. Since 1976, Cairo has held the annual Cairo International Film Festival, which has been accredited by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations. There is also...
and India
Cinema of India
The cinema of India consists of films produced across India, which includes the cinematic culture of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal. Indian films came to be followed throughout South Asia and...
. Silent films projected at appropriate speed, with well-chosen accompaniment continue to be popular. Art-house films as well as wide-screen blockbuster
Blockbuster (entertainment)
Blockbuster, as applied to film or theatre, denotes a very popular or successful production. The entertainment industry use was originally theatrical slang referring to a particularly successful play but is now used primarily by the film industry...
s such as 55 Days at Peking
55 Days at Peking
55 Days at Peking is a 1963 historical epic film starring Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, and David Niven, made by Samuel Bronston Productions, and released by Allied Artists. The movie was produced by Samuel Bronston and directed by Nicholas Ray, Andrew Marton , and Guy Green...
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
National Film and Sound Archive
The National Film and Sound Archive is Australia’s audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national collection of audiovisual materials and related items...
– the National Film and Sound Archive
National Film and Sound Archive
The National Film and Sound Archive is Australia’s audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national collection of audiovisual materials and related items...
.
Many significant films can only be seen in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
by members of the general public if they belong to a film society
Film society
A film society is a membership club where people can watch screenings of films which would otherwise not be shown in mainstream cinemas. In Spain they are known as "Cineclubs," and in Germany they are known as "Filmclubs"....
.
A number of the titles available on 16mm film for the film society screenings are not currently available on pay or free-to-air
Free-to-air
Free-to-air describes television and radio services broadcast in clear form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscription or one-off fee...
television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
, videocassette or Region 4 DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
. 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
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 1950...
.
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.Fiftieth Anniverary
The society had its first meeting on 23 February 1961. They celebrated the fiftieth anniverary of its founding by screening two films on 27th February 2011. These films were Z Channel: A Magnificent ObsessionZ Channel: A Magnificent Obsession
Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession is a documentary about Los Angeles pay cable channel Z Channel that accompanied the DVD release of uncut version of Heaven's Gate...
(2004) and Overlord
Overlord (film)
Overlord is a 1975 black-and-white film written and directed by Stuart Cooper. Set around the D-Day invasion , Overlord is a war film about a young soldier's meditations on being part of the war machinery, and his premonitions of death...
(1975).
External links
- Official website
- Program of films http://www.weasydney.com.au/image/uploads/File/2011/pdf/WEASFS-Brochure-Feb-to-Dec.pdf
- 2012 film schedule http://www.weasydney.nsw.edu.au/image/uploads/File/2011/pdf/WEASFS%20Preview%20of%202012%20Films.pdf