Summer comes to Keswick!

It seems very appropriate that the weather is so lovely at the moment; we can all go outside and enjoy it while there are no club movies to see! We hope you have enjoyed the year; we feel that it was a good one with some great films, and certainly a fantastic 25th Film Festival last month. 

Many of the films went on to win BAFTAs or even Oscars and many more appeared in the BFI's best films of the year list. It is also a good sign that so many club-type films are now winning awards worldwide.

Thanks to everyone who has helped keep the show running over the year, whether you were on the committee, running front of house, running the Festival or helping on it. An especial thanks to Ian Payne for directing all the great festivals we have had in his time and to Julia Vickers for stepping forward to run the next ones! A special thanks should go the Rennie family for all their years giving the club a home, and to Jonathan and Graham for taking on the responsibility for our future. Thanks all!

So that is it from us. The emails will be back in mid summer with a list of films for next season for members to choose from, and the Sunday night shows will start again in September.  If you are looking for something to see meantime, keep your eye on the Alhambra website - they  will keep showing films for you every week. 

Have a great summer, everyone! 

25th Keswick Film Festival

 

This week it's the 25th Keswick Film Festival and one of the biggest programmes we've ever had. It starts on Thursday with Harvey Greenfield Is Running Late which is now sold out but there's an additional screening at 9:15 on Saturday morning. At the time of writing the closing film Cottontail looks like it might sell out as well so we're also showing it in Screen 2. In between there's plenty to see; from award hopefuls like The Brutalist and Emilia Pérez, previews of new films such as Flow, Sister Midnight and Misericordia and a 50th Anniversary screening of Tommy which Mark Kermode just described as "one of the most important and groundbreaking pop movies of all time" in his final Observer column. There are free short film at the Ospreys and showcase from Oska Bright Film Festival, £5 Family Films (which are all really great and not just for kids) and a selection of modern classics and favourites in the new Screen2/Take2 strand. The real question is how to you choose what not to see?

Annual General Meeting - This Sunday at 4:30pm

The AGM of the Keswick Film Club will be held at the Alhambra on Sunday 12th January. We’ll start at 4.30 and be finished for the film which will start as usual at 5.00. 

All the documents are posted on the website - see AGM 2025.

Do come along and hear about what we’ve been doing, and it’s your chance to let the committee know what you think.

All the present officers are standing for re-election but we are always keen for new people to stand, so please get in touch if you are interested.

Films for 2025

If Only I Could Hibernate was the last film of the year but don't worry we'll be back on January 5th with the much acclaimed Anora. The programme for the full season is available to view here and the brochure is available to download or pick up from the Alhambra. There's 12 great films to take us through to the end of March and that's not including the 25th Keswick Film Festival.  If you head over the the Festival website you'll see more films added as they are confirmed, it looks like there's already some great ones to choose from. There's also a Films of the Century vote to pick from some of the best films of the last 25 years to show in screen 2 during the Festival. 

We hope you have a good Christmas and we'll see you in the New Year.

Rose - Sunday 15th September 5pm

Our opening night starts with free drinks from 4.30pm, so do get there nice and early to see your friends. We start with Rose from Denmark.

The story of two sisters, Inger and Ellen, and how their relationship is challenged on a highly anticipated coach trip to Paris. When Inger announces her struggles with mental health to the group, the sisters are faced with pity from some and discrimination from others. On arrival in Paris, it soon becomes clear that Inger has a hidden agenda. ROSE is a film about love and care for each other, in spite of our differences, as much as it is a film about not judging a book by its cover.

"Gråbøl is superb throughout, recognising Inger as a complicated individual who has a lot more going on than just her illness." - Jennie Kermode, Eye for Film

Your Programme for Autumn 2024

We are getting close to the start of our 25th year which starts on Sunday 15th September. The autumn season is booked, including 9 films voted for by the members. You can now read about all of the films in the PDF of the brochure which is also available around town.

If you join the club for £10 you get to see any of the club films for only £6 but everybody is welcome at all of the films.

We hope that you will want to see many of the films here and that our 25th year turns out to be a memorable one for us all!

That's all for now, folks!

And so our 25th Year comes to an end; we do hope you have enjoyed it! By the look of the votes most films seem to have gone down well, and more of you came to see them than last year so let's hope the Covid effect is wearing off; wouldn't it be great if next year sees our audiences reach the numbers they did before the pandemic!

We would like to thank all those who helped run the films this year, both for the club nights and the festival; the committee decision to try to involve more people seems to have been popular and successful - thank you all very much! Watch this space over the summer for requests for help next season; there might be a few more jobs for you to enjoy!

All that remains for us to do is to wish you all a great summer and to say we will be back in September (probably Sunday 8 September), and to remind you that it will be the Festival's 25th Birthday next year - Ian Payne, the Festival Director,  has some great ideas to hep us celebrate! Put the dates in your diary now - 25th Keswick Film Festival - Thursday 6 March to Sunday 9 March. 

More Films...

The End We Start From was originally going to be our last film before our long summer break but we now have two more films for you. We have decided that the Festival Favourite - 'Totem' deserves to be seen by more people than got to see it at the festival and so we will be showing it on TUESDAY 16 APRIL AT 7.30pm. 

On SUNDAY 21st April at 5.00pm we will be showing 'Lost in the Stars', the Chinese thriller that went wrong on 4 February. More details will follow soon - but put them in your diary now!

24th Keswick Film Festival

This Thursday sees the start of the 2024 Film Festival with the sold out European Première of Between The Lights (there are still some tickets available for the Saturday screening). From there our cinematic world tour takes in Malaysia, Mexico, Tunisia, Georgia, Japan, Iran and the USA. Recent BAFTA winners The Zone Of Interest and American Fiction are showing at the Alhambra on Sunday. The Osprey Short Film Awards are a free event at the Theatre By The Lake on Saturday featuring 9 new Cumbrian short films. The big screen at Rheged is in use once again for Samsara, The Taste Of Things, Tótem, Four Daughters and The New Boy. On Friday evening we'll be joined by co-directors Ali Catterall and Jane Giles for their riotous new doc Scala!!! (or to give the film its full title: Scala!!! Or, the Incredibly Strange Rise and Fall of the World's Wildest Cinema and How It Influenced a Mixed-up Generation of Weirdos and Misfits). There are 24 feature films over the long weekend including award favourites, critically acclaimed selections and previews of films not yet on release in the UK. 

Tickets and passes are available from the Alhambra, we hope to see you there.

AGM - Sunday 18th February 4:30pm

We are having our normal very brief AGM before Love Life, please come for 4.30 onwards to enjoy a free drink while we make decisions for the coming year.

We have moved our AGM back in the calendar to allow time for the accounts to be audited, so this meeting will cover 18 months (but will still not take long as all the info you need is on our website, please try to read it before the meeting). The election of officers and Trustees is essential so do please come along or we will not be able to continue.

Lost In The Stars - Sunday 4th February 5:00 PM

 

To go with the MINT Chinese Film Festival taking place at the Alhambra from this Thursday 1st to Sunday 4th, this week we're showing Lost In The Stars, a cracking, Hitchcockian, twisty thriller.

A Chinese couple go away to an island for a weekend to celebrate their wedding anniversary, but the wife goes missing and then the twists and turns continue; definitely a thriller 'like they used to be'...

Our New Year begins with Fallen Leaves

Happy New Year everyone! We hope you have all enjoyed your Christmas, but, like us, you are looking forward to watching great World Cinema again…and We have some great films indeed lined up for 2024, with award winners and likely Oscar winners amongst films from all around the world… not to mention the Keswick Film Festival from 29 February to 3 March. 

We start on 7 January at 5.00pm at the Alhambra cinema with the latest deadpan comedy from the great Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki – ‘Fallen Leaves’: A lovely tale of ‘almost-doomed’ romance. Ansa is sacked from her shelf-filling, supermarket job for taking home out-of-date food to give to the poor. Holoppa is sacked from his job in a scrapyard for drinking at work. All looks lost for both of them until they meet at an eclectic karaoke bar (!) and love beckons… but a lost address and even a charming stray dog still stand in their way… 

We are hoping for some great evenings in a full Alhambra over the coming months.  We are looking forward to seeing films again… and to seeing you! All are welcome. We hope these films will appeal to you; see you there!

Merry Christmas From The Club

Our season ended on a high note with the largest audience of the season - 109 - watching 'Nobody Needs to Know', a sweet love story set on the beautiful Hebridean Island of Lewis. With your help we can keep these numbers growing; whether you have been a regular or if you haven't been for a while, do come along and see our Spring Season films...and bring your friends! 

We are still a friendly club, always pleased to see you, and our programme has some great looking films as always, from award winners such as 'Anatomy of a Fall', to future winners (is 'Poor Things' going to do as well at the Oscars as they say?); from the documentary '20 days in Mariupol' to the Spanish drama '20,000 Species of Bees'.

We start back on 7 January with 'Fallen Leaves' from the always dependable Finish director Aki Kaurismaki. We hope to see you there! Meantime, have a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. 

See you in 2024!

Indie Films at the Alhambra

While we take our summer break, the Alhambra will be aiming to screen an indie film each week. These films will be in the usual Film Club Sunday 5pm slot, but also a Friday matinee, and late evening slot on a Wednesday, to maximise opportunities for you to see this fabulous selection.

Each feature will screen Friday 2pm, Sunday 5pm, Wednesday 8pm (or thereabouts)

• Lola - from 5th May
• Kindling - from 12th May
• Close - from 19th May
• One Fine Morning - from 26th May
• Junk Head - from 2nd June
• Love According To Dalva - from 9th June
• Plan 75 - from 16th June

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

So we have had our last film for the season, but we will be back on Sunday 8 January with 'Aftersun', about a woman's memories of a holiday with her father which has had huge critical acclaim. The full program will be published here shortly; watch this space.

Whilst we had some great films as always this season, the post-covid feeling of  'not wanting to go out' has kept the numbers down, with less than 70 people coming on average. We do understand this reticence (indeed, we are suffering the same dilemma), lets hope more people venture to the club films in the Spring... and the Keswick Film Festival from 23 to 26 February. The festival programme is now online and tickets and passes are available to buy from the Alhambra. 

Meanwhile, we hope you have a great festive season! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone - see you in January at the Alhambra for World Cinema.

The Big Hit - Sunday 18th September 5pm

"Emmanuel Courcol channels the feel-good energy of films like 'The Full Monty' for his latest, which fictionalises the true story of Swedish actor Jan Jönson's attempt to help prisoners stage a version of Samuel Beckett's 'Waiting For Godot'". - Eye For Film

The film will be preceded by our 2022 AGM at 4:30pm which will be a short meeting.

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We Are Back

It has been a long time since we showed films to a full house; Covid has dominated our lives for what seems like forever. We are starting this new season with high hopes of being 'back to normal', so no social distancing, no masks, drinks on the opening night and even paper voting slips! We do hope you are looking forward to a new season of films as much as we are.

One thing we are not bringing back yet is the brochure; we have booked films until the end of October and we will produce a shortened handout showing the details of these which you will be able to pick up from the Alhambra. We will do the same for the rest of the season during October.

So what can you look forward to?  We are starting with a 'French September' - three films from France to get us going again (Eiffel, The Big Hit and Anaïs In Love). Then a quick trip round Europe (Spain, Italy, Poland)before heading to the US and Indonesia to finish the first half of the season.

The end of a restricted, but successful year

With the end of the Festival, our Film Club year comes to an end again. Covid meant we had a very restricted capacity, but we at least managed to keep going. We saw 21 films throughout the year, albeit with an average audience of only 65. Whilst Covid seems to be on the rise at the moment, let us hope that it continues to be beaten back and we can have next year without social distancing. The highest scoring Club film was 'The Father' with nearly 89% - the top scores are on the website.

Our thanks go to all who helped keep the club afloat - the committee, volunteers and, of course, the Alhambra.

So now we can hope to enjoy a good summer. Make the most of those glorious sunny days! We will be back in September with a new season of films to start our 24th year - watch this space for details - and, if all goes well, maybe a brochure for the first time in a while. We will also bring you occasional news of Alhambra films we think you might enjoy. Not only is their program now much more extensive (with two screen to fill!), but they are also going to put on some 'world cinema' films that David Miller and Jonathan Porter are choosing - we have agreed to email you the details as they come up.

Enjoy your summer everyone - see you in September!

Annual General Meeting 31st October

We are holding the club AGM at 4.15 pm on Sunday 31 October, in the Alhambra,  before the showing of Riders of Justice. It is important as always for the Club, but maybe more so than normal after a year of little activity; we need to get everything moving again.  Anyone who wants to help the club in any way is welcome at any time but the AGM is a good place to put yourself forward. 

You can find more details on ways you can help, the agenda for the AGM and other documents on our AGM page.

Lets get together again in October

After such a long enforced break we hope you are all looking forward to seeing films again. For most of us seeing how marvellous the Alhambra is now looking after the revamp is surely temptation enough to come along and watch a movie. If that wasn't enough, the Alhambra is offering you the latest James Bond movie and whether that tempts you or not Keswick Film Club will be back in action starting with three Oscar winning movies to see on the Big Screen! How can you resist?!

To tie in with the Alhambra relaunch we are now starting on Sunday 3 October. Until everything settles down a bit we are sticking to the way we organised during the lockdowns - we will book and announce films one month at a time rather than having a brochure for the season. You will find information on all the October films here on the website. We are starting off with three Oscar winners that we have missed while we off the air, followed by a British drama and a Danish comedy/thriller.