slack bay

Ventnor Film Society returns with season of acclaimed British and world cinema

Lin shares details of this upcoming Ventnor Film Society season. Ed


On Tuesday 12th and Wednesday 13th September, Ventnor Film Society returns with a new programme of acclaimed British and world cinema.

The Society will once more be screening each film on two evenings, usually Tuesday and Wednesday. Everyone is welcome to come along; there is no membership and there is no need to be a member of the Arts Club to attend.

This season we will be screening a diverse programme of recent award winning films from France, Germany, UK, Vanuatu/Australia and Iran, including the winner and two nominees of the 2017 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. With thrillers, black comedy, wartime drama, arty autobiography and a tale of star-crossed lovers, we have put together a programme with something for everyone, in English and in the original languages with subtitles.

Something for everyone
We kick off the season with the Oscar-nominated German comedy Toni Erdmann, which sees a practical joker father disguise himself to prove a point to his workaholic daughter.

Our next offering is the French black comedy Slack Bay, where, in 1910, an eccentric family’s summer holiday is interrupted by a pair of bumbling inspectors investigating a string of missing tourists. Expect slapstick farce, absurdist satire and some nasty surprises!

From Iran comes the 2017 Oscar winner The Salesman, a powerful suspense thriller from the director of A Separation and About Elly. A young Iranian couple moves to the centre of Tehran, but one night Emad returns home to find his wife missing and the bathroom covered with blood.

We move to the London Blitz of 1940 with the BBC film Their Finest, starring Bill Nighy as an aging matinee idol and Gemma Arterton as a young screenwriter hired to make an epic film about Dunkirk to boost morale for the nation at war.

French films set in beautiful landscapes are always popular and this film looks just like an Impressionist painting of Provence. Cezanne And I is the story of the artist’s relationship with writer Emile Zola and the different paths their lives take.

With Frantz, we return to wartime drama, this time World War I, where a German girl meets a mysterious Frenchman at her fiancé’s grave setting off a tale of secrets, romance, grief and guilt.

The dramatic volcanoes, lush forests and white beaches of the Pacific island of Vanuatu are the setting for our second Oscar nominee, Tanna, the story of young forbidden lovers who must choose between following their hearts and the traditional culture of their isolated tribe.

Where and when
Ventnor Film Society meets in Ventnor Arts Club, 13 High Street, Ventnor, which offers comfy chairs and HD projection.

To be sure of a place, please reserve a seat by emailing [email protected], but local viewers can always take a chance and turn up on the night. Screenings take place fortnightly on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 7.30pm. Follow the links above to find out more about the films.

Entrance is £6, with under 25s enjoying a discount of £3, payable at the door and the bar is open from 6.30pm.

We look forward to seeing all our regulars in September but if you have never been before, please come along and enjoy!