THE Port Fairy Film Society is flourishing and a number of community groups are reaping the rewards.
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In between their screenings of arthouse and foreign films, which aim to give local audiences a chance to watch rarely sighted gems on a big screen, the society has been hosting regular fundraiser screenings.
These charity events have proven to be a huge success.
On Tuesday, almost 200 people packed the Reardon Theatre for a luncheon, some raffles and a screening of the all-star drama Suffragette, raising more than $3800 for the Red Cross in the process. The day also featured a talk from Port Fairy’s Bob Handby, who regularly volunteers in disaster areas.
Port Fairy Red Cross Unit treasurer Susan Rowbottom said the film society had been a great help to many community groups in the region.
“We’ve been doing these for years,” she said.
“We get great support from the community and the film society.
“You look at the film society’s calendar and they do one or two fundraiser screenings a month – it’s great.”
A recent screening of Disney’s animated blockbuster Zootopia attracted more than 200 people, raising money for St Patrick’s Parish Primary School in Port Fairy.
The school is also planning to hold a fundraising screening of the latest Pixar movie Finding Dory in July.
The film society is hosting two showings of Oscar-nominated Irish-American drama Brooklyn on July 22 as a fundraiser for the CWA.
There will also be a charity screening of Kung Fu Panda 3 for Port Fairy Consolidated School on June 11.
It’s part of a busy couple of months coming up for the film society, which will be a hotspot for the duration of the town’s winter weekends.
The society will be screening a movie almost every weekend of the seven-week-long community event.
On June 10, there will be two screenings of Florence Foster Jenkins, which stars Meryl Streep as the titular vocalist, who was regarded as the worst singer in the world during her career.
On June 17, they will show Australian film The Daughter, followed on June 25 by a film and food night that will include a pasta-making demonstration and a screening of 1996 cult classic Big Night. Wide Open Sky, a documentary about a children's choir in a remote corner of outback Australia, will be shown on July 1, followed by a yet-to-be-confirmed film on July 3 to mark Naidoc Week. The film society will screen Icelandic drama Rams twice on July 15.
- Port Fairy Red Cross Unit will next meet July 25 at the Port Fairy Community Centre. All are welcome.