Bright Film Society celebrates 20 years of cinema

To mark their 20-year anniversary, more than 60 members of the Bright Film Society (BFS) celebrated in style as they attended a dinner at Café Chulo, last Tuesday 21 July, ahead of a screening across the road at Sun Cinema, featuring the 2021 French documentary 'The Velvet Queen'. The film details a Nepalese expedition where a photographer and a reporter attempt to locate a snow leopard in the wild. "The film was just spectacular...really, really good," BFS president, Maureen Ryland said. "We score each monthly film out of five and this scored an average of 4.6 from the 62 people who attended, so it was certainly well-received." The society views 10 movie screenings from February to November on the third Tuesday of the month. Twenty years ago, three Bright residents were having coffee and lamented the fact the region's nearest cinema was in Wangaratta and wondered whether it was possible to create a film society more locally. Initially, the Bright Film Society realised the Bright RSL had everything they needed: a large screen, a DVD player with a good sound system, plenty of seating, a kitchen and even a bar, which one of the RSL members opened for them. All they needed then were enough members to make it financially viable: from the beginning, they wanted to offer a balanced program featuring a wide range of genres, countries and languages. Sun Cinema owners, Michael and Anne Smith, generously invited the society to use their cinema nine years ago and the timing could not have been better, as the RSL screen was becoming too small for many of the newer Blu-ray releases. “I feel incredibly privileged to have been there at the beginning and to have played a small part in the Bright Film’s Society’s story,” inaugural BFS president, Judy Flanders said. Since then, the BFS has continued to go from strength to strength under the wonderful leadership of Chris Blazek, Helen Carlson and current president Maureen Ryland and their teams. "Congratulations to everyone who has contributed over the past 20 years," Ms Ryland said. "It’s a real testament to everyone who has volunteered their time and energy to keep us thriving. "Our membership is 76 people strong and wouldn’t function without the tireless work of our committee and members. "It's wonderful to just have the opportunity to show films which wouldn't normally be shown at the cinema. "We watch across-the-spectrum documentaries, international movies and so on. "We are forever grateful for the partnership we share with Sun Cinema and marvel over the fabulous community asset we get to use. "Other film societies [might meet] in a freezing cold community hall and have to set up, but we just go over, grab a drink, grab an ice cream, sit in a gold-class cinema and watch our films, so we're incredibly lucky."

Bright Film Society celebrates 20 years of cinema

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