The Gundaroo Film Society will be hosting two films back-to-back on Saturday night.
Starting at 7pm is the Peter Jackson directed World War One documentary “They Shall Not Grow Old “ (2018) followed at 9pm by “The Keeper” (2018) a biographical film based on the incredible story of prisoner of World War Two Bert Trautmann.
Wayne Kotzur of the Gundaroo Film Society said that whilst things at the film society weren’t exactly the same as the pre-Covid world, the events still draw quite a decent crowd.
“We have an average attendance of around 40, but can gather attendances of up to 80 for the very popular films.”
Events are held for members only, with 60-70 members currently signed up, Wayne would prefer to see that figure closer to the usual mark of over 100.
Unfortunately for members, the Gundaroo Soldiers Memorial Hall is currently limited to 53 people by Covid spacing, with capacity issues solved by a random ballot.
The expectation and hope is that by the next event the restrictions may have eased for cinemas and the film society can return to showing films at its full capacity.
They normally offer meals and even the opportunity for BYO food and drinks, but with the current climate have put those options on hold in order to maximise the safety of their members.
They have, however, just returned to selling ice creams.
The Gundaroo Film Society has an extensive history dating back to 1915 when a truck would back into the hall and display movies on a screen for the audience.
“There have been many iterations of the film society here in Gundaroo.”
“The earliest mention of films in Gundaroo were about 1915, when the travelling picture shows would come through.”
“The Film Society then started formally during the 70’s for a couple of decades, run by a man named Richard Rufus who now has left Gundaroo and has a twin cinema in Bowral,” said Wayne.
The recent edition of the Gundaroo Film Society began in the early 2000’s and it’s safe to say the 16mm screen, 2000 watt projector and integrated amplifiers afforded to today’s film society far surpasses the technology of their predecessors.
Due to the nature of being a film society and getting to show the films for far cheaper, there is limited availability for non-members to participate.
“Because it’s a Film Society we are limited with what we can do with the general public.”
“Our first screening of the year is usually a completely open film where anyone can attend and then you have to be a member to come to the cinema because otherwise, we’d have to be charging commercial rates,” he said.
For members, there are often special events that feature film industry professionals as special guest speakers.
“We do end up having quite well-known directors like we had the director of the Dressmaker here recently.”
“Someone from the Mad Max films is coming to talk sometime this year.”
“We often have 3 or 4 guest speakers who either directly made the films or who were involved in the film industry,” said Wayne.
It is these events, partnered with the obvious opportunity to watch films amongst other film lovers, that draws people to the Gundaroo Film Society from far and wide.
“It draws quite a lot of people from quite a long-range.”
“We get people from Gunning, Wamboin and Sutton, so we get quite a few people within the radius of Gundaroo,” said Wayne.
If you have an interest in becoming a member of the Gundaroo Film Society or are simply searching for further information, reach out to their Facebook page.
Max O’Driscoll
