Events

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David Williamson explains how a film club became a local touring cinema

Talkies Community CinemaA group of my friends in Palmers Green have had a film club for many years. Each month we go to a different house and the hosts choose a film and cook a meal.

When I retired six years ago I wondered if this mix of social and cultural glue would work for a wider group of people. Talkies Community Cinema was launched in January 2013 and we now run about 30 events a year, including outdoor screenings for families in Broomfield Park, art house cinema at the Dugdale Centre in Enfield, and several other venues showing a range of films.

Most of the background organisation is done by friend Steve Foster and I, but it needs the dedication of a brilliant team of volunteers to make Talkies events happen.

Talkies is a not-for-profit organisation and receives no grants or subsidies. We value the occasional sponsored event by local businesses, but mainly we survive on ticket sales. Any surplus and the generous contributions from friends of Talkies members is used to support young filmmakers.

In the last four years we have commissioned 23 short films, each with a £500 award. Filmmakers also receive mentoring from local film professionals and support from Talkies volunteers who assist in production.

Your next chance to experience Talkies in action is on Thursday 4th October at Dugdale Centre, when former BBC journalist, Professor Kurt Barling, introduces 2016 film Alone in Berlin. Emma Thompson and Brendan Gleeson play a couple who, galvanised by grief and rage at the loss of their son in battle, embark on small but extremely dangerous acts of resistance; leaving anonymous anti-Hitler postcards in stairwells and public places.

On Saturday 13th October the Gothic Christ Church in Southgate Green provides the atmospheric setting for the 1923 Lon Chaney classic Hunchback of Notre Dame, with live church organ improvisation from the talented David Hinitt.

The setting shifts to 1960s London on Saturday 27th October, at Waterhouse Hall in Winchmore Hill, when a live tribute to The Who precedes a screening of the classic 1979 film Quadrophenia.

Sign up to the Talkies Community Cinema mailing list, see the full programme of films, and book tickets:

Visit talkies.org.uk


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