History
BFFS South West Group
The South West group has been operating in its present form since 1976, although it had a distinguished previous history under the guidance of some well-known figures in the BFFS e.g. Jon Evans, the founding editor of 'Film' in the '50s (when the likes of Lindsay Anderson were regular contributors), and Stuart Keen, who started one of the first South West Societies, Exeter Film Society, in 1946.
Thirty years later in November 1976, Dorchester Film Society accepted the challenge of Jean Young, the BFFS General Secretary at the time, to re-launch the SW group. The inaugural viewing session was held in the Colliton Club in Dorchester and previewed four features (including Robert Enrico’s The Secret), extracts and a selection of shorts, all on 16mm. This successful event set the pattern for the following years, with two viewing sessions a year hosted by different societies in the region In the 80s. There were even two-stage viewing sessions, with the selection of films being shown at a venue in Cornwall followed by a repeat ‘up-country’ in Dorset the next day.
Those early years also saw South West Group organising one-day and weekend events with speakers and films on specific topics such as German Cinema or the films of Alain Resnais and then, in 1979, championing the then-emerging Australian cinema, long before it was fully recognised by the British media. The group also supported member societies in putting on similar events including film days on African and Taiwanese Cinema at Shaftesbury, Women on Film at Exeter, and the films of Pedro Almodovar, early in his career, complete with a Spanish meal at Dorchester.
Bath Schools Film Society, sadly now defunct, also ran an annual French Film Day attended by over 100 students and teachers with leading critics introducing the films, which were generally classics related to French studies, but which included one year a screening of John Boorman's Excalibur dubbed into French.
The emphasis of the Group from its re-launch was the support of established societies and assisting in the setting-up of new venues. At that time, most societies showed films on 16mm, and the group followed the Yorkshire Group’s lead with a block booking scheme sharing 16mm prints between a number of societies. As the quality and availability of 16mm prints became more problematic, some societies moved to the commercial standard of 35mm, in the shape of the Chinese Spectra projectors, as well as making use of the BFFS’s ‘portable’ projectors which were so heavy they were known as the Schwarzeneggers’!
Digital projection arrived at the end of the 90s, like the Seventh Cavalry, to save many societies, and thanks to the then-Chair Paul Schilling, the group took the initiative by winning an Arts Council award to buy four sets of digital equipment that were based around the region. This proved to be the catalyst for a rapid growth in new venues with the number of societies in the SW group leaping from 25 in 1999 to over 60 in 2006. Further expansion has been aided by the receipt of two sets of projection equipment through the UKFC and, most recently, the award of a South West Screen Lottery grant specifically to promote new screens in Devon and Cornwall. Under the banner of Film West by South West, this project has established over a dozen new venues throughout the region, making the SW Group the largest regional group in the Federation with a membership of over 70.
With all these changes over the last 30 plus years, the group's main asset has remained the enthusiasm and energy of its member societies, volunteers and their love of movies.
