The Thanet Film Society is a voluntary organisation whose aim is to screen films that would normally not be shown in the Thanet area, giving local people the opportunity to see films normally unavailable to them on the big screen. The bias is towards foreign language films, independent American movies and small scale British films that would otherwise not be screened in local cinemas, the intention having always been to provide a mixture of requested films and those put forward by us that may otherwise have been missed. This remains our credo to this day, and at least two-thirds of the content of each season results from audience suggestions.

The Society was never intended as a money making venture. All of the organisers still work on a voluntary basis (and put some serious hours in, believe me) and all of the money made on the screenings is ploughed straight back into film and cinema rental. We break even, and as long as we can do that or better we can carry on.

Unlike many film societies, all of our films are 35mm prints shown in a real cinema setting. All screenings are accompanied by extensive programme notes, and discussion and feedback on the films is welcome and encouraged. We do have an annual nominal membership fee, but it is not compulsory and non-members are welcome - anyone can just turn up and buy a ticket for a single film without becoming a member. Membership is encouraged, however - not only are their benefits for those attending more than one screening in the shape of a reduced entrance fee, but helps us with future funding bids.

History

The Thanet Film Society was started in 1994 by a small group of film enthusiasts in collaboration with Brian Stout, the manager of our local cinema, The Windsor. The aim was to provide a venue for the sort of films we all liked to see but which simply never reached the Thanet area (for those not in the know, this covers the Broadstairs, Margate and Ramsgate areas of North East Kent, and slightly beyond). For us these films were the essence of cinema, the films that fired our interest in the subject in the first place. Hollywood was no longer delivering much of value and the main cinemas seemed to show little else. An attempt to start such a society years ago had failed due to unfortunate circumstance - this second opportunity seemed simply too good to pass up. The only real question was, would anybody else want to see these films?

With the help of a start-up grant from South East Arts we selected a season of six films (one every two weeks). We designed and printed up some brochures and programme notes, advertised as widely and as cheaply as we could and hoped for the best. To our delight, all six screenings were well attended. One - Alfonso Arau's Like Water for Chocolate - actually filled the cinema. Clearly we were not alone in our yearning for an alternative to the mainstream. The Thanet Film Society had landed.

The next two seasons were also of six films, run on a fortnightly basis. They were also successful, so at the start of our second year we moved up to weekly screenings. In the years that have followed we have had ups and downs, but we are now in our ninth year and are still in sturdy shape and looking forward to many more years of fine films.

Now and then we have wandered from the regular Tuesday night showings at the Windsor. Twice we ran hugely successful Rocky Horror Participation Nights at the Broadstairs Pavilion, and recently we branched out to show films at the Granville cinema in Ramsgate (to slightly less success, unfortunately). Though we returned to the Windsor as our regular venue, we experimented here with late night saturday viewings, but this was again poorly attended. We have thus stuck to what we seem to do best - Tuesday night screenings at the Windsor.

Recently we have been able to develop on these screenings with short film festivals and other special events, sometimes in conjunction with Kent Film. For the past three years we have also participated in the Kent Internattional Film Festival and recently we obtained funding for the installation of a diugital projection system, allowing us to screen loaclly made short films to accompany our features.

The Future

Well it's really up to you. We hope that our screenings will continue to be well attended and that there are enough people in Thanet interested in alternative cinema to keep the Society alive. It definitely looks promising, and hopefully we will get some direct feedback through this website over the direction people want us to go in. We certainly want it to continue, and for somewhat selfish reasons - there are some great films shown here, and this may be the only chance we'll get to see them of the big screen, where they were always meant to be seen.

As an extra plug, the society depends for its very existence on the Windsor Cinema and Brian's continued support, so don't forget that the Windsor and Graville cinemas run regular programmes as well. Remember, by supporting the Windsor and/or the Granville you are also indirectly supporting the Society.