By Michael Doran
Yarra Ranges Film Society started in 1999 with the objective to ‘promote cinema as an art form in the Yarra Ranges’. As it celebrates its 20th anniversary it is meeting that charter with more than 250 members attending selected films in Healesville and Warburton.
The society holds monthly screenings at The Arts Centre in Warburton on the second Tuesday of each month from February to December, commencing at 7.30pm. At The Memo in Healesville the same program is screened on the third Tuesday of the same months and attendance at Film Society screenings is reserved for members.
“The Warburton film festival has been going for around 36 years and this is the sixth year in Healesville,” said Sally Ahern, president of the society. “Some Healesville members felt they would like to do something along the lines of Warburton but not the same so that’s why it is the Healesville Mini Film Festival.
“The idea is that three films are shown on the one day and are linked in some way, be it by country, director, actors or so on.”
This years Healesville mini-festival is on Sunday 3 March with three films directed by Japanese maestro, Akira Kurosawa. The films, from the 1950s and 60s, feature Toshiro Mifune as the lead actor and include Kurosawa’s most popular film, Yojimbo, a samurai setting that could easily transposed into a Wild West gunfighter movie.
“The film society is mainly from people around the Upper Yarra and Healesville areas and we average about 75 to a screening, if you miss a film in Warburton you can get it in Healesville.”
Sally Ahern closed with: “What a good idea it is to join the local film society and we would love to see more people come and join us in having a great time watching movies.”
Bookings for the Healesville festival can be made at www.culturetracks.info or The Memo Healesville or The Arts Centre Warburton.
