Beer Film Society was founded in September 2006.  With a great deal of help from the British Federation of Film Societies and donations from Beer Parish Council, Devon County Council, Mike Green and several others, the Society was able to obtain basic projection and audio equipment.  Our aim is to bring a combination of popular as well as less-mainstream films to the village.  Over the years the Society has used any surplus funds from the screening of films to improve the quality of its equipment.

Our screenings are held in Mariners' Hall in Beer, which has a high-definition video projection system as well as improved acoustics, and which together mean that our audiences get a first-class viewing experience.  A licensed bar is provided.

Did we already tell you that the Mariners' Hall doors will open at 6.30pm and we are now starting screenings at 7pm?  No apologies for repetition here as we don’t want anyone to turn up at 7.15pm and miss the start of the film!

The prize for the most ambiguous film title of our programme this year might go to your next film: ‘The End We Start From’ (2023, 1hr 43mins, 15).  But if we say that our next film on Thursday 17 October 17 (new start time of 7pm) stars Jodie Comer, Benedict Cumberbatch and Mark Strong, you’ll not be surprised that we reckon this is both an entertaining and thought-provoking British film which impressed our committee when some of us saw it earlier this year at a Cinema for All (South West) Film Screening Day.

Comer plays a woman trying to find her way home with her newborn while an environmental crisis submerges London in floodwaters (not so fantastical as it might sound!).  Fortunately, this isn’t the cue for a Hollywood CGI disaster epic but instead stays focussed on Comer’s struggles as a new mother to survive and protect her child as chaos reigns around her.

 What the critics said:

Alice Birch's screenplay keeps the dialogue extremely spare, and frankly the film is 20 percent too enigmatic for my liking, but it works as a tale of motherhood in all-too-believably challenging circumstances.   Brian Viner. Daily Mail. 3*

Jodie Comer shows why she is one of the most exciting actors in the world in this devastating post-apocalyptic drama.            Stefan Kyriazis. Daily Express. 4*

The result is the kind of film the UK rarely makes anymore: a clever, propulsive picture with enough mainstream oomph for multiplexes.   Danny Lee. Financial Times. 4*

Comer’s vulnerability and idealism are authentic as are her determination and a dash of real ruthlessness... She carries everything with unselfconscious strength and style.   Peter Bradshaw. Guardian. 4*

For our November film on Thursday 14^th we will be showing ‘Anatomy Of A Fall’ (2023, 2hrs 30mins, 15), an intense French drama – which won an Oscar and BAFTA for best screenplay – in which a woman is suspected of murder after her husband's death; their partially blind son faces a moral dilemma as the main witness.

Finally a change of tempo for our pre-Christmas film on Thursday 5 December with ‘The Holdovers’ (2023, 2hrs 13mins, 15).  A curmudgeonly teacher at a New England school remains on campus during Christmas break to ‘babysit’ a handful of students with nowhere to go.  He soon forms an unlikely bond with a brainy but damaged troublemaker, and with the school's cook, a woman who recently lost a son in the Vietnam War.

The bar will be open for all of these screenings and our very popular Baboo Gelato ice creams will be on sale.

More news to come on all these films but for now put the dates in your diary – and don’t forget our new start time.  7PM. 

Don’t be late!

Members can reserve seats or a table for any screening.  Please email beerfilmsociety@gmail.com before Monday 14 October.

Membership of Beer Film Society costs £15 for a full 12 months, and members pay a £5 entrance fee at each screening that they attend.  The entrance fee for non-members is £7.  Priority is given to reservations by members, but non-members may also reserve tickets.  To book tickets or to find out more about Beer Film Society, just email beerfilmsociety@gmail.com.

Last edited: Wednesday 2 October 2024