REEL PEOPLE (Kilmersdon)
BFFS Film Society of the Year 2004

Reel People in the North Somerset village of Kilmersdon won the BFFS's coveted Film Society of the Year award for the second time this year in only their sixth season. Here, Barry Fowler, their founding Chairman, gives some pointers to their success:

"Like so many societies in the South West Region we got started with a free screening by Paul Schilling. About 50 people came along and it was all very encouraging but Paul made sure we were realistic about what could be achieved. We needed people to commit to membership and to do that we needed to make sure people knew about what we were planning. A small group volunteered to form a steering committee and we decided to run our first season of eight films starting in September 1998.

The village population is about 350 so we knew from the outset that the village couldn't sustain a film society on its own - we would need the support of our neighbouring villages. We decide to give our society a name, which would not sound exclusive to the village and said something about us - that's why we are 'Reel People'.
Still from 'Wings of the Dove'.

For our first film, Wings of the Dove, we had an audience of 29 and the majority of these people had been personally implored by our founding secretary, Sarah Fowler to come and support the event. In spite some dodgy 16mm projection onto the Gardening Club screen it all seemed to work. People stayed after the film to chat and have a glass of wine and lots of them said they would bring their friends next time.
Still from 'Whale Rider'.For our last film of the 2003/4 season, Whale Rider we had a capacity audience of 145 who watched the film projected from our own high quality DVD projector on our own 4.5 metre screen in 5.1 surround sound. It has been a fantastic journey and we have learnt so much along the way.

Our enthusiasm for film was the catalyst but our love of bringing the community together has been the more important. We very soon discovered that the people were the key, they came along because they enjoyed the company, the chat, the drink and of course the film. We worked hard to keep them and to encourage them to bring their friends by making them feel important and making sure they knew about what we were doing through posters, flyers and the local newspaper.

We have also tried to make sure the society has continued to evolve and come up with new ideas. Two of our original committee ran a catering business for music festivals and in our second season they suggested we ran an event that included 'themed' food with the film. We chose Hideous Kinky and ran a Moroccan Buffet. Everyone came in their hippie clothes. It was a great success and we have run at least one event like this each season since.

This evolution is equally important in programming. The challenge is to entertain and educate and if you get to know your members and guests you should be able to encourage them to become more adventurous with the film they enjoy. We never dreamt that when we started we would get a capacity audience to a small African film like Abouna but this last season we did.

The other thing we have done is to apply for awards. Encouraged by the BFFS, we entered for an award in our second season and were flabbergasted to win Film Society of the Year. We have picked up three more awards and these have been fantastic for raising our profile in the local community and also with the various bodies that provide grant funding for equipment. The vibrancy that we were able to demonstrate through our activities and in collecting these awards was vital in our raising £26,000 in grants towards equipment.

Good luck with your society - remember your members are the most valuable things you have and don't forget you are members yourselves. Enjoy yourself and hopefully your members will as well".

- Barry Fowler