IAC DISCUSSION FORUMS

Dear Forum-friends,
I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Unfortunately I had to stop making movies because of my health problems, but I am still a member of two clubs. The first one is led by a 82 year old chap who is a very charismatic figure with a great appeal to his 25 to 30 members. We come together every 3rd Friday. We have a nice chat over a drink and watch a travelogue made by one of us in the seventies, eighties, ...

The second one is led by a young energetic movie maker who is only 48 years old. Every week I get the opportunity to show one of my dramatised documentaries or fiction films that I made in the last 25 years. One of my clubmates has digitized them. I am very grateful to both friends. The young chairman is a pretty tech savvy. He maintains the technicians in the club and encourages them to make videos just like mine. Most of these films were shown at BIAFF. I am longing for those good old days of BIAFF. I met some English friends there and I am still in touch with them in our old age.

I have stopped making movies, but I am still a voluntary teacher "English conversation" at a Course Centre. My students are 60 to 84 years old. The oldest one is called Mary. Her son lives in Sweden. Her Swedish daughter-in-law also speaks English. We always have a chat about all kinds of everything, but from time to time I show one of my BIAFF-films with English voice-over, English actors, and English subtitles. Next Thursday we have an English Christmas Party in our class with crackers, paper hats, etc. My wife Vera will have made English apple cake for them.

Willy

I admire your devotion to education and to supporting amateur movies, even though it is sad that you do not plan to make more.

The club system is still going in Britain, but many clubs have closed as members get too old to come out in the evenings and as the leading people retire from being chairmen/chairwomen.

I was unable to travel to Bradford to be with their (famous) club when they had a tribute to my old friend, Jim Walker recently.

The last club Jan and I visited was, I think, Sutton Coldfield Movie Makers a year or more ago. They seem to be 5 or 6 clubs in one. There are several groups who make films, but still enjoy getting together with the other groups and friends for the SCMM meetings.

We are helping BIAFF in the background work. No one quite knows if it will be more successful or less in 2026 when we move to the May Bank Holiday Weekend (23-26 May).

But as we receive email Christmas greetings from film friends everywhere, we look forward to spending a quiet, happy holiday - and wish you all the same.