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Printer-Friendly ModeFilm club offers shift from usual Hollywood fare
September 14, 2009 —
Foreign and American films are the delight of The Valley Film Society of SVSU. Members of the organization meet throughout the year to watch independent films, a tradition sustained for more than 20 years.
The Valley Film Society (VFS) is a nonprofit organization fully supported by membership dues and donations. The organization hosts 15 screenings selected by its members each season. This season’s schedule and membership rates are available on the organization’s Web site.
All showings start at 7:30 p.m. Friday nights in Curtis 100.
Members kicked off the 2009-10 season with the 2005 Niall Johnson feature Keeping Mum, a dark comedy from the UK about a pastor driven to write his greatest sermon while his family faces individual moral struggles.
More than 50 members attended the screening, none of whom were SVSU students.
“I imagine Friday nights with students, there are ball games and a lot of other things they are doing,” says VFS member Judy Johnson of Saginaw.
There are few SVSU student members. Johnson says most students come for extra credit offered by their instructors.
The VFS seeks to gain more student interest and encourages students to attend screenings by offering them a special $5 membership for 17 passes to the screenings.
The group prides itself on selecting films unavailable in local theaters.
“Members like out-of-the-ordinary films,” says Johnson. “Not like these mainstream blow-them-up, shootthem- up [movies]. We like [films] with a story and foreign films. We have some American movies, too.”
“It’s a neat shift from Hollywood,” says VFS member Bill Tite of Bay City. “It gives you a better perspective on what films can be.”
Several VFS members expressed particular interest in the April 2 showing of The Prisoner of Shark Island.
The screening of the 1936 film coincides with the anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s death and presents the story of Dr. Samuel Mudd, the physician who treated Booth after his assassination of Lincoln.
Tom Mudd, local historian and great-grandson of the film’s protagonist, will speak to the VFS prior to the screening.
The VFS purchases films for its screenings and then donates them to the Zahnow Library collection so that students and faculty may access them. Johnson says it’s the group’s way of giving back for its use of the facilities.
The stadium seating, large screen, and audio system of Curtis 100 provides a theater-like setting for the screenings, says Johnson. SVSU professor of mathematics Tyler Haynes is the faculty member for the VFS Committee. He urges students, particularly those interested in foreign language study, to take part in VFS events. Haynes says that foreign films present unique language and cultural learning opportunities.