The free session will be held next Wednesday, February 12, from 7.30pm at the society’s regular screening venue, the Castle One Lecture Theatre at the University of Otago.
The discussion will be led by New Zealand Federation of Film Societies acting president Ryley Atkinson, who will introduce selected titles, illustrated with film clips.
In a statement, the Dunedin Film Society revealed its first screening for 2025 would be Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid — the final Western by 1960s director Sam Peckinpah. A second Peckinpah film, The Wild Bunch, will also screen this year.
The society will also screen cinema classics, such as 1941 Hollywood musical comedy Hellzapoppin and the 1921 Swedish silent film The Phantom Carriage.
There will be a retrospective package of ghost stories including Robert Wise’s legendary frightener The Haunting.
From the international film archives, there will be screenings of two cult favourites — John Waters’ Polyester and Jim Jarmusch’s Ghost Dog: The Samurai, and the modern classics All That Jazz by Bob Fosse, and My Life as a Dog by Lasse Hallstrom.
This year, the society will host Dunedin premiere screenings of three recent English language releases, Blackberry, All the Beauty & the Bloodshed, and the Australian thriller The Royal Hotel, recent world cinema films, and leading French and German films.
With the support of the New Zealand Film Commission, society members will be able to see Robert Sarkies’ Dunedin caper Scarfies, re-released for its 25th anniversary, and Chris Pryor and Miriam Smith’s documentary How Far Is Heaven.
Dunedin Film Society members can access discount prices on weekday seats at the Rialto and Metro cinemas and at the popular New Zealand International Film Festival in August.
Brochures with full details of the year’s programme will be available around the city and from the OUSA, with information also on the website www.dunedinfilmsociety.org.nz.
The society’s regular screenings begin on February 26.
— APL
