As you may be aware, we have been experiencing difficulties in obtaining both the rights and the DVDs for some of the films we put on the programme. This is because many more distributors are now choosing to keep the rights solely for their streaming platforms, which means they cannot be shown by film clubs (a phenomenon much accelerated by the pandemic). We have always selected films for each season that were released in the previous year, in order to give audiences the chance to see the films on a big screen, and before they may have stumbled across them at home, but we are now forced to abandon this structure, as we often won’t know in advance if a film will have screening rights released or not.

For this reason we are not announcing all the films ahead of each season, and will instead be adding them with shorter notice. (The dates will be announced as before, and are fixed.) This gives us flexibility to add in films that do become available, and also avoids any last minute film changes or technical failures.

We are also shortening the season to 9 films, ending on the June film. (Turnout is always very low by July.) The first three films of the season, from September to November, are announced on the home page. We hope that members are by now familiar enough with our programming to feel happy to sign up to the season without all the films being decided, and new/prospective members can look in the Archive section of this website for a taste of the type of film we show. Because we are much more restricted in our choice, we will now sometimes select films that are not from the previous year’s UK releases. (Note that the October film was originally on our 2020 list but never shown due to Covid.)

We apologise for the above unavoidable changes, and hope that they have minimal impact on everyone’s experience and enjoyment. We would also like to thank all members for your continued support and enthusiasm, and look forward to seeing you at the Merlin in September.