Who are Harrogate Film Society?

'One of the biggest and most progressive film societies in the North' - Harrogate Advertiser (2024)

Who are we? Members who like films, a lot, and not just your blockbusters and run of the mill films.

We especially like world cinema, and quirky, off-beat films that might be shown at film festivals but get little mainstream run time at most cinemas.

Anyone can join the society (you just have to be over 16 years of age but there's no upper age limit and all are welcome.)

In addition to our core programme of 15 contemporary feature films or documentaries from around the world, we organise shorter themed mini-seasons including Classics, Arts and young persons cinema.

We also put on occasional film-related events in the local community under the banner of 'Special Events'. Recently, this included The Breadwinner to raise money for the Harrogate and Knaresborough District of Sanctuary.

Our most successful event has been Harrogate on Film which has been seen by over 1,500 film fans.

We hope to bring more of these in the future. If you have any ideas, please get in touch with us via email (contact.harrogatefilmsociety@gmail.com) or speak to a committee member at any of our film nights.

Suggest a Film

Many of the films we select for the programme originally started out as member selections.

So, just email us your suggestion and, you never know, it could end up on next years's programme.

Help Us Out

We're always looking for volunteers, particularly to help out on film nights or to improve our social media presence.

if you want to get involved, even in a minor way, just sends an email and we'll be in touch.

Join the Committee

The Committee is responsible for selecting each season's films and for organising the screenings through the year.

Any Member can put themselves forward at any time for election to the Committee at the AGM.

Get Involved

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the cost of Membership?

Full annual membership will be just £52.50 from August 1 2025 until July 31 2026. With 15 films in our season, this means each film only costs £3.50 which we feel is excellent value.

We usually also offer our members discounts on special seasons such as Classic Cinema or Art Season plus some Special Events that we may put on throughout the year.

Are there any discounts for Students or younger people?

Yes, we're pleased to offer full membership for just £30 to those under 25 years of age - a fabulous £2 per film!

I don't want to see all the films, can I just come along and see the odd one or a few?

Yes, you can. We welcome guests and you can choose to buy your tickets online in advance or just turn up on the night. In both instances, we prefer debit or credit cards, so we are not accepting cash this season.

When and where do screenings take place?

Core screenings will take place on a Monday evening, generally starting at 7.30pm in the Odeon Cinema Harrogate.

We screen non-core films on other days during the week. Our Events pages show film titles and screening dates in each of our current seasons. Please see individual events for specific details.

Can I get regular updates by email?

Sign up to our contact list and we will email you regularly about our upcoming events and latest film screenings. We'll never spam you or pass your email to third parties. Unsubscribe at any time.

Will you show any of the films on another night?

We show our Core Season films on a Monday night and because of the licence and venue costs and logistics we typically don't arrange repeat screenings.

Membership entitles you to borrow from our DVD or Blu-Ray library where we have discs available. This facility may sometimes be made available to non-members for a donation.

Is Parking available?

Parking is available all the time for everyone at the Odeon car park, but this is run by the council and means you do need to pay for parking during the day. After 6pm however, cinema-goers can collect an orange parking voucher from inside the Odeon to display in their vehicle.

How do you choose the films?

For this season, we have chosen 15 films from around the World, but how we reach our final selection is a fairly long and arduous process.

We start with a long list made up of suggestions from our committee members and anyone who offers something for consideration. This is frequently in excess of 120 films. To be worth considering, we are generally looking for films from around the globe, some award winning and some obscure. Usually less than 5 years old; our aim is to show a variety of films, lighter films among the more intense, different genres, with a wide enough geographical spread.

We can all agree that it is virtually impossible to satisfy all of the people all of the time, and we accept that not everyone will like every choice that we make. We do not shy from including films and subject matter that is sometimes seen as more challenging.

Achieving a varied, balanced programme involves countless hours of research and watching films by those on the committee who agree to be part of our viewing panel, followed by hours of animated discussion to whittle the list down, several times.

Once we have agreed a short list of perhaps 20 to 25 films, we then have to start sourcing the licences from each film's distributors. Since we have moved to the Odeon, our costs for film licences have risen dramatically. Firstly, we are screening our films in a theatrical setting (automatically more expensive) and secondly, both the distributors and the Odeon prefer that we use a digital format rather than old school DVDs and Blu-ray discs. This costs more but reduces the risks involved with physical discs such as scratches and sticky finger marks.

There are so many distributors each with a separate and distinct process, with whom we have to liaise. Then in financial terms, each licence can cost anywhere between £120 and £500, and budgets can influence our decision making process.

Eventually, we make our final selection, choose dates and the running order, design and order the brochures and prepare copy for advertising, book the films, deal with the Odeon and finally get in touch with our members for the big reveal.

If you would like to influence our future film choices and selection, please get in touch by email or speak with any committee member at one of our screenings. We'd love to welcome new faces to the volunteer team.

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