Re-told fairy tale for film society's final night

A Spanish re-telling of Snow White is Whanganui Film Society's last film of 2016.

A Spanish Snow White, told in silent black and white, is the final screening for the Whanganui Film Society's 2016 season.

Blancanieves, directed by Pablo Berger, is set in 1920s Seville, although the film was released in 2012. It will screen at the Davis Theatre, 7pm, November 28.

Our heroine is Carmencity (Sofia Oria), who is set to work as a drudge by her evil stepmother (Maribel Verdu) yet comes to love her father (Daniel Gimenez Cacho), a once-celebrated matador now hidden away with his injuries and memories.

In time, the girl blooms into a dark-haired beauty (played by Macarena Garcia) who inherits dad's skills and joins a travelling troupe of bullfighting dwarves.

Anthony Quinn, reviewing for The Independent, wrote: "No film this year will look as swooningly beautiful, its deep-focus monochrome vividly rendered by the cinematographer Kiko de la Rica, and not many will sound as good, either, thanks to a score by Alfonso de Vilallonga that switches from operatic lushness to fiery flamenco and back."

Blancanieves has won 47 awards and 50 nominations internationally. It screened in the 2013 NZ International Film Festival to full houses.

Helen Marie O'Connell from the Whanganui Film Society said the AGM will take place during this session.

"The AGM will be kept short and sweet with the president's and treasurer's reports, a preview of next year's season, and election of the committee for 2017. All current Whanganui Film Society members have voting rights at the AGM."

Miss O'Connell said the Whanganui Film Society was in good heart as it comes to the end of its fourth consecutive year.

"Our membership is relatively consistent with previous two years at around 140-160, and we are the fourth largest society in the country now, out of 15. The membership has remained stable around the 150 mark for the past three years."

Miss O'Connell said the second half of the season was particularly popular, as this was when the festival films were screened. The New Zealand International Film Festival does not come to the Whanganui.

She said the society would return with a full programme in 2017, and programming was already underway.

For more information see www.whanganuifilmsociety.org.nz.