Streaming didn’t kill the film society

Friday, 17 July 2026

EDITORIAL: Today, Wellington tickets go on sale for the New Zealand International Film Festival.

The film festival, which runs for 40 days in 11 cities, will show well over 100 titles to tens of thousands of people. First-timers will discover new obsessions, ageing cinephiles will gossip in the lobby, and all those who attend will be able to stay safely inside, out of the wintry weather.

But the magic of film festivals, with all of the oddball picks and forgotten classics one would never find on Netflix, can actually be enjoyed year-round. In the capital alone more than 900 people turn up at Wellington’s Embassy Theatre every Monday night for a Wellington Film Society screening.

Film societies have existed for decades. There are 15 scattered around the country, some that show films weekly and others more sporadically.

Wellington’s society is the country’s oldest and seemingly most successful. It makes a simple promise: for $120 a year you can see a movie almost every week – with the per-screening price coming out to about $4 – compared to about $30 per film at a commercial theatre. The film will not be shown at some tiny lecture theatre but at our city’s best cinema at the Embassy – twice, once at 6pm, and once at 8.30pm, either on Monday night if time allows, or on Tuesday if it doesn’t.

The society began its life in 1945 in the immediate post-War rationing period. There was no television and the capital was awash with sumptuous cinemas. Eight decades later it is a good news story in a capital that seems to have been full of bad ones for years. What other weekly event regularly fills out a 750-person room, as the 6pm showing at the Embassy does?

It is also a success story against the odds. The rise of ubiquitous streaming services might be expected to sound the death knell for such clubs. It has not.

The Wellington Film Society has actually grown significantly since Covid-19, despite the general economic crunch in the capital, and others around the country appear to be tracking well. It is a regular cultural event that pulls in not only the grey-haired who have long kept such ventures alive but also the giggly group of 20-somethings, along with some of Wellington’s more powerful faces.

Ambitious public servants could probably justify going just for the networking opportunities.

In a world where people increasingly find excuses not to leave the house, where atomisation is on the rise, and where there is always an excuse to look at your phone instead, such growth and popularity should be applauded. Monday nights need not be boring any more.

It has not always been thus. Weekly attendance for the Wellington Film Society was averaging around 200-300 people pre-Covid, while it now bumps up to just over 900 across the two showings, from a total membership of over 2000. The all-volunteer team led by president Harry Evans is doing something right.

Undoubtedly, a part of its success is the wider re-appreciation of film that has been brought on by another New Zealand success story, the social media app Letterboxd – which global streaming powerhouse Netflix is looking at acquiring.

A populist programming streak has also helped.

In May of this year every seat was filled for a showing of bank heist classic Heat from 1995.

The following month saw showings of Alfred Hitchcock’s Notorious and Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr Fox as part of a free film festival put on to celebrate the 80th birthday.

Wellington’s Film Society is not alone and The Post wishes success to the other groups around the country.

Film societies naturally have some advantages that others in the arts sector do not. But players across the sector could stand to take some inspiration from what it has done so successfully: Get people out of the house, attract a wide range of people, and do all of that while offering something people can’t find anywhere else.

And rescue Monday evenings back from the drudgery of the week ahead.