The first film club member to subject themselves to our questionnaire is Ellie Pole.
You can follow her on Twitter @ellie_pole.
What’s your earliest memory of going to the cinema?
Bambi. I cried my eyes out. I can remember the whole experience of walking up the cinema staircase, which seemed impossibly wide, and the dark interior, and velvet seats - and the beautiful leafy woods, a moving painting.
What was the first film you saw at Tufnell Park Film Club?
The Last Picture Show - my friend stood me up but I was serendipitously seated next to Catherine Max, who became my film club friend (and neighbour).
What’s been your favourite film at film club?
3 Women. it was a wonderful surprise. I delighted in Shelley Duvall and Sissy Spacek's performances, the whole look and feel of it - fabulous 1970s tones and locations, and the way the characters interacted and converged.
What’s been your least favourite film club?
Can't think of any! A low point was losing the film quiz as the ‘Pickled Onion Eaters’. Although it was almost worth it for ‘winning’ Barry Norman's pickled onions for coming last.
Which film that you voted for are you most annoyed has lost the vote?
I've always wanted to see Stanley Kubrick’s first film Fear and Desire, out of curiosity - although I wanted to see all three up for the vote! (The link after Elia Kazan’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was ‘rough diamond debuts’. Martin Scorsese’s Who's That Knocking at My Door beat Kubrick and David Lynch’s Eraserhead).
What’s a favourite film of yours you’d love to see at film club?
Shanghai Express. John Maybury posted a clip recently on Instagram, and it's been on my mind ever since - for Marlene Dietrich's fierce glamour, Anna May Wong, and the whole sultry look of it.
Tell us a theme and three choices you’d put up for the vote.
'Holed Up' - Ball of Fire, Key Largo, and Room (or Dog Day Afternoon).
Is there a book about film that you’d recommend to other members?
Two recommendations. My Indecision is Final: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Goldcrest, a brilliant page-turner about the drama behind the scenes, in the production office. Luis Bunuel's autobiography My Last Breath - the old man looking back at his colourful life in film. I read them both ages ago but have been meaning to re-read them
What’s your most memorable cinematic experience?
In the days when you could smoke, I went on a date to Bromley Odeon to see Convoy (and my future boyfriend dropped his cigarette onto a newspaper under his seat and his seat caught fire. And once when I was a delegate at the Edinburgh Film Festival, sitting in the end seat on a row near the entrance, a woman came in after the film had started, felt my face, and sat on my lap. For some reason another memory from Bromley Children’s Matinee has stayed with me, of a (pre-war?) black and white film of cheerful families from the East End arriving by train to pick hops. They seemed to be having a wonderful time and lived in really cool wooden cabins.
What was the last film you saw and would you recommend it?
I watched Clueless last night - in Covid-19 isolation on Netflix in my bedroom, while my twin daughters watched it on the TV downstairs. I definitely recommend it. It really crams in the jokes - the Pismo Beach Disaster - the teen dialogue and fashion are hilarious, and Alicia Silverstone is captivating.
If you’d like to take part in our Meet the Members series, just drop us an email and we’ll send you all the questions. You don’t have to answer them all!
