History of Launceston Film Society
“From Reel to Disc, History of the Launceston Film Society, 1958 to 2014” is a book compiled by Launceston historian, Dr Thomas Gunn, outlining the history of the society through its various incarnations, to 2014. (Book published in 2014)
Foreword by Stan Gottschalk (Life Member)
Dr Thomas Gunn has chronicled for us the tale of The Launceston Film Society - a society whose fortunes over the past sixty-five years have waxed and waned with changing times, changing technology and changing key people, but which has retained over all those years a genuine commitment by those involved to provide the community-at-large with opportunities to see quality international cinema.
Having been involved, along with many others, in what Thomas sees as the ‘third reinvention’ of the Society, it has been inspiring to read this history, and thereby to put our efforts into perspective – and to reflect on them as part of a larger pattern that is probably common to The Arts in many places like ours around the nation.
The Arts in smaller, non-capital-city communities like Launceston have to be championed by local volunteer groups with a passion for what they do – and for me that is one of the joys of living here; people simply have to ‘make it happen’. And by ‘making it happen’ they help to create a vibrant and creative community that has a deep involvement in, and a genuine ownership of, its artistic life.
As Thomas observes, time will undoubtedly change again, and the Society will again have to adapt in order to survive. His careful account of the Past can only give us great hope for the Future.