We hope you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year.

Unfortunately we have to bring bad news concerning The Big Cheese as the committee has made the difficult decision of closing the club before it begins its next season as it cannot continue with only two members left on the committee following the forced re-location of the club’s chairman and secretary.

We would like to thank you for your fantastic support of The Big Cheese, we have been astounded at the consistently great turnout to our screenings, and we are going to miss the great dialogue we enjoyed with our members about the films we have shown.

We sincerely hope it will not be too long before someone once again brings quality cinema to the town.

Best wishes from the Big Cheese team.

Organisers of Nantwich Big Cheese Film Club are thrilled to announce an award of £500 from Cheshire East Community Grants fund.

We would like to thank Cheshire East Council for this funding and for recognising the valuable input our film club has brought to the town’s community. The funding will help us to purchase our own equipment and improve even further a quality cinema experience to all.

The club is gearing up for its December screening of Volver, by the highly acclaimed Spanish director Pedro Almodovar (in Spanish with subtitles) Raimunda (Penelope Cruz) and her sister Sole (Lola Duenas) are visited by the apparation of their mother (Carmen Maura) who has returned to reconcile with her daughters and resolve an issue that has haunted the family since her death. The tragicomic melodrama features Almodovar trademarks: a strong attention to colour and detail and a celebration of the trials and tribulations of women. Volver is a film about the way the presence of the dead continues to add richness and humanity to the lives of those they leave behind.

Volver will be screened on Thursday 8th December  at 7.45pm in the Ballroom of the Crown Hotel. Movie goers are encouraged to go along from 7.15pm for a drink and a chat before the film.

Nantwich Big Cheese Film Club screens independent, foreign language and classic films each month. It aims to establish a ‘cinema’ for Nantwich, cultivating a quality and educational movie experience for members of the public and encouraging discussion in get-togethers before and after each screening.

The club is open to all film lovers over the age of 16 (under 18s must be accompanied by a guardian)

Tickets, priced £5, are now available from the reception of The Crown Hotel.  Alternatively, they can be purchased on the night, subject to availability.

See Volver trailer here.

E: nantwichfilmclub@yahoo.co.uk

T: @filmnantwich

We had another great turnout for our screening of Senna, thanks to everyone who came along! We received 11 comment sheets, with eight people nominating the film the full 5 stars and three people nominating it 4 stars. A selection of comments from movie goers are below:

“Another super night – thanks”

“I was somewhat disappointed in Senna. I came away not knowing any more about the man (or any of the other principals) than I did previously from general knowledge. And I am not a petrol head, infact I couldn’t be less interested in racing cars, but I am interested in film. For me/us the film lacked any dramatical content and minimal insights into character/character development. I feel that the BBC Sports team could have done better with a 30 minute incisive documentary. Hey ho, you win some you lose some. Looking forward to Volver.”

“One of the best film documentaries I’ve seen.”

And a review from the club secretary:

“I never experienced the buzz that Aryton Senna’s first World Cup win generated in 1988. In fact, it wasn’t until seven years later that I felt anything at all about the enigma who became regarded as a Brazilian saint – a year after his untimely death at the tender age of 34.

The day I realised what drove Senna’s passion was the day I took the steering wheel on my own for the first time after passing my driving test. I picked up my boyfriend to take him for a celebratory drink and as we drove off, he commented on my Aryton Senna driving style. I laughed, thinking how fabulous it would be to have the freedom to drive at full pelt down the street without anything or anyone else getting in the way.

But that was the one and only brush I had with the name – until Thursday when I was fully and wonderfully thrown into the life and times of three-time Formula One world champion Aryton Senna. And wow, was it fantastic. You don’t have to be into Formula 1 to feel the thrill of the race, with compelling footage taken, seemingly from Senna’s lap as he drives! Compiled solely and slickly from thousands of hours of footage, the film is a considerable feat of editing and frequently heart-stopping.  Senna was one of sport’s most compelling personalities – he had real humility, as shown in his close relationship and comments of the Formula 1 doctor. His deep feelings for humanity saw him giving millions of his personal fortune to help provide a better future for the impoverished in Brazil. He put so much of himself, his very soul, into everything he did and spoke with great feeling about his experience of the flow, which he puts down to God’s presence. My favourite scene was his eventual triumph in his home country Brazil – the tension, pressure and utter exhilaration he feels are vividly demonstrated in his emotion and subsequent muscle spasms as he hobbles away – pleading for his dad to come and give him a hug – but beseeching him to be gentle due to his extreme discomfort.

Early in 1994 he spoke about his own future, not long before his premature death: “I want to live fully, very intensely. I would never want to live partially, suffering from illness or injury. If I ever happen to have an accident that eventually costs my life, I hope it happens in one instant.”

He got his wish but the end of his life caused a wave of grief to wash over his home country as its inhabitants keenly felt it as a national tragedy and the Brazilian government declared three days of national mourning.”