Annual Muswell Hill Film Weekend

Today sees the annual Muswell Hill Film Weekend in North London. Originally started by Vic Thiessen, former Director of the London Mennonite Centre, this weekend explores five different films which folk then reflect on and critique. Rather than being pointedly theological, the reflection is more on the lines of what are these films saying about the human condition - which is I guess a kind of theological reflection.

Sadly Vic has been recalled by his denomination to other responsibilities and the weekend will be run by a capable group of folk from the London area who have used this annual event as inspiration to run their own monthly series of gatherings. Vic used to ensure a little intellectual rigour made a contribution by inviting the presenting of a couple of papers, but this year this has gone by the wayside in favour of a quiz. Also, we never knew what we were watching until it began and mostly they were films folk hadn't seen. This year the films have been democratically chosen and I've seen 3/5 - indeed two were my nominations and I'm having to bring the discs for us to watch!

Let's see how it compares to the previous style. A big thanks to the London group for organising it and to Hazel for all that she has done. Here's the programme:

Friday night       -  Bagdad Cafe

Sat morning      -   Paris, Texas

Sat afternoon    -  The Road Home

Sat evening      -   Angel-A

Sun morning      -  The Lemon Tree

If this is the kind of activity you feel you might be interested in, other places that hold regular similar events are:

• Greenbelt - Christian Arts Festival last weekend in August at Cheltenham Race Course
• St Deiniol's near Chester:
• Each April a Film & Theology weekend
• Each November a mid-week exploration of films of Faith & Doubt

I shall be leading my own three day exploration of films of Faith & Doubt 29 Nov - 1 Dec in Hampshire. If you want details, let me know.

I'll let you know how the weekend went.