Most Socialist Alliance branches would have a local pub, which will generally be fairly quiet on Monday and Tuesday evenings. Knowing this, our branch decided to approach the most prominent pub in Manly, the Steyne Hotel, about holding monthly political film screenings there.
It wasn’t difficult to convince the publican to let us use his venue, big screen projector and in-house sound system for free once he realised we’d fill his pub on a normally quiet night.
We decided to kick off the screenings on July 15 with Mike Moore’s The Big One. Having distributing some professional looking leaflets and posters, local residents began calling us to book tickets four weeks in advance and the publican has offered to pay for an advertisement in the local newspaper.
We expect these monthly film nights to be a lucrative fundraiser for our branch, but more importantly, they will provide us with an opportunity to talk socialist politics, plug campaigns and upcoming events, and build our contact base.
Socialist Alliance members John and Jill at Actively Radical TV in Sydney have a large collection of other progressive films on offer. So, contact your local pub, then ring ARTV on (02) 9564 1277 for a list of films.