The Big Picture

Cinematic classics and lively conversation are the new order of service for Sunday evenings at St Mark’s Church, Newnham.

The Big Picture will offer a wide-ranging and stimulating programme of films in the weeks leading up to Easter, all guaranteed to provide food for thought. Each screening will be introduced by specially invited speaker and followed by an informal discussion of the themes and questions over a drink.

“We deliberately went for four films in completely different styles,” explained Debbie Pullinger, who has been involved in organising the events. “Some of them are well-known, some of them much less-so; but each one of them is a great example of its genre and they all have something important to say to modern society – sometimes in a very surprising way.”

The films have been chosen to throw light on aspects of faith and life, though they are not all specifically Christian in content. The series begins with Roland Joffés highly acclaimed film, The Mission, a true story about two very different Jesuit missionaries (Jeremy Irons and Robert de Niro) fighting to save the native South Americans from colonial oppression. Heavens Above!, one of Peter Sellers’ lesser-known films, shows him playing a humble vicar whose attempts to practise what he preaches in the cosy parish of Orbiston Parva, with chaotic results. Gattaca is beautifully-shot futuristic thriller starring Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman and Jude Law, and the series ends with The Apostle, one of Robert Duvall’s finest achievements as actor, writer and director.

“A well-made film can say more than a hundred sermons,” said James Lark, local filmmaker and the choir director at St Mark’s. “It doesn’t matter what you believe or your background, filmmakers have always wanted to explore what it is to be a human being – so great cinema is absolutely the kind of thing the church should be getting involved with. And what better way to end the weekend than to sit and watch a work of art on the big screen?”

Doors open for the winter season at 7pm on Sunday 27th January with The Mission, with subsequent screenings every fortnight at the same time.

Location: St Mark’s, Newnham (next to the Red Bull pub)

Tickets: £3/£2.50 (anyone coming to all four films gets into the last one free)

James Lark, 21/01/2008