In 1964, a group of film buffs estab­lished the Dar­win Film Soci­ety in Australia’s trop­i­cal North. The orig­i­nal pur­pose for DFS was to screen a broad range of films that were not avail­able at oth­er Dar­win cinemas. 

As a not-for-prof­it, the sus­tain­abil­i­ty of DFS relies on the relent­less care of its board of vol­un­teers and its recog­ni­tion by the wider community. 

DFS’ main oper­a­tions are the Deckchair Cin­e­ma, Flix in the Wet, and more recent­ly launched the Dar­win Inter­na­tion­al Film Festival. 

Deckchair Cin­e­ma opened its gates in 1994 to car­ry out DFS mis­sion to the largest audi­ence and has been screen­ing a unique mix of Aus­tralian, fam­i­ly, for­eign, pop­u­lar and clas­sic films every dry sea­son ever since. The icon­ic out­door cin­e­ma is both a local sta­ple and a vis­i­tors’ must-do. Stand­ing along the Ara­fu­ra sea, ​“the Deckchair” offers stun­ning sun­set views to its patrons before it’s dark enough to turn to the big screen! 

Today the Dar­win Film Soci­ety counts 10 com­mit­tee mem­bers, employs 20 peo­ple (casu­al and per­ma­nent) and has an active and grow­ing mem­ber­ship base of more than 1,000 people.

The tenth anniver­sary of DIFF amazes me as I have been asso­ci­at­ed since Day 1. In this time we have to thank sev­er­al artis­tic direc­tors, sup­port from all the sev­en DFS man­agers, many vol­un­teers and many committee(d) peo­ple who have all con­tributed to make this fes­ti­val what it is today. I only dreamed we would have the sup­port Screen NT (NT Gov) sup­port of the indus­try and the many gen­er­ous spon­sors who have made this fes­ti­val one we can all be proud of.

Bio pend­ing.

Blan­dine has been part of the DFS fam­i­ly for 6 years. After study­ing films and film pro­duc­tion in her home coun­try France, she roamed the globe for a few years until Dar­win found her. Blan­dine has dis­cov­ered a vibrant film­mak­ing com­mu­ni­ty in the Top End through her work as the local con­tent coor­di­na­tor for DIFF and con­tin­ues to car­ry this impor­tant mis­sion of indus­try sup­port in her new role as fes­ti­val man­ag­er. She has found in Dar­win what so many have found before her: a sense of belong­ing… and a pret­ty sweet lifestyle.

In 1968 two events made me take cin­e­ma seri­ous­ly. First­ly, I saw a Cather­ine Deneuve dou­ble of Belle de Jour and Repul­sion fol­lowed a cou­ple of weeks lat­er by a Japan­ese ret­ro­spec­tive of Kuro­sawa films among which were Sev­en Samu­rai, Throne of Blood and Rashomon. I nev­er again saw films as mere entertainment.

Thomas is a per­former and film­mak­er based in Dar­win. Thomas has com­plet­ed a Bach­e­lor of Film & TV at Swin­burne Uni­ver­si­ty, cre­at­ing sev­er­al short films and win­ning awards in act­ing, writ­ing and direct­ing. Last year two films Thomas worked on screened at the Deckchair Cin­e­ma, You Do You and We’re Fam­i­ly Now.