It’s been a while since our last message. Saying that a lot has happened in the world since then would certainly be an understatement.
Although most cinemas around Canberra have already re-opened in some capacity, the ANU Film Group unfortunately isn’t quite like our commercial counterparts. While that’s often a great thing (lower costs, no ads, not for profit), we also operate on the ANU’s campus and are therefore beholden to their rules and regulations.
In this case, the ANU has made the decision to continue restricting all non-essential activities involving external visitors until the end of Semester Two in order to mitigate the risk of a COVID-19 outbreak on campus. Regretfully, this means that we are now unable to resume screenings until November 2020.
While this news is no doubt disappointing for our members, it is equally disappointing to all of us involved in the running of the ANUFG. We volunteer our time freely to program films, manage screenings and keep the Group going all year round, for no material benefit to ourselves, but purely to foster a love and appreciation of film. Not being able to do this at a time when we could all use an escape to the movies is an additional blow. But this is just an intermission – not a curtain call – and we sorely look forward to resuming our activities as soon as we are allowed to.
In light of the ongoing restrictions, we will continue automatically extending all current Annual or Season memberships until screenings resume. The exact length of the extension will be determined by when restrictions lift, but rest assured that you will not be out of pocket if you decide to continue supporting us.
If you don't anticipate being able to attend screenings once they resume later this year, or your financial circumstances require it, we are still able to offer pro-rata membership fee refunds. If you require a refund, please send an email to info@anufg.org.au with your name and membership number and we'll be in touch.
Thank you to all of you for your continued understanding and support over the past few months. We will continue to keep our ANUFG@Home recommendations going at www.anufg.org.au/athome as well as on our Facebook page so please keep in touch and continue watching movies. In the immortal words of The Terminator, we’ll be back... not right now, but soon!