09-10-2009 om 11:53 by Sueli Brodin

"OK ladies, so tell me what went wrong with your film group, I’m listening," said Rudy Jansen, marketing officer at Maastricht’s Lumière cinema, grabbing his pen and notebook.

Our conversation was taking place on a sunny morning last June in the cinema’s courtyard. At Rudy’s initiative, Ann Damoiseaux, the activities coordinator at the International Women’s Club of South Limburg (IWC), and I, as a club member and Crossroads editor, were sitting together over a cup of coffee and discussing the possibility to organise special film screenings for our club, and should the feedback be positive, for the wider international community in the area.

“The problem was not the lack of interest,” Ann told Rudy. “Quite the opposite! But we were hindered by all sorts of difficulties, like not knowing in advance which English-spoken films were going to be playing, or how many members would turn up. It was hard to figure out how to do things more efficiently… and so the film group eventually disappeared.”

Rudy listened to us quietly and scribbled half a page on his notebook. When he looked up, he had a grin on his face: “I think I have a solution. Why don’t we just pick a time and date for a film evening for your club, and I will send you a list of suitable films as soon as possible. If you then give me your choice and an idea of how many of you will be coming, I will arrange an appropriate film theatre to accommodate you. It’s actually all very simple and we can even offer you a discount if your group is large enough.”

And indeed, Rudy was so right! Our film night last week was a big success.



Before arriving at Lumière cinema that day, we already knew which film we would be seeing, at what time it would be playing, and most importantly Ann had announced during our monthly meeting the previous week that 35 members had already signed up for the film screening. This encouraged even more of us to join the group. Moreover, Rudy had kept his promise and given us an attractive discount on the ticket price.

As a result, no less than 44 IWC members and friends/partners met last Tuesday at Lumière to see Skin, a drama based on the true story of a dark-skinned girl, who through a bizarre trick of nature, was born to white parents during the Apartheid era in South Africa. It was a poignant tale, which touched us on various levels. Some of us had grown up or lived in South Africa, or other parts of Africa. Others had experienced varying degrees of intolerance and discrimination in our life time, based either on skin colour, country of origin, or simply language proficiency, and could identify with some of the characters and scenes portrayed in the film.



Instead of going home after the screening, as we most likely would have done if we had gone to the cinema alone, most of us lingered in the lounge area, discussing the film we had seen together and sharing our thoughts and personal experiences.

Some of us continued our conversation on Facebook that same night when we arrived home… and my friend Beverley even posted a note yesterday evening, offering a possible explanation for an aspect of the film that had particularly disturbed us.

As usual, every shared activity at the club brings members closer together, and the special film screening at Lumière cinema was no exception.

Thank you Rudy, for helping us revive our film group. And yes, we have to admit that it’s good to have a man around sometimes ;-)

The next special English-language film screening at Lumière cinema will also be announced on Crossroads, so that the entire international community in the Maastricht Region can join in. (It may be a good idea to reserve your tickets in advance!)

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