The Wellington Film Society bestowed its highest honour, a life membership, upon two long-serving committee members, Miles Buckingham and Chris Hormann, at its Annual General Meeting on Monday 31 March, 2025. The life memberships are an acknowledgement of Chris and Miles’ significant contributions to the Film Society over many years.
Miles Buckingham
Miles Buckingham’s involvement with the Wellington Film Society committee began in 1987, marking an impressive 36 years of dedicated service. For much of that time he has served as Film Handler, which is an essential role for the Society’s operations, and even more so when we screened from film prints! This responsibility involves the coordination of film shipments, ensuring the timely arrival and return of films from various film societies across the country. Miles’ dedication and reliability have been vital in maintaining our weekly screening schedule.
Beyond his film handling duties, Miles has also been a longstanding quizmaster for our annual film quiz, and regularly volunteers his time at screenings. Thank you Miles for all you’ve done for us and for ensuring that we get a film on the screen each week!
Chris Hormann
Chris Hormann joined the Wellington Film Society committee in 2007, and became a Vice President in 2010. He was then elected President from 2014 to 2019. During his presidency, Chris successfully negotiated the Film Society’s transition to the Embassy Theatre following the closure of the Paramount, a move that secured our ongoing ability to operate and increased our appeal to potential members.
Chris has also been involved more broadly than just the Wellington Film Society: he joined the management committee of the New Zealand Federation of Film Societies in 2014, and has served as President and represented the Federation on the New Zealand International Film Festival (NZIFF) Trust board. Chris has been a great leader and champion for filmgoers in New Zealand. He has contributed a huge amount of his time and efforts. We thank him and wish him the best as he takes a bit of a break by stepping down from the Film Society committee.
David Jenkinson
We also acknowledged David Jenkinson, who is stepping down from his role as Vice President but remains on the committee. David is already a life member, having served on the committee since 1978, as secretary since the 1980s and as a Vice President since the 1990s/ David has also been involved in the New Zealand Federation of Film Societies. Thank you David!
Life members
Chris and Miles join a select club of other life members who’ve all contributed so much to our organisation:
- Alan Collins (Current Treasurer and committee member)
- David Jenkinson (Current committee member)
- David Lascelles
- John Leggott
- David Lindsay (Current committee member)
- Elizabeth Ridder (Current Membership Secretary and committee member)
- Lindsay Shelton