Freshwater Film Club screening, introduced by film historians Tony Dalton and Tim Nicholson

Dir: Federico Fellini
Cast: Anthony Quinn, Giuletta Masina, Richard Basehart

Sold by her mother for the price of a loaf of bread, a young woman, Gelsomina (Masina) finds herself as the forlorn stooge of a brutal carnival strongman performer (Quinn) as they wander aimlessly from village to village, earning a meagre living in post-WW2 Italy.

La Strada is the film that brought Fellini to international fame, largely thanks to the two stars. Quinn gives arguably his best screen performance, and Masina’s gentle clown is perhaps one of cinema’s greatest tragic characters.

But Fellini has also created here a superb piece of European neo-realism, full of stark imagery, compassion and joy, and rightly deserved to be the first to win the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

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All the screenings start at 7.00pm (doors open at 6.30pm) and membership for the season is £21.00 (or £3.00 per film on the door).