All good things (must) come to an end, they say. But more often than not, an end is followed by a new, promising beginning. This is the case for the Sydenham Film Club at the start of the new season. Because after six years of earnest involvement with the Club – the last three as its Programmer, Kat Andreakou is stepping down, passing the baton to her Co-chair thus far, Nina Bosanac, and myself, Ioanna Papageorgiou. And while Nina will continue her imaginative and vibrant work as our Designer, I will take over as Programmer and Co-ordinator. Having, let me tell you, some anything but small shoes to fill.

A bona fide film buff, with a special affinity with and knowledge of British film, Kat introduced our audience to films of diverse genres, moods and languages, from every corner of the Earth, but also from… next door. From the legendary classics like “To Kill A Mocking Bird” and “The Seventh Seal” to contemporary masterpieces like “The Truman Show” and “Whiplash”. From the brilliant Brits, past and present, such as Ken Loach, (“The Land Of Freedom”) and Stanley Donen (“Two For The Road”), to the Brazilian master of photography Sebastiao Salgado (“The Salt Of The Earth”) and the great Italian maestro Michelangelo Antonioni (“Blow Up”). From the spectacular “Close Encounters Of The Third Kind” and “The Truman Show” to the idiosyncratic, yet equally humane “Mary and Max” and “Life Animated”.

During her time at the wheel of the Club, Kat also spearheaded the Club’s move to two bigger and better venues, (first at The Grove Centre Church, and then at our current, most welcoming home, The Sydenham Centre) and hosted two extremely successful Q&As, with the director of our very own… superhero “SUPERBOB”, Jon Drever, as well as Peter Middleton and James Spinney (photo), the filmmakers responsible for the sensitive and insightful “Notes On Blindness”. For these, and so many other reasons she will surely be missed. I miss her already. But as Mr Marcus Brody enthusiastically beckons “Follow me, I know the way!” at the end of “Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade” galloping away into the horizon, she left us having already shown us the way and the how to keep going.

And although my particular interest is in gender politics and women’s issues, I, like Kat, strongly believe that cinema is an open window to the world, a subtle educational module and one of the most effective (and affective) courses one can take towards the realisation of how far, yet so close we all are. A belief that has been reinforced throughout my many travels to International Film Festivals all around the world and my extensive academic endeavours into Film Studies, as well as my numerous conversations with audiences, film journalists, critics, theorists and philosophers, famous and non-famous filmmakers in front or behind the camera. I found them all to be ardent cinephiles, but unmistakably humans above all.

Enough said. See you at our first screening of the new season, which I hope, echoing Rick at the end of “Casablanca”, will indeed be “the beginning of a beautiful friendship”.