Meet Geoffrey

Geoffrey, in conjunction with one of our other residents, runs the weekly movie matinee for residents in the Clubhouse Media room every Friday at 1.30 pm. Geoffrey was a movie maker and his interest in films began way back in the 1970s. Geoffrey said that he enjoys selecting movies to show on Friday and he always tries to select a feel-good movie with a happy ending. That might be the reason for the happy faces of our residents after the Friday movies. Here is a little bit about Geoffrey’s cinematic journey, in his own words.

“Gail and I select movies for the Henry residents at 1.30 every Friday. I try to select movies that feel good with a happy ending. I also like movies based on true stories. I also try to pick Australian films with a history theme to show to the residents.

My interest in films began way back in the seventies. I enrolled in weekend and holiday courses to learn about film and media from the University of Bathurst. For quite a while I have been producing movies from shooting, editing, and sharing on DVD.

While teaching in a country school I started to produce films and work with teachers and kids.

Over the years the topics that I have filmed or had an interest in: family history of my ancestors, towns, weddings, school excursions, plays, holidays, and family. When I retired from full-time teaching, I worked as a casual teacher. I made films for catholic education mainly in the arts.

I retired from casual teaching in 2002 and started to create courses for the residents at the Carrington retirement village near Camden. One of the courses was using a movie camera. Each year the residents would put on a musical play. I was responsible for shooting the 2-hour play, editing, and recording it onto a DVD. It was a huge media production, and these were sold to the residents to raise money for the next play.

I enjoy selecting films to show on Friday. I have quite a library and I am always trying to find rare and old movies.“

– Geoffrey Picker