A film club is going all out this month with showings of Academy Award-nominated and hard-hitting films.

After a successful start to the new season, Maldon Film Club opens its doors again next Tuesday with a showing of Can You Ever Forgive Me.

The Oscar-nominated film tells the story of Lee Israel ( played by Melissa McCarthy), who made her living in the Seventies profiling celebrities.

She is a frustrated, hard-drinking author who can barely afford to pay her rent or bills in 1990s New York.

Desperate for money, Israel soon hatches a scheme to forge letters by famous writers and sell them to bookstores and collectors.

When the dealers start to catch on, Lee recruits a dubious friend to help her continue her self-destructive cycle of trickery and deceit.

A film club spokesman said: “McCarthy and Richard Grant enjoy a comedy chemistry which is a joy to watch.

“The director is less interested in the machinations of Israel’s scheme, but more concerned with the psychology behind it, giving us an understated portrait of self-loathing and loneliness.”

Later in November, the club will be screening the Polish masterpiece Cold War.

The club works on a membership basis and screens an annual programme of 18 films from the best of recent English and foreign language releases.

The annual subscription costs £25 or guests can pay £3 per film.