Sitting in your room alone, in the dark, watching “The Notebook” may sound like a great way to spend a Wednesday afternoon, but Guilford College has a better alternative for film lovers: The Guilford Film Society.
“Everybody watches movies and everyone enjoys (film) on a different level … but if you appreciate film for its bigger qualities as art, you need to be around people that understand that and experience it the same way you do, so that you can talk freely about how you appreciate film,” said Visiting Assistant Professor of Film and Theatre Studies Chad Phillips, faculty adviser for The Guilford Film Society.
Many students spend at least some time procrastinating on YouTube or streaming movies and television shows online, but The Guilford Film Society offers something the Internet cannot: community.
“I just have an anxiety about putting my stuff out there and putting my film interest out there, geeking out about film,” said senior Douglas Reyes-Ceron, Guilford Film Society member. “I’ve always been a little bit hesitant about doing that, but through film society I kind of realized, ‘Okay, everybody else has the exact same anxieties and worries that I do.’
“It makes me feel a little better … (knowing) there are other people, like me, that love film, talking film and can embrace film the way I’ve been wanting to do for a while.”
The Society offers itself as a home for seasoned film watchers and makers, as well as for curious students with a closeted love of films.
On Sept. 12, the club brought the community together for a screening of “The Big Lebowski” on the Bryan-Milner lawn. The Society also invites the campus to a viewing of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” in the Joseph M. Bryan Jr. Auditorium on Oct. 29.
In addition to hosting movie screenings, Society members have the opportunity to see movies in theaters for free. For example, on Oct. 3 the Society and a few other lucky students had the chance to see “The Master” without charge.
Towards the end of the year, film lovers should keep their eyes and ears open for The Guilford Film Society’s “Homegrown Film Festival,” which features many Guilford College student films.
Unfortunately, what we’ve got here is failure to communicate. Despite all of the great events and opportunities the group offers, the Society still needs more members.
“I think that there’s a big hesitation sometimes (to join new clubs), especially with freshmen or upperclassmen who think they’re already settled in and they don’t really want to try new things,” said junior Lindsay Vanderhoogt, Guilford Film Society president. “But I think that if you are interested in something, it’s good to try to break out of that shell and try something new and meet new people. We have our arms open and our doors open.”
