<p>In Bengaluru, a silent, yet forceful film culture is brewing amidst many bustling communities dedicated to myriad activities. Film culture did not seem new in Bengaluru when we started The Parallel Cinema Club about four years ago. From stalwarts like Girish Kasaravalli, B Suresh, Girish Karnad, H N Narahari Rao etc, Suchitra Film Society had already begun fostering an ardent tradition of watching art cinema with great seriousness.</p>.<p>Hence, the atmosphere and support were active when The Parallel Cinema Club began. In addition to that, the OTT wave had swept through during Covid and an aspiration for watching non-mainstream cinema had sky-rocketed. So, The Parallel Cinema Club’s growth and the curation’s evolution were more of a consequence of these elements around us in Bengaluru.</p>.Handle success gracefully; Learn from failure.<p><strong>Why film clubs in college?</strong></p>.<p>As the club grew older, during our discussions, we realised that most club members discovered films during their college years, either through a film club that existed in their college or through recommendations from friends. College life also seems like when our senses and life begin to mature. This is when we start experiencing a film rather than simply watching it, which is significantly different.</p>.<p>However, college film clubs suffer from short-lived cycles of enthusiasm given the constant change in faculty and students. To solve this issue, The Parallel Cinema Club intends to collaborate with colleges, schools, and universities to help build cinema ecosystems for watching films and making and writing about them. </p>.<p>From experience, we would also like to share a set of guidelines to build, maintain, and sustain a film club in your college while highlighting the importance of each of these points. </p>.<p>A small committee of enthusiasts: Gathering a handful of cinema enthusiasts who are unafraid to explore new cinema would aid in ideating the essence of the film club, its motivations, aspirations, and curation. Unless the club is large, not many administrators would be necessary. </p>.<p>Labour division: A film club would need three teams — for curation, communications and management. However, as mentioned before, for a small enough club, three-four interested and dedicated people can virtually handle the job.</p>.<p>Regularity: Regular screenings, say once a week/fortnight/month, would aid the audience in planning to attend it and the curators in planning their curations to suit the screening dates.</p>.<p>Curation: This forms from the core ideas of the club. A film club can be dedicated to mainstream cinema, art cinema, or both. The curation always follows the ideals set for the film club. Therefore, the curation should carry intent and reason about what is communicated through the curation as a whole. It is always the case that a curation is a complete set of its own; the contents of the curation simply aid in making a more ulterior and complete point through the curation. There must be dedicated curators for the film club, with new curators joining in and being trained every 1-2 years in colleges. This ensures adequate exposure to cinema before the trainees take on the responsibility themselves. </p>.<p>Discussion and moderation: As much as it is important to watch a film in a group, it is equally as important to discuss the film. This brings out different flavours of the film, coming from different purviews of personal, technical, and academic experience. The primary element that distinguishes a film club from a regular film show in a cineplex is the quality of the discussion.</p>.<p>Tangentially, it is also the responsibility of the moderator(s) to introduce the film and justify the selection of the film as part of the curation. </p>.<p>Regular communication: Regular updates on the screenings, either through text messages or posters, keep everyone in the loop about the upcoming shows (and may even give them time to watch other films from the director/theme/film movement).</p>.<p>A hospitable climate for engaging with cinema will bring in a fresh audience inflow and help pass on the film club’s enthusiasm to new joiners. </p>.<p>The Parallel Cinema Club recognises the urgency of mature film culture in the city, extending its experience and assistance in helping set up film clubs in colleges.</p>.<p>Email theparallelcinemaclub@gmail.com if you need guidance.</p>.<p><em>(The author is the co-founder of The Parallel Cinema Club)</em></p>
<p>In Bengaluru, a silent, yet forceful film culture is brewing amidst many bustling communities dedicated to myriad activities. Film culture did not seem new in Bengaluru when we started The Parallel Cinema Club about four years ago. From stalwarts like Girish Kasaravalli, B Suresh, Girish Karnad, H N Narahari Rao etc, Suchitra Film Society had already begun fostering an ardent tradition of watching art cinema with great seriousness.</p>.<p>Hence, the atmosphere and support were active when The Parallel Cinema Club began. In addition to that, the OTT wave had swept through during Covid and an aspiration for watching non-mainstream cinema had sky-rocketed. So, The Parallel Cinema Club’s growth and the curation’s evolution were more of a consequence of these elements around us in Bengaluru.</p>.Handle success gracefully; Learn from failure.<p><strong>Why film clubs in college?</strong></p>.<p>As the club grew older, during our discussions, we realised that most club members discovered films during their college years, either through a film club that existed in their college or through recommendations from friends. College life also seems like when our senses and life begin to mature. This is when we start experiencing a film rather than simply watching it, which is significantly different.</p>.<p>However, college film clubs suffer from short-lived cycles of enthusiasm given the constant change in faculty and students. To solve this issue, The Parallel Cinema Club intends to collaborate with colleges, schools, and universities to help build cinema ecosystems for watching films and making and writing about them. </p>.<p>From experience, we would also like to share a set of guidelines to build, maintain, and sustain a film club in your college while highlighting the importance of each of these points. </p>.<p>A small committee of enthusiasts: Gathering a handful of cinema enthusiasts who are unafraid to explore new cinema would aid in ideating the essence of the film club, its motivations, aspirations, and curation. Unless the club is large, not many administrators would be necessary. </p>.<p>Labour division: A film club would need three teams — for curation, communications and management. However, as mentioned before, for a small enough club, three-four interested and dedicated people can virtually handle the job.</p>.<p>Regularity: Regular screenings, say once a week/fortnight/month, would aid the audience in planning to attend it and the curators in planning their curations to suit the screening dates.</p>.<p>Curation: This forms from the core ideas of the club. A film club can be dedicated to mainstream cinema, art cinema, or both. The curation always follows the ideals set for the film club. Therefore, the curation should carry intent and reason about what is communicated through the curation as a whole. It is always the case that a curation is a complete set of its own; the contents of the curation simply aid in making a more ulterior and complete point through the curation. There must be dedicated curators for the film club, with new curators joining in and being trained every 1-2 years in colleges. This ensures adequate exposure to cinema before the trainees take on the responsibility themselves. </p>.<p>Discussion and moderation: As much as it is important to watch a film in a group, it is equally as important to discuss the film. This brings out different flavours of the film, coming from different purviews of personal, technical, and academic experience. The primary element that distinguishes a film club from a regular film show in a cineplex is the quality of the discussion.</p>.<p>Tangentially, it is also the responsibility of the moderator(s) to introduce the film and justify the selection of the film as part of the curation. </p>.<p>Regular communication: Regular updates on the screenings, either through text messages or posters, keep everyone in the loop about the upcoming shows (and may even give them time to watch other films from the director/theme/film movement).</p>.<p>A hospitable climate for engaging with cinema will bring in a fresh audience inflow and help pass on the film club’s enthusiasm to new joiners. </p>.<p>The Parallel Cinema Club recognises the urgency of mature film culture in the city, extending its experience and assistance in helping set up film clubs in colleges.</p>.<p>Email theparallelcinemaclub@gmail.com if you need guidance.</p>.<p><em>(The author is the co-founder of The Parallel Cinema Club)</em></p>