Listed as a legal movie theater, the Denison Film Society has offered free weekly screenings to students, faculty, and the community for almost 50 years. But, most people don’t know about it.
Cinema majors Kat Colvin ‘23 and Maya Barlow ‘23 are co-presidents of the club this year and want to make cinema more accessible.
Screenings typically attract five to ten viewers, making it a very intimate environment. Most films are shown in the Slayter Auditorium, but they occasionally set up more informal screenings.
“We call those our underground screenings,” Colvin said.
DFS is required to buy the rights for all films shown, and it can get expensive. For example, for $725 they will have access to the film “Triangle of Sadness” after it leaves theaters.
Anyone can be a DFS member by simply showing up to screenings, but the paid position of a projectionist allows for more involvement.
“We try to gauge if people have a personal interest in film,” Barlow said. “It doesn’t have to be that they’re a cinema major and have an encyclopedia of film knowledge in their head, it’s just people that are passionate and reliable and want to make fun events for other people on campus.”
With about 10 projectionists on the payroll suggesting films, Colvin and Barlow put together a schedule for screenings every weekend.
Most features are based around holidays, heritage months, collaborations, or other events on campus. DFS caters to different interests with films ranging from the indie film “Smoke Signals” to popular blockbusters and “Barbie as Rapunzel.”
The most recent screening, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” was co-sponsored by the Departments of History, Black Studies, and Latin American & Caribbean Studies. Professors also hosted a discussion panel afterwards.
“We try to do a few talk-back films each semester where there’s a film on a specific relevant social issue, and afterwards we’ll host a discussion,” Barlow said. “There’s so much that can be communicated through film and it’s a really powerful teaching medium, so it’s really nice that departments are thinking of us.”
Colvin and Barlow have worked to provide more opportunities for discourse, and to diversify film selections. In an attempt to make the environment more approachable and inclusive, there has been a great increase in female directors, black directors, and showings of international and foreign language films.
Cinema is a typically male-dominated industry and is often seen as pretentious. There was a time when DFS projectionists were all men, but over the years the club has become more diverse.
“We’re just trying to make this as approachable as possible and so we’re not interested in the ‘film canon’ and showing French films from the 1960’s,” Colvin said. “I know that’s a huge thing that people want to be pretentious about. Not knocking that, but how are you legitimately going to reach as many people as possible with films like that that are mostly just ostracizing newcomers and making them feel like they don’t know anything?”
Some upcoming films this semester include Wes Anderson, Studio Ghibli, and horror film double features, along with a variety of other recognizable movies. In the future they hope to have more student body picks and informal events.
“We want to have the community’s interests in mind and operate to bridge the gap between “cinema” in its formal term versus getting together watching a movie. It’s one of the easiest social things ever, and it’s fun,” Barlow said.