Cinéma Vérité: Film Club (For grades 10-12)

Everyone, in the school and otherwise, loves movies. This is why the seniors go to watch the movies screened for juniors, and the juniors glance behind the senior auditorium curtains to catch a glimpse of the movies screened for seniors before they are sent back. This is why some of us even scream in excitement while watching movies like ‘F1: The Movie’ or ‘Thunderbolts’. 

But, beyond the Marvel and F1 films lies something deeper — a space to explore stories that challenge, inspire, and open our eyes to the world. There are people who would watch a movie to spite it, as also those who are willing to let their brains be messed up. These are the Film Club members. Yes, we, the Film Club members, would rather ditch the crowd piling up in the senior auditorium and watch a movie that the media hated or couldn’t bear to watch. You might think we hate ourselves. But no—not at all. We want to question, to analyse, to challenge—or even to love and I say this boldly. As a regular Film Club member, I can say that the kind of movies that are shown change the way an individual sees the world. Some movies that we screened during this term were Eddington, a darkly comedic political satire that uses the COVID-era political landscape of a small New Mexico town as a microcosm for the entire country, showing how, while people get caught up in political chaos and personal feuds, the amoral power of capital quietly gets things done; Blood Diamond, an eye-opener on the human cost of conflict diamonds, revealing how greed and violence devastate lives in war-torn Africa; and Pan’s Labyrinth, a dark, magical tale of innocence and imagination, unfolding against the brutal backdrop of post-Civil War Spain. There are movies you can’t find anywhere else; films that have just been released, and those that are destined to change the way you see the world forever. This is exactly what the film club brings to us — these unforgettable cinematic experiences. The point of the Film Club is to question. Question everything. We contrast, compare, analyse, rethink, and unlearn. The movies shown in Film Club aren’t the regular ones, and that’s just what makes it unique and different.