By Billie Kanfer
I had the pleasure of interviewing Emily Stone ‘17 who, along with with Mirella Nappi ‘16, has taken over the reigns of the Film Appreciation Troupe.
Q: How would you summarize your club?
Emily: Our troupe aims to spark discussion among students after they attend bi-weekly meetings and/or screenings. We are open to anyone and include members with little to high knowledge of films. We don’t want students to feel like they need to be an expert to join our club; we are all about “loving film” and sharing similar interests and passions for the subject. Currently, we have three members on the e-board but are hoping to expand this year especially with the new media studies minor being implemented.
Q: What makes the Film Appreciation Troupe so special?
Emily: Our troupe sticks by the fact that “everyone has a say.” We want the students to choose what movie they want to screen based on their own interests. At our meetings we all disclose what genre/actor/theme/director, etc we are interested in. We draw a random selection from a hat and then generate a list of films that could possibly be viewed. We are unique in the way that we send out a survey via the student announcements and ask for the students to choose their favorites. We want the people to be happy and to enjoy discussing a film of their choice.
Q: Do you feel that film appreciation is underrepresented on campus?
Emily: I do feel that way sometimes. On the surface, we appear to be a club that is fun and enjoyable, but we really hope to generate more discussion even outside of our club. Last year we had a fluctuating membership; however, we want to expand and broaden our scope. I find that film can be underrepresented on campus yet we want to combine entertaining with film discussion and ignite excitement on campus.
Q: What are your future plans?
Emily: Our plans are to expand and generate discussion. We want people to talk, enjoy film and pursue the minor or even just pursue our club more intensely. Film Appreciation Troupe is all about conversation, and we want to continue that in our endeavors.
Q: What are some events for this semester and year?
Emily: We will be having weekly screenings, and meetings hopefully on Wednesday evenings. We hope to cultivate a Film Festival and we will be having our second annual Oscars screening on February 22nd, 2015.