On Independent Film Journals

Unlike the other arts, cinema is considered to be destined for the masses. Painting, sculpture, and performance arts are usually seen as high arts, only for those who understand and appreciate it – elitist, classist, and racist ideals carried from hundreds of years ago. Cinema, on the other hand, is seen as a democratic art form, destined to be cherished by all people equally. 

From Walter Benjamin to Susan Sontag, researchers and philosophers have studied the role cinema plays in society and how it acts as a reproducible art destined to the people, may it be for entertainment or artistic purposes. Nowadays, chances are if you ask somebody whether they like cinema or not, they will most likely say they do, may their favorite movies be Shrek, Pulp Fiction or Une Femme est Une Femme. 

As a consequence, cinema has gathered a community of people who enjoy it to the point of wishing to write about it, either for a living or just as a way of expressing opinions. Throughout the years, film reviews have been everywhere: in the newspapers and magazines, on the TV and radio, and, nowadays, on the internet. 

The internet has opened a Pandora's box for film lovers – and haters – to talk freely about their impressions on all kinds of films. Everywhere you look, you may find some guy talking about how much he hates a certain actress or how that film is overrated and throwing the most obscene words at the one person who disagrees. 

Even though cinema is potentially the art of the people, like everything else it has been taken over by white cis men who think they are the only ones who have the capacity to make films. As a consequence, women, gender non-conforming people, and those of different races and ethnicities have been left within the margins of filmmaking. This movement is reflected within writing and opinions about the art: according to the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film, “there are almost 2 male reviewers for every 1 female reviewer. Men comprise 65% and women 35% of all film reviewers.” Of those, only 23% are women of color. 

As a consequence, most of the films we see being talked about online are American, mainstream movies made by wealthy men produced by big studios such as Netflix or Universal, as they somewhat reflect the reality of the people judging the films. But where can you get an in-depth analysis of that Brazilian film you just watched? Or maybe you’re looking for an unbiased opinion about that movie by that young woman director who just won the Palme d’Or at Cannes and all you find are men talking trash about her and her unsexualized female characters. 

Sites such as Letterboxd and even Twitter serve as a place for men to express their opinions, not only on cinema but on the women who try to do just the same as they do. In an interview for Lithium Magazine, Mia Vicino, most known as Brat Pitt on Letterboxd, tells a bit about her experience as a famous woman film critic. Having received the most unwelcoming and sexist comments and even death threats, Mia told the magazine that “It was really disheartening and upsetting because there were thousands of people liking tweets against me, calling me stupid and a bad writer.” 

But if the internet is no longer a safe space for marginalized writers, nor a place in which people can find varied opinions and analyses of different films, where is? What seems to be the best answer is independent film journals. Following the footsteps of classical film journals such as the Cahiers du Cinéma or Sight and Sound, film lovers – this time excluding the haters – have begun organizing their own film magazines, may they be online or in print. 

Journalists, filmmakers, and genuine lovers of the arts organize small newsrooms to write periodically about film. These journals end up creating communities of people interested in the different aspects of cinema, may they be feminist filmmaking, Latin stories, or screenplay analyses. 

As they’re organized by people who take what they’re writing seriously and respect those who are in the same place and status as them, these journals tend to put an end to disrespectful comments by fellow critics and reviewers. As a part of some of these communities, both as a writer and as a reader, I can say from experience that they really do create a sense of belonging to those who enjoy cinema at any level. 

It truly becomes a place for exchanges, gives the opportunity for small writers to express opinions, spreads analysis by specialists, and safely provides experience with writing. And readers have a chance to read different points of view written by women, nonbinary people, and people of color, who would most probably be under some form of threat by exposing themselves in different ways. 

They gather together people of similar interests, promoting filmmaking and turning more and more people into cinephiles, spreading the word about different genres, movements, and filmmakers who remain untalked by those who retain supremacy within film studies. Some independent film journals which you should check out are Another Gaze, Wasteland Arts, Mubi Notebook, and CineLimite, aside from Unpublished’s own film section.