Finding islands of group bonding experiences amidst the sea of college life is more difficult than you may expect, especially as a first-year student. Thankfully, one answer to augmenting your scattered schedules with top-notch entertainment is a weekly, reliable event: the Wesleyan Film Series.

Each semester, the Film Board hosts a variety of films for the Film Series at the Goldsmith Family Cinema in the Jeanine Basinger Center for Film Studies. Movies are shown Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and are free of charge. 

The Film Board—a group of students who select the movies for the Film Series—was established in the 1969–1970 academic year, under the direction of Jeanine Basinger, founder and then-chair of the University’s Film Studies program.

“Jeanine Basinger…worked with Laurence Mark ’71 and other students to establish a student-run Film Series with the support of the [Wesleyan Student Assembly],” Associate Professor of the Practice in Film Studies Marc Longenecker ’03 MA ’07 wrote in an email to The Argus. “Its entire goal was to allow students to program films for students, which not only enabled them to see more movies (remember, this was pre-home video) but also to get practical experience running a sort of ‘small business’—working with a budget, dealing with distributors, advertising, etc.”

In an interview with The Argus, Longenecker remembered how his love for the Film Series led him to apply for a spot on the Film Board when he attended the University. As a Film Board member and now the board’s faculty advisor, Longenecker noted that his goal has been to offer students an eclectic mix of both familiar and lesser-known films that can transport them to a different time and place.

“The audience [for some films] is just 20 people, but if those people all have a transformative experience, then you’ve just done something for them,” Longenecker said.

It was that same love of cinema and an unwavering commitment to introducing quality art to the University that led the members of this year’s Film Board to join the group.

“I decided to apply to the Film Board because I love showing people my favorite movies,” Nya Santeliz ’25 said. “That’s how I communicate with people.”

In a tradition that goes back to the creation of the Film Series, the Film Board chooses from a wide range of films that all members of the board put forth with input from students across campus. Professor of Film Studies Michael Slowik ’03 has fond memories of working with his peers to select a couple dozen movies to show from hundreds of student suggestions when he served on the Film Board in his senior year.

“We would have two or three hour-long meetings [where] we would take every single film that had been put in the [suggestion] boxes and make an index card for each film,” Slowik said. “The whole Film Board would sit together with [Basinger] at the head of the table. She would literally read each card in alphabetical order and see what we thought about that film. We would debate [each] film: whether it was a good film or not and whether students would want to go see it.”

The current film selection process takes a similar form, though it has been adjusted to incorporate slightly more advanced technologies. 

“The films for each semester are chosen with a lot of input from the campus and a lot of debate among the students on the Film Board,” Longenecker wrote. “Each spring the Film Board does a big push soliciting suggestions from the Wesleyan campus—although anyone can suggest films year-round via https://linktr.ee/filmseries—and we keep all of the titles in a giant spreadsheet. The Film Board sifts through the titles (and new releases) to assemble the Film Series screenings for each quarter.” 

Campus interest also remains a major concern for today’s Film Board when it comes to putting together each semester’s lineup.

“The board wants to see your taste in film, not just in what you like or are a fan of, but what you think the entire campus would be a fan of,” John Earling ’27 said. 

That isn’t to say that the Film Board doesn’t prioritize their own preferences when it comes to making such choices.

“Next Friday we have ‘Amélie’ and I’ve been wanting it on the Film Series for so long; it’s one of my favorite movies of all time,” Santeliz said.

For the members of the board, sharing movies that have brought them joy, laughter, and even heartbreak with their peers is an incomparable experience.

“One of my personal favorites that I was thrilled to program was ‘Y tu mamá también,’” Hannah Langer ’26 added. “I love our rowdier screenings, where people are reacting and there’s a sense of solidarity.”

The Film Series is also an opportunity for students who might not cross paths to connect around a shared experience and create conversations on campus for weeks to come.

“‘Pink Flamingos’ was a big one, I was very excited to get that past the Board,” Earling said. “These movies are such amazing bonding experiences, even if it’s bonding over something terrible, and sometimes that’s a great way to build a quick friendship…or maybe not.”

Advocating for the films about which one is passionate is another time-tested tradition of the Film Board, as Slowik mentioned when discussing his tenure on the board.

“At times, there was shouting, there was immense frustration, and there [were] comments like, ‘Dude, nobody’s gonna want to see this movie that you love,’” Slowik said. “But it showed how much we really cared, and [that] was exciting.”

Another important consideration for the board when curating the Film Series is ensuring that the semester’s lineup offers a variety of perspectives, experiences, and themes.

“The goal is to play something of interest to every student on campus, to balance the historical/curatorial selections with mass appeal,” Longenecker wrote. “We try to balance between themed programming and pure eclecticism, which is to say that we are often trying to fill out the calendar with movies that are different from one another in some way.”

The Film Series often collaborates with other academic departments and campus offices to determine some thematic programming throughout the year. This month, the Film Series will present “Contemporary Cinema from the Hispanic World” for the celebration of Latine Affirmation Month, which is co-sponsored by the Thomas and Catherine McMahon Fund of the Department of Romance Languages and Literature.

One thing the board would like to see more is the interaction between the Series and clubs on campus.

“I would encourage club heads to talk to the Film Series if there’s a film that’s important to their movement,” Earling said.

Last week, “5 Broken Cameras” was screened in collaboration with the student group Wesleyan Students for Justice in Palestine, and the week prior “Io Capitano” was screened in collaboration with the Wesleyan Refugee Project. Involvement with clubs further emphasizes the community aspect of the Film Series that the board wants to continue to develop.

“They don’t even have to be politically aligned clubs or support groups, but any kind of club that’s interested in having a film screened would be really exciting and we’re eager to bring in more people to talk about their favorite movies at the Film Series,” Earling said.

Ultimately, the Film Board—past and present—hopes to continue bringing joy and inspiration to campus and helping students discover their own passion for filmmaking. Longenecker reflected on a conversation he had with independent documentary filmmaker Sara Dosa ’05 when she visited campus in November 2022 for a screening of her film “Fire of Love,” which reminded him of the stakes of maintaining the tradition of the Film Series.

“She told me, ‘When I went to the Film Series and saw “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” it opened something up for me,’” Longenecker said. “I’m pretty sure I programmed that. It was a movie that [I was really driven] to share with the campus. Someone on campus was touched by it and ended up going down this whole journey of film. What we hope for [each semester] is that someone finds their new favorite film.”

Hannah Langer is an Assistant Head Copy Editor for The Wesleyan Argus. 

Amin Shah can be reached at ahshah@wesleyan.edu.

Sulan Bailey can be reached at sabailey@wesleyan.edu.