Daniel Woods
To those curious about film, all the way to seasoned cinephiles looking to broaden their horizons, Dark Celluloid Society is the place for you. Read on as Dark Cell’s Daniel Woods introduces the society, what they get up to and, crucially, why you should join and immerse yourself into the community of film.
Film matters. In recent years, as readership has declined and people have become more drawn away for literature, film has become the preeminent cultural touchstone. It’s a way to feel new perspectives, hear new stories and elucidate new issues. It can be an engine for transformation, for education, entertainment. It’s the universal language. One does not even need to be literate to enjoy film. It’s multifaceted; the premier audiovisual artform. Cinema and film matter because we matter. Because people matter. At its heart, that’s what the artform is about. People. Those in it and those portrayed.
Film is vast but at its core it tends to focus on the people inside
The variety this allows is stunning. From the idiosyncratic, hyperactive stylings of Gregg Araki’s Nowhere (1997) to the quiet melancholy of Ozu’s Tokyo Story (1953) – both incidentally lifted from our semester one schedule – all these stories can be expressed in myriad ways. Film is vast but at its core it tends to focus on the people inside. Film is the ultimate empathy. It’s large, confusing but beautiful. Sometimes, though, it helps to have companions.
Enter Dark Celluloid.
Dark Celluloid is the University of Nottingham’s foremost film society. If you have a passion for cinema and are looking for a community to engage in discussions with and to expand your filmic horizons with, we’re the place for you! We would love for you to become a part of our vibrant, diverse, and passionate community.
Every termtime Sunday at 7:00PM, we meet on campus for a screening that follows our semesters lineup. This weekly screening forms the cornerstone of our society’s activities, with this regular week in week out meeting becoming the framework around which all other plans are formed. Following this screening, we head to Mooch to socialise and discuss what we have just watched.
Cult films, foreign directors, arthouse productions and any other artistically driven work are the bedrock of our society
Our lineup is diverse and global: we particularly focus on auteur driven cinema. Cult films, foreign directors, arthouse productions and any other artistically driven work are the bedrock of our society. Our first semester line-up demonstrates this. From Paul Schrader’s austere, transcendent brilliance of First Reformed to the whimsical charm of Jean-Pierre Jeaunt’s Amelie, we are sure to offer something that caters to your tastes. Many students find themselves discovering a new favourite film, or digging into a new director that they may not have been aware of otherwise.
In the second semester the lineup opens to member suggestions, which the committee curates and forms a schedule from, allowing you to shape the societies activities throughout the academic year.
Beyond our weekly screenings, we organise a whole host of on and off-campus events. Our dedicated events officer ensures that there’s always something going on. Social gatherings, film marathons, cinema outings and a variety of other activities. In recent weeks we have commemorated Black History Month, held a pub quiz at the Johnston Arms and visited Broadway Cinema to watch Martin Scorsese’s Killers of The Flower Moon.
one of our stand-out features is our strong relationships with Nottingham City cinemas such as the aforementioned Broadway or the Arc Cinema in Beeston
When it comes to off-campus activities, one of our stand-out features is our strong relationships with Nottingham City cinemas such as the aforementioned Broadway or the Arc Cinema in Beeston. These partnerships allow us to help integrate our members within the wider cinematic community in the city and offer discounted tickets to screenings that we host.
However, the heart of our society lies not in the wider city cinephile sphere but within our growing student community. Year in, year out, our society has grown. Bringing new students together, all united by a common interest. Our weekly screenings help facilitate this, serving not only as a hub to explore film but as a dedicated social space where friendships are nurtured.
We are a welfare and EDI focused society, with two dedicated welfare officers and one EDI officer, who always aim to ensure everyone feels safe and included. The community is of paramount importance to us, and every committee member is committed to the health of it.
Outside of these screenings, we have an active WhatsApp group for ongoing film discussions throughout the week and an Instagram account that provides information about our weekly offerings. Both of these social platforms can be used to contact the social officer and the film officer, who are eager to answer any questions you may hold about the society and the world of film respectively.
Join us. We promise you’ll love it
All in all, Dark Celluloid is the ideal society for students who love cinema. From seasoned cinephiles to burgeoning film enthusiasts, Dark Cell always has something to offer. Join us. We promise you’ll love it.
Daniel Woods
Featured image courtesy of Samuel Regan-Asante via Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
In-article images courtesy of @uondarkcelluloid via Instagram. No changes were made to these images.
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