Cinephilia ( ; also cinemaphilia or filmophilia) is the term used to refer to a passionate interest in , film theory, and film criticism. The term is a portmanteau of the words ' and philia, one of the four ancient Greek words for love.
A person with a passionate interest in cinema is called a cinephile ( ), cinemaphile , filmophile , or, informally, a film buff (also movie buff'''). To a cinephile, a film is often not just a source of entertainment as they see films from a more critical point of view.In English, cinephile is sometimes used interchangeably with the word cineaste ( ), though in the original French the term () refers to a filmmaking.
Film historian Thomas Elsaesser writes that it "reverberates with nostalgia and dedication... more than a passion of going to the movies and only a little less than an entire attitude towards life".
Influential film clubs of the period included Objectif 49, whose members included Robert Bresson and Jean Cocteau, and the Ciné-Club du Quartier Latin (Cinema Club of the Latin Quarter). Revue du Cinéma, a magazine published by members of the two clubs, later evolved into the influential film magazine Cahiers du cinéma.
Many of the people who attended the screenings became film critics and later filmmakers, founding the film movement known as the French New Wave. André Bazin, François Truffaut, Jacques Doniol-Valcroze, Claude Chabrol, Jean-Luc Godard, Alexandre Astruc, Jacques Rivette, Agnes Varda, Luc Moullet and others were regulars, and several, most notably Truffaut, maintained their ties to the community after they had achieved fame.
The community fostered an interest in Film director and films that had been neglected, forgotten or simply unknown in the West, and led to the development of the auteur theory. The directors the French cinephiles of the period had strong interests in included F. W. Murnau, Robert Flaherty, Sergei Eisenstein, Jean Renoir, Jean Vigo, Orson Welles, Anthony Mann, Louis Feuillade, D. W. Griffith, the Lumière brothers, Alfred Hitchcock and Georges Méliès, whose films would be screened from nitrate film on special occasions.
The era also saw the growth of college film societies. Though some, like Doc Films at the University of Chicago, had existed since the 1930s, the 1960s saw directors of all generations regularly make appearances at college campuses, whether to revisit their old films or to discuss new ones. The Melbourne Cinematheque, founded in 1948 in Melbourne, Australia, began as the Melbourne University Film Society (MUFS), and was renamed Cinémathèque in 1984.
At the same time, the Parisian cinephilic culture became increasingly politicized. Critics, and by extension the cinephiles who followed their work, began to emphasize political aspects of films and directors. Though many of the major figures of the post-war community has been originally aligned with the political right—including most of the Cahiers du cinéma group—by the late 1960s Cahiers and the young cinephile public in general had aligned with various forms of the Left, with some figures, such as Jean-Luc Godard, aligning with Maoism. In this very politicized climate, cinema was often seen as directly connected to Marxism. Many members of this new generation of cinephiles would become critics and film director, including Serge Daney, Philippe Garrel, and André Téchiné.
Though most of the world's major film festivals had existed for decades by this point—including the Berlin International Film Festival, the Cannes Film Festival and the Venice Film Festival—the period saw the establishment of festivals in nearly every major city. The New York Film Festival, the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and the Chicago International Film Festival were all started during this time. The Toronto International Film Festival, often seen as second only to the Cannes Film Festival in terms of importance, was founded towards the end of this period, in 1976.
Films championed by cinephiles and Western intellectuals as "cutting-edge" and "revolutionary" from the 1960s-1970s included Lindsay Anderson's Cannes-winning epic If...., Humberto Solás's Lucía and Glauber Rocha's Antonio das Mortes alongside multiple works by Godard and the agitprop documentaries of The Newsreel. WR, Sex, and the Art of Radical Juxtaposition|Current|The Criterion Collection
While Japanese films have enjoyed worldwide distribution in the mid 20th century, the late 20th century saw an increase in interest amongst cinephiles in cinema from other Asian countries, especially China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and, later, Thailand.
As was the case with the French cinephilia of the post-war era, the international cinephilic community that has developed on the Internet often emphasizes films and figures that do not have strong critical or popular recognition, including many directors who work within Film genre, in what is sometimes dubbed vulgar auteurism. These include Justin Lin, Fast & Furious & Elegant: Justin Lin and the Vulgar Auteurs|Village Voice Abel Ferrara, Michael Mann, Roland Emmerich, The Farrelly Brothers, Michael Bay, John Carpenter, Kathryn Bigelow, David Fincher, M. Night Shyamalan, Vulgar Auteurism: A Guide Or: The "Mann-Scott-Baysians"-MUBI Brian De Palma and Tony Scott.
Filmmaker James N. Kienitz Wilkins's 2023 still image film Still Film argues about the nightmarish effects of cinephilia using 35mm presskit photos for blockbusters from the 1980s-90s. BAM|Still Film + At the Movies Nightmare Cinephilia|Current|The Criterion Collection
A notable series of by Canadian filmmaker Stephen Broomer entitled Art & Trash focuses on underground film, avant-garde film and cult film (particularly outsider and psychotronic movies).
In 2004, film critic Chris Gore hosted the game show Ultimate Film Fanatic. The Ultimate Film Fanatic - IndieWire The Independent Film Channel Presents: Ultimate Film Fanatic - AMC Networks Inc.
The book series Lil Cinephile is a spin-off of the successful Cinephile: A Card Game created by author Cory Everett (who was once a contestant on the aforementioned Ultimate Film Fanatic). 'Lil Cinephile Book Series Returns with Sci-Fi, Kung Fu, Midnight – TheWrap About — Cinephile "I can't believe nobody has made this yet!": Corey Everett's 'lil Cinephile Collection|ACMI
The directors of the French New Wave, who learned about filmmaking by attending screenings at film society and discussing movies amongst themselves, are often seen as models for cinephiles. Their intellectual omnivorousness, which equated an interest in cinema with strong understandings of literature, art and sometimes philosophy, has continued to have influence on cinephiles.
On the other hand, many directors emphasize their lack of cinephilia or interest in movies as in the cases of Miranda July, Abbas Kiarostami and Peter Greenaway, while each acclaimed by cinephiles, often emphasized their disinterests in cinema when interviewed.
Telephilia is also said to rival cinephilia for relevance, as production values are higher than ever before on shows such as Mad Men, Breaking Bad and Homeland. Despite this development, there are still intellectuals
who consider telephilia as inferior to cinephilia, particularly in cases of obsessions for modern television programs belonging to genres such as melodrama and soap opera. This is also explained by the view that highlighted the unattainable nature of the cinema, which makes it more desirable and extraordinary since it features a regime of presence-yet-absence filmic image, allowing a form of cinematic stardom capable of triggering a series of psychic mechanisms. This is contrasted with television, which is perceived to be more present and immediate—with its stars "famous only in so far as he or she makes frequent television appearances." Some observers, however, note that there is now a destabilization of traditional notions of what constitutes cinephilic tendency due to the availability of film on Home video technology.
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