Local students talk Letterboxd and creating a film community

In a latest interview for her feature directorial debut The Chronology of Water Kristen Stewart was solicited to name her four favorite films She got a little nervous I don t want to f ck this up she mentioned Because this stuff really matters man It s hard to tell how facetious Stewart was being here but there s a whole lot of truth behind her comment The question What are your four favorite films has been growing in popularity since the COVID- pandemic and crafting the perfect top four is a real art form The question has been required on red carpets to everyone from members of the rock band Pavement to Survivor host Jeff Probst but it s not a question solely reserved for celebrities My boyfriend s top four are Black Narcissus Thirst High and Low and Don t Look Now Mine are The Heartbreak Kid Elaine May not the Farrelly brothers La Collectionneuse The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and Seconds If you ve made it this far you might be asking yourself Why four Who cares What in God s name are you talking about Sammie Well I m talking about the little movie social media app that could of discipline I m talking about Letterboxd Letterboxd is a movie-based social media platform where users can log in and review films create lists of films view what their friends are watching and share their top four films with everyone Think Goodreads but for movies and with an infinitely more usable interface My favorite four films on Letterboxd Screenshot Initially launched in as of Letterboxd had million users By the end of it had million As came to a close the app had million users and counting Letterboxd sends journalists to red carpets Critics like myself use it to share their work and boost their profile Sean Baker the filmmaker behind the the greater part modern Best Picture Oscar winner Anora has been evolving on Letterboxd for years Stars like Ayo Edebiri Rachel Sennott and Bowen Yang count themselves among its users as does as of October acclaimed director Martin Scorsese Over the past five years Letterboxd has been taking over the movie world But convincing a legendary -year-old director to join its ranks isn t the the majority impressive thing the app has achieved in that time What s really special about Letterboxd is the way it has managed to create a area around movie-watching especially among younger film lovers during a time when it feels more and more like movies are losing their cultural relevance If there is a collective of people that otherwise would be separated with a mutual interest they can find a sense of neighborhood mentioned Clay Moores a novice at the Savannah College of Art and Design and a Letterboxd user since Clay Moores four favorite film at the time we spoke Paper Moon All That Jazz Aftersun and Saturday Night He was considering swapping in Pride and Prejudice for Saturday Night when we spoke Screenshot In late Variety disclosed that half of the platform s progressing users were under years old with more than half of that group between the ages of and A spokesperson for Letterboxd stated that a latest member survey sample size from May of manifested that percent of respondents were or younger Of those respondents percent saw at least one film in the cinema in the past month and percent had seen - films in cinemas in the past month It might seem incongruous that the swift rise in Letterboxd coincides with the start of the COVID- pandemic an event that has left movie theaters in the lurch But when you consider the shared isolation of that moment the pieces begin to come together Letterboxd provided a way to watch movies by yourself and still connect over those films with a society Without being able to be with people physically the ability to talk about movies is something that Letterboxd really provided during that time SCAD novice Logan Slavin announced Clay and Logan were two of multiple SCAD students I spoke with to try and understand how Letterboxd has affected the movie-viewing lives of younger cinephiles Logan and his brother Tanner Slavin both initially joined Letterboxd around or but didn t really start engaging with the app until after the pandemic Both disclosed they think the app has opened their eyes to movies they normally wouldn t consider watching For Tanner who does not consider himself a horror movie guy Sinners is one of those movies Since its release on April the Ryan Coogler vampire film has earned almost million domestically I look through the app and see what my friends are watching or what s really popular If there s a lot of conversation about certain movies even if I wouldn t traditionally be interested in them I would maybe go check it out Tanner mentioned That kind of thing broadens my horizons a little bit Logan Slavin s four favorite films at the time we spoke Logan Lilo Stitch La La Land and Paddington Screenshot Logan feels the same way as his brother about the horror genre but revealed that Letterboxd has helped him grow out of his movie-watching comfort zone I know there are chosen horror movies that I think I would really like if I sat down and watched them Logan mentioned I feel like I constantly watch certain types of movies and I want to expand past that a bit The beauty of Letterboxd lies in its versatility You can use the app to be social see what your friends are watching like your friends reviews etc Or you can be like SCAD trainee Matt Michaelangelo and use it as a way to keep track of the films you like and push himself to think harder about what you like about them Matt Michaelangelo s four favorite films at the time we spoke Past Lives Heathers Pearl and Call Me By Your Name Screenshot I like to keep track of what films I like This film is five stars Why is this film five stars Because I like the visuals Matt reported For me it s like a cohesive reference book There are over half a million movies to sort through on Letterboxd The algorithm not only shows you what the majority of popular movies are on the app at any given moment but also what your friends and people that you follow are watching There s also the list feature which allows users to group movies together in any way they like There are lists like Movies You Must See Before You Die or feeling lost in your s or one I made and what I consider my personal masterpiece Ben Affleck movies that would be better if all the other characters were muppets Whatever you re interested in cinematically you can find a home for that interest on Letterboxd The way it has affected how I watch movies is genuinely just what movies I watch Clay noted I think oddly enough I watch a lot more less popular less liked movies So anything where I have a niche interest or something that s a cult classic I think I ve uncovered myself a lot more attracted to those as a effect of the app One of the preponderance significant Letterboxd lists in the lives of chosen of these SCAD students comes from their professor Jaime Villa Ruiz For one of his classes Ruiz used to share a word document with films he thought would make beneficial viewing for his students In the fall of one of his students suggested he used Letterboxd instead Professor Jaime Villa Ruiz s four favorite films at the time we spoke Barry Lyndon High and Low Fish Tank and Youth Screenshot This changes everything Ruiz revealed It made it so much easier for me to communicate with them Joining the app meant that he could also see what his students were watching and also see how his classes were affecting their viewing habits For example after talking about film noir in a cinematography class he began to notice s Double Indemnity start to pop up on his students pages their horizon s broadening in real time I see my students having their own region in it he noted It s creating conversations and having people talk about these things It s just so easy It makes it so easy Niche social media sites sites focused on common interests like Goodreads or Strava or Letterboxd are not as popular as apps like Instagram or TikTok But they do provide a more tight knit society online and one not quite as rife with argument Yusi Li s four favorite films at the time we spoke Confessions The Truman Show The Lunatics and An Elephant Sitting Still Screenshot To me Letterboxd is really pure SCAD learner Yusi Li revealed The locality is really from what I ve seen pretty wholesome Wholesome for all ages too Matt revealed that his grandmother also counts herself among Letterboxd s users It s a nice little mainstream kind of hub where everybody can be like I watched this film I didn t like it or I did like it There s that whole discussion Matt explained It didn t feel like particular weird movie forum online It felt pretty safe for all demographics and generations In a Bloomberg article from last year journalist Teresa Xie wrote about the procedures that these smaller online communities can provide a refuge of sorts from giant social media companies Whether you want to avoid the targeted ads of apps like TikTok or Instagram or the fraught negativity of a place like X formerly known as Twitter something like Letterboxd can provide that safe haven X no matter what I browse and no matter how much I try to avoid there s inevitably something political negativity and like hate speech getting retweeted Yusi noted Tanner Slavin s four favorite films at the time we spoke Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse Back to the Future Jurassic Park and Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope Screenshot Tanner declared he still uses X and Instagram more than he does Letterboxd but he also not long ago joined a separate niche area called League of Comic Geeks Letterboxd but for comic books It s good to kind of get a break from all of the stuff going on on X Tanner mentioned Unlike the high profile owners of certain social media sites the Mark Zuckerbergs and Elon Musks of the world the Letterboxd founders Matthew Buchanan and Karl von Randow have a relatively low profile For Matt that works in their favor After Musk s takeover of X in usership fell pretty drastically If Letterboxd keeps increasing in popularity the way it is and the founders continue to stay lowkey that drop off doesn t appear to be in the app s near future I don t know anything about the Letterboxd founder Matt revealed I think that has been pretty beneficial The post Local students talk Letterboxd and creating a film area appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta