The newly formed Film Enthusiasts Club (FEC) at Iowa State University was born from a shared love of movies, friendship and a simple idea: to bring people together through film.
It started last year at a screening of Parasite at Cyclone Cinema. Stella Lovell, a senior in civil engineering, went with her friend Olivia Wall, a sophomore in biology. In the audience, they spotted Dylan Zborowski, a senior in chemical engineering they barely knew. Lovell and Wall asked him to sit with them, and something clicked.
“Last year, the Student Union Board’s Cyclone Cinema screened the film Parasite, and my friend (and vice president) Olivia decided to attend because we were both really passionate about film,” Lovell said. “At the screening, we saw that Dylan was also there. At this point in the year, I barely knew him and was only an acquaintance, but we asked him if he wanted to sit with us, and he said yes. Immediately, a friendship clicked among us.”
That friendship turned into a club idea over the summer. Lovell said she wanted to create a place where students could form similar connections.
“Throughout the rest of the year and up to this point, we have formed a friendship based on a shared passion and love for film,” Lovell said. “My personal love for film and this friendship really inspired me to come up with the idea of a film club at Iowa State. I really wanted to create a space for my peers to form friendships like the one I had with Dylan and Olivia, which stemmed from a shared passion for film.”
Lovell said she also wanted an outlet beyond her engineering classes.
“As an engineering major, the vast majority of my classwork is math and science-related, and film is an outlet for me to channel my creativity,” she said. “I wanted to create a space where people from all majors could come together, unwind, relax, and enjoy good cinema.”
The club was officially recognized in early fall and plans to meet weekly for screenings and discussions. Each month, the officers will choose a theme, like a decade, genre or cultural focus, and pick three movies that fit. The fourth week will be a discussion meeting.
“We were looking for a club that just watches and discusses movies—there was a filmmaking club, but we were more interested in watching/analyzing rather than creating—but we couldn’t find one, so we decided to create the FEC,” Wall said. “We started working on it in the summer before this school year and were officially recognized about a month ago, so we’re a brand new club.”
The club will use Kanopy, a free streaming service for students, and plans to hold its first screening, “Donnie Darko,” next week.
“We haven’t screened any films yet, but next week on Thursday, we plan to show our first movie, ‘Donnie Darko,’” Wall said. “We also have plans to hopefully take a field trip to the Varsity Cinema in Des Moines at the end of the school year for a fun celebration so I’m super excited for that if we end up doing it.”
Zborowski said the club’s goal is to bring students together and help them learn about film as an art form.
“Our club’s two main goals, in my opinion, are to unite students over a mutual admiration for film and also learn more about film as an art form through discussion,” Zborowski said. “In particular, I’d like to stress the educational angle in addition to the social angle because we want members to engage with the material seriously, just in a hopefully more enjoyable context than a traditional course.”
“I hope that members will take away a deeper understanding and a stronger connection to cinema,” Lovell said. “I want members to feel welcome and supported. Additionally, I hope they develop a sense of community in the club.”
Zborowski said film can bring people together regardless of background or major.
“I think film has a great capacity to bring people together regardless of majors or backgrounds,” Zborowski said. “We want to foster an environment where any student can find a film that speaks to them, then hopefully entice them into discovering other kinds of films than what they are used to.”
Wall said she wants people to know the club is open to everyone, whether they’re film experts or casual watchers.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re not an expert in all things cinema related, or if you only watch mainstream movies,” Wall said. “We would love for anyone to show up.”
The Film Enthusiasts Club will hold its first screening at 6 p.m. Thursday in Carver Hall. All students are welcome.
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