Why I Love Film

Telling stories is a passion of mine and I adore listening to people who’ve got their own story to tell. Two films telling the same story is like asking two different people to tell the same story. Both will give their version of the story, their interpretation and they might add something or leave bits out. No story’s the same when told by a different person, the same counts for a film. Verbally telling a story is one thing, but expressing it via film is something different. It takes all our different ways of communication and combines them into one. In a movie, you’ll see images, hear sounds, read texts… It’s all there. It takes the reading aspect of books and translates it into dialogue and it takes the visual aspect of pictures, but it lets them move, how cool’s that? Film is one of the most diverse types of media we have at our fingertips. It can be used to divert, to activate, as propaganda or to tell a message to large group of people. Film can be used to bring attention to contemporary issues and tell them to you in the comfiest seat of your nearest film theater. That’s how Fruitvale Station talked about how the Afro-American society was disadvantaged by the American police and that’s how The Lobster criticized our addiction to social media, to dating sites to be precise. This message doesn’t have to be brought across in a direct way. The director can decide how hidden he wants his message to be, which I as the viewer find amazing. It’s like a treasure hunt, but within the subtext of a film. I really like how a director can bring all of his creativity into the game. Every story has been told in 1001 ways, but a director will have to look for a 1002^nd way to tell his story creatively and inventively. It is fun as a viewer to experience all of that, but the really cool part is that you yourself can be the one to tell a story in its 1002^nd way. Everyone can become a filmmaker, surely not a good one, but you have the option. There’s a camera at all times in your pocket. At any point in time, where ever you are, whatever you’re doing,  in whose company you find yourself, you’ll always be able to tell a story visually, which is something mind-boggling to me. It’s the fact that literally, everyone is able to use and play with it, that’s so appealing to me. It’s the fact that you’re able to entertain yourself with a film, even after it’s stopped playing that I find fascinating. I’m currently working on an article about A Ghost Story. I wrote it in Dutch for my philosophy thesis and doing that, took me about two months, as I had to figure out how I wanted to tackle the subject. Currently, I’m translating it into English,  which will also take some time, though I’m loving each minute of the process.
I guess it all boils down to the versatility of the medium that I find so awesome about it. It’s truly something remarkable, it’s nearly magical what it all can do; from bringing people together to dividing them into different opinionated groups, it can be altered to change history, to make up history, to let people believe things, to make people feel thing, whether it’s joy or sadness, film can do both! It’s something fantastic and it’s something I deeply love.

And that’s about it. What’s the thing in film that’s so appealing to film to you?