Words of a new club coming to campus started to float around the first week of classes, and they were proved to be true when the Film Appreciation Club appeared at the Fall 2021 Student Involvement Fair. Malcolm Van Couvering, the projected candidate for president of the club, took action to promptly promote his new idea by creating a handmade sign and sign up sheet. His attempt at grabbing students’ attention proved fruitful, yielding 38 total signatures.
When asked why Van Couvering took steps to start the Film Appreciation Club, he expressed his own personal experience with film. “Film has been a very important part of my life for a long time, and watching the masterpieces of film has always felt deeply fulfilling to me, and has allowed me to develop very meaningful relationships in my eight years out of school. These conversations and connections have been a key part of my life, so when I came to Lyndon for the first time earlier this year and asked around about the film club, I was dismayed to learn there wasn’t one already on campus.” Even though campus lacked one, Van Couvering interacted with multiple other students and quickly gained his support for the club. “While initially saddened, I realized that I wasn’t the only one to whom film was important, and I could make something in my vision of what a true film club should be, one where the masterpieces from around the world could be celebrated and discussed, and a community could be built around it.”
“After I began talking to people about the club, I realized that there were a lot of interested people with a similar vision to my own, and we became fast friends.” -Malcolm Van Couvering
It aids Van Couvering that there is an increase of students on-campus this semester, especially in the Cinema Production concentration. With these friends, he managed to build up a “senior administration and got the information necessary to begin the process of creating a club. With these friends as backup, I began completing the checklist as quickly as I could, because my experience has taught me that you need to ride momentum if you want to create something.”
“Person after person signed up, with the idea of being able to see a good movie in a theater sounding ‘pretty cool’ to a lot of people… I was blown away, overjoyed, and resolved in my determination to make the Film Appreciation Club come to life!” -Malcolm Van Couvering
Van Couvering certainly hit the ground running with the amount of success he had at the Involvement Fair. “[My friends] said I could show up with a sign and a sign-up sheet, and so I quickly rushed to my dorm to make a crude sharpie-poster and a rough sign-up sheet, grabbed my chair from orientation and set up near CAB, where a number of my new friends were stationed. With this crude set-up, we congregated near the center of Veteran’s Park, across the way from the dunk tank.”
In the event that the club is fully approved by the SGA tonight, Van Couvering added that everyone who had signed will be contacted by the projected secretary Benjamin Bartolomeu via their preferred email with information moving ahead. He also mentioned that flyers and posters will be produced as well. Along with email, Van Couvering hopes to accompany alongside a discord server, to serve a platform which will allow students to take part in electing the next film to be played. And the executive board will communicate via group text, and in person communication.
“When the club is approved, we will send out an email to our email list informing the members of the club of our approval, and welcoming them to the club.” -Malcolm Van Couvering
The club will meet on Tuesdays at 8:30 PM for comedic films and Fridays at 7:00 PM for more serious films in the Alexander Twilight Theatre. Executive board meetings are planned over lunch on the first Wednesday of each month.
Van Couvering had taken an idea, expressed it with other students and moved forward with the beginning steps of the club. The campus had previously had a similar club, but it has since fallen to time. This is simply the prelude to the Film Appreciation Club and Van Couvering and his projected staff have taken significant steps to make sure everything lands smoothly in the event the club gains approval.
They plan to set up advanced connections with other campus organizations and clubs for advice and smooth grounds to help spread their accessibility and interest with. “We will then attempt to coordinate with the Pantry for access to popcorn, with the A/V Department for use of the projector, and CAB for advice on hosting events in the school,” Van Couvering said.
If the club is approved, Van Couvering plans to have an executive board meeting on September 3 early in the day to initiate the year working together and plan how they will operate moving forward. Later that same day, he plans on hosting a celebratory initial screening in the Alexander Twilight Theater. After this, they will present an executive board discussion on how the event carried over in an attempt to find what went correctly and what could be improved going forward. On the following Tuesday, September 7, they plan to have their first comedy film screening.
Feature Photo by Wesley McWee || The Film Appreciation Club’s projected executive board members pose at Friday’s Involvement Fair. (Left to Right: Malcolm Van Couvering, projected president; Brandon Jankosky; and Hannah Loewen, projected vice president.)