Lin Lin and Amanda Smitley are the co-founders of the new film club at Southmoreland, and they are delighted with how the first meeting went for the 15 students who reported.

“Lin and I knew that with a lack of clubs in our high school, we wanted to have an extracurricular club where we could chill after the end of the school day and enjoy our afternoons with the entertainment of movies,” Smitley said. “I think any student-run club is overdue, and I hope that this club can help others understand how important movies are and how they have shaped our society.”

Each meeting will take place on the third Tuesday of every month in Mrs. Denise Puskar’s room. The meeting in December will feature a Christmas movie in the spirit of the holiday season. The club will then expand on different genres of movies in the months that follow.

“Ranging from action to romance, I want to cover them all to see if there is a major difference between the movie genres,” Lin said. “I would also like to discuss movies that were made based on books to differentiate what parts of the book a movie would leave out.”

The club will also focus on the students themselves getting involved with the process of movies and their extensive industry. The participants will gain experience from two crucial standpoints; they will discover the experience from both critic’s chair and behind the camera.

“Every meeting we will have someone volunteer to do a film project whether it’s a movie trailer, music video, or any other video related activity. Then the next meeting we will show the project and have people rate it based off of 5 stars being the best,” Lin said.

Both Lin and Smitley have high hopes for this club and already are making plans on what they can do to help the club expand. Smitley hopes to have at least 20 people in the club, and Lin wishes to expand on film projects in the future. However, the co-founders not only see a educational purpose for this club, but a unifying purpose as well.

“This club is for everyone, from the most experienced film directors to those who wish to simply learn more about movies and how they are made. We will be learning and growing together,” Lin said.

Smitley added: “We hope that the club can bring every grade in the student body together to share movies that we enjoy in our spare time and to have people meet new people that they would not normally make friends with and take them out of their comfort zone.”