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Justine Ha

At the beginning of MV Cinema Club's first meeting of the year, room B211 was filled with students eager to get started. Photo by Justine Ha

While walking into room B211 with two dozen boxes of donuts, juniors Yash Pathak and Arjan Madan, MV Cinema Club’s President and Vice President respectively, were greeted with a room packed with movie enthusiasts and donut-loving students alike — this would commence MV Cinema Club’s first meeting of the school year. 

To students who aren’t aware of the newly produced club, Cinema Club is for students wanting to learn more about filmmaking. Pathak, a movie fanatic, founded the club in order to create a space for all students to come together and discuss films, regardless of their knowledge of movies.

“I knew that there were a lot of people like me who didn’t necessarily know where to go for lunch or wanted to do something more creative rather than the other analytical clubs [at MVHS],” Pathak said. “That’s why I thought it would be a good idea to [give a space for people] to relax [at Cinema Club] … If you just need a break [from school], we have snacks and every meeting is just a bunch of fun.”

For movie fanatics like Pathak, MV Cinema Club provides an opportunity to exchange ideas with their peers through in-depth discussions about films throughout the month. By fulfilling the movie buffs and teaching students the art of film, Pathak and Madan are planning movie trivia games, short lectures on anything film-related and time to watch portions of movies during these club meetings throughout the school year. The attendees of the first meeting on Sept. 9 played two different Kahoot movie trivia games and received donuts by the end of the meeting. 

As this is Cinema Club’s second year running at MVHS, Madan hopes to be consistent within the club amplifying all aspects of audience engagement — he does so by focusing more attention and creating better games for members of the club. 

“We want to make sure that people’s experience at Cinema Club is fun,” Madan said. “We’re just heightening all aspects of the club to make sure we can make the best experience possible for everybody as last year, [the games we planned were] a little inconsistent at times.”

While the first meeting appealed to a wide variety of students on campus, avid movie buff and junior Shannon Wong has plans to become a devoted member to MV cinema club. With Wong’s adoration for films, as she describes her love for movies like “an [almost] borderline obsession”, she hopes to further deepen her love by attending the weekly meetings. 

“I joined [Cinema Club] because I have a very strange love for movies,” Wong said. “[Me and my sister] both obsess over indie films and we’re not huge blockbuster movie fans. But anything that’s interesting [or] anything that’s pretty, I think, will appeal to us.”

With MV Cinema Club aiming to be a space where any student can go to unwind and have fun, Madan further encourages attendance even though many students may be hesitant to join.

“I think of the things people are most afraid of for [joining] the club — they think they don’t know much about movies, they can’t do all the trivia, they won’t be able to follow along,” Madan said. “The club has something for everyone — you don’t have to know a ton about movies to be able to enjoy the club.” 

MV Cinema Club meets every Monday during lunch in B211.