Students come together around cinema at the UCalgary Film Society
By Cameron Sauder, September 30 2025—
UCalgary’s Film Society may not cater to the masses, but for open-minded students, it is a place to witness new perspectives, make friends and develop a critical vocabulary to describe cinema.
Meeting every week to watch and discuss different films, the Film Society is the perfect place for movie buffs looking to share their passion with others or pick up some new skills. The club’s lineup is far from mainstream, but president Hazel Cochrane emphasizes the “huge variety” of movies they screen, including feminist films, comedies, horror movies and more.
“We try and show things from different countries to have a global perspective on film that’s underrepresented,” said Cochrane.
And as any good cinephile knows, watching movies is only half of the experience. After each screening at the Film Society, the club holds a discussion about what they’ve just watched. This may seem frightening, but Cochrane said that when she was a new student, the experience actually boosted her confidence and gave her a space where she wasn’t afraid to speak up.:
“In my first year, I was really intimidated by university culture, and I wasn’t sure that I fit into it, so I think that the main thing I really got from Film Society was a lot of confidence, by proving to myself that I could partake in those discussions,” said Cochrane. “And all it’s about is what stands out to you. It doesn’t have to be a big thing. It can just be a comment like, ‘Oh, this particular aspect of the sound design was really cool; I liked this about it.’ And it feels really good to do that and practice that and get used to it and then have other people respond to it and add to it.”
The Film Society is a space to explore themes and topics in film without the pressure of being in a university course — a “very casual” experience, as Cochrane puts it — but it’s also a “good entry point” for anyone interested in getting involved in Film Studies at U of C. Cochrane emphasizes that this is a “learning environment” where beginners, experts, majors and non-majors can collaboratively develop a richer vocabulary around film.
Moreover, the club operates a student-run film journalism blog called Crash/Cut, where students can practice what they’ve learned in discussions and submit film reviews, responses to monthly prompts or class assignments to get a taste of what it’s like to write professionally in the arts.
Crash/Cut also features a few student-made films, which highlights another purpose of the Film Society: networking.
“A lot of people in Film Society do work on [student films], so that’s one of the benefits to coming to film society […] is the opportunity to get involved with small, independent projects,” said Cochrane, pointing to the Calgary Underground Film Festival (CUFF) as one of the major challenges that Film Society members participate in.
“We want to really put a spotlight on student films. […] I think that the most important thing, if somebody’s interested in making films or wants more people to see a student film that they made, [is to] talk to people who are involved so that we can hype it up or even organize screenings,” said Cochrane.
The Film Society holds film screenings every Friday at 5:30 p.m. and any student can join “as long as they’re open to seeing new things,” said Cochrane. It costs $5 to become a club member, which gets you free entry into every screening.
If you want to broaden your cinematic horizons, meet new people and pick up some valuable skills along the way, check out the Film Society.
To learn more about the Film Society and to see their lineup for this term, visit their Instagram page (@uofcfilmsociety) and the Crash/Cut website.