This past Friday, the Cinema Society of Binghamton (CSB) held its first event of the year in collaboration with Binghamton Television 6 (BTV6). The event, which was an inspiration board social, focused on bringing together a community of people who enjoy films and the creative process behind film.
Angel Liu, the external vice president of CSB and a sophomore majoring in accounting, described the reasoning behind holding the social.
“It’s somewhere where people get to introduce themselves or their hobbies,” Liu said.
For creating the boards themselves, there was an array of media to choose from. Ranging from magazines to printed movie posters, anime images and stickers, it allowed those present to create something entirely unique that spoke to their interests.
Liu explained the revival of CSB, as the club had originally died down due to the previous E-Board members graduating.
“It’s starting out as a brand new club,” Liu said. “We’re currently going through the charting process and then we’ll hopefully be charted by next semester.”
Nan Lin, president of CSB and a sophomore majoring in business administration, described her initial interest in fostering an environment for people who enjoy films.
“I was really into film as an extracurricular when I was in high school,” Lin said. “I wanted to make a safe space for people to be creative and talk about filmmaking and get to know people with similar interests and work together.”
Lin went on to express her goals for the club’s future.
“We’ll be focusing mostly on collaborating with other organizations and helping them take over the filming portion of their events,” Lin said.
Rosemary Interrante, events coordinator for BTV6 and a sophomore majoring in psychology, described how they are rebranding the club to be less TV-focused and more geared toward a general focus in media. She saw this opportunity to collaborate with CSB as a step in that direction.
“I figured a lot of the members would enjoy being a part of both in some type of way because they can both meet other people who like the same things they do,” Interrante said. “I think cinema society and [BTV6] definitely want to continue a partnership in some way.”
Toward the end of the event, there was a gallery walk where everyone went around the room to view each other’s inspiration boards. It gave everyone the opportunity to share an overall picture of their personal future aspirations, as well as their favorite films, through a creative outlet.
Lin suggested CSB would expand this creative outlet in the future, as the club has plans to hold events such as 48-hour film challenges. These challenges consist of filming, directing, writing and editing a short film — all within 48 hours. Lin hoped that, with events like the inspiration board social, people will be more open to working together on bigger projects like producing short films.
Interrante also described BTV6’s plans for the future.
“We are trying to find a way to stream all of our old works and our newer works around campus,” Interrante said. “We want to have more people join so we can produce more.”
Both CSB and BTV6 collectively produced the event to create space for people to express their interest in film, while also being able to meet people who share the same passion.
“With film, everyone has an inspiration on what they want to do and how they want to do it, like their different likes and dislikes,” Interrante said. “With an inspiration board, you can display that for people to see them.”