The TV and Film Society’s “Movie Battles” event took place on February 24th in the Sullivan Lounge. The club’s first event of the semester yielded a good turnout of over a dozen students all interested in testing out their film knowledge in a “Scattergories” style way.

From the outset the attendees were enthusiastic about what was about to occur, and the mood was electric as the event commenced. Jaela Horton ’23, the president of TV and Film Society, emceed the event and explained the rules.

The game was simple. On screen there would be a category such as “Films with a Female Protagonist”, a small plastic Oscar trophy stood in the center of the table, with the two contestants on each end of it. A coin toss determined who would go first to try and come up with a film that satisfied the category on screen.
Each player was given 30 seconds to answer, and if they were unable to come up with a film they could go to the audience for help, but only once. The trophy would be passed back and forth between the contestants as they came up with film titles that matched the category.

If one contestant was unable to think of a title after being helped by the audience, they would lose, and the other would be declared the winner of the round. The screen would then transition to several correct examples for the given category and the contestants would shift according to who was next on the list.

As such this made the rounds fun and hectic as the contestants clamored to name films within the categories and frantically asked the audience for help with the more difficult categories such as “Films that pass the Bechdel Test.”

Questions were answered. Good examples were given. Some contestants were outright stumped. Emotions ran the gamut of responses that could feasibly be expected from such a fast-paced game. Three quality movie posters from the now-defunct Movieplex 8 were up for grabs. New friendships were forged, and individuals flexed their film prowess.

The “Movie Battles” event is brand new to the TV and Film Society.

“This is our first year doing it. It was kind of like a little teaser, kind of testing out the waters to see how this kind of event would go over with people who like movies or maybe were interested and didn’t know how to get into the club,” Horton said.

For a new event, it seemed successful as students of all years and majors participated. Horton also stated that the club is always looking for new members and event ideas.

“When we don’t have events like this, we have regular general meetings and at the very beginning of every general meeting we have general updates,” Horton elaborated, stating that the club members and other guests would be given the floor during the updates time of the meetings to suggest events and other things that the club could do.

TV and Film Society general meetings take place every Friday at 4 PM in Bowman 206. Horton also stated that the club is planning a large event called “Popcorn Palooza” to be held in late March with more details to come at a later date.

The “Movie Battles” event proved that students are interested in what the TV and Film Society is creating this semester, a fact that Horton is excited about. “This just makes me very hopeful for the future and seeing who else will want to join in on the fun!”