Abelina J. Nuñez
Arts Editor
The University of La Verne Film Society hosted its first event of this year on Tuesday night in La Fetra Auditorium. Their first event theme was focused on romance with a screening of “Chungking Express.”
“Chungking Express” is a 1994 Hong Kong romantic crime comedy-drama, written and directed by Wong Kar-Wai, that focuses on the need to make a connection with someone and be able to hold on to them.
The executive board of the club includes President Amanda Torres, junior digital media major; Vice President Kaitlyn Moran, junior digital media major; Treasurer Mariana Hernandez, junior digital media major; Secretary Steven Serrano, junior digital media major, and Social Media Manager Anabel Martinez, senior digital media major.
About 18 people attended the film screening. There were drinks and snacks like popcorn, pizza, candy and chips for those to munch on during the movie. At the end of the event, they held a raffle where three people won a film camera, a Fandango movie gift card and a DVD.
“It was just a good experience (and) a great turnout,” Torres said. “I think it helped that we did it during the weekday, so it was kind of more accessible to kids on campus instead of doing (it on) Fridays because most kids on campus go out for the weekend.”
She said the club was able to expand and focus on a kind of mission as a club to be able to create a community space and hopes to expand on that.
“Hopefully, by the end of my senior year, I would love to start a women and film chapter here and spread women empowerment to bring that connectivity and media and hopefully do really big events here,” Torres said. “We’ll potentially have screenings with a big production company that wants to do private screenings here and just do bigger stuff like that. (Try to) make this a really prominent club on campus.”
The club was created in Spring 2022 but was not officially a club until the fall due to the club being created halfway through the spring semester. They decided to wait and started hosting their movie nights all throughout the fall semester.
Torres said she hopes to keep going strong with the club.
“The purpose of this club is to invite everyone from University of La Verne who has a passion for film (to) just create nights where we can just watch films that we can share moments together,” Hernandez said. “Anyone who likes movies, doesn’t have to be those who are involved specifically in the film program, but everyone to get together and just enjoy movies together.”
Hernandez said she joined the club when she and her friends in the film department noticed there was no club that was specific to film. They came together to share their love for movies with others on campus.
“I’m in charge of looking over the financial situation of the club, any reimbursements, any funding,” she said. “I’m looking over the account and seeing how much we have on budget to be spending within the club with the events and for everything else that we need for it.”
Moran said her goal is to help the club president in any way she needs and offer support with running the club, setting up events or emailing people.
“I joined this club because I really love film and cinema, so being able to share that love with other people on campus is really important,” she said. “It’s a language, it’s a way for people to communicate with each other. It’s just a really beautiful art form, and being able to share that with other people is really special.”
Moran said the club was able to receive more funding due to the money they won at the Involvement Fair this year, which allowed them to do raffles and led to more people attending the event.
“Some of the goals we accomplished, I’d say, was getting the club up and running to act like a club that has been running for years,” Serrano said. “We got this club running in one month, and it’s like it has been here on this campus for a long time.”
He said his job as secretary is to organize everything from booking the room to the theme to working with the other positions from the club, such as treasurer and social media manager. His goal for the club is to develop the club into filmmaking, so it is not just about screenings but a way to get people together to help make films. For future events, the club will continue their monthly screenings and are planning on doing a “mixer” for the club members and film majors to meet each other and network in March.
The Film Society’s next screening will be March 14 in La Fetra Auditorium. For more information, visit the club’s Instagram page, @ulvfilmsociety.
Abelina J. Nuñez can be reached at abelina.nunez@laverne.edu.
Abelina J. Nuñez, a junior journalism major, is arts editor for the Campus Times and a staff photographer for the Campus Times and La Verne Magazine. She has previous served as LV Life editor, social media editor and staff writer.
