★ august newsletter ★

Another month of film friends in the books! Or maybe the movies? Either way, as always thank you for being here - and being a part of film friends! July was an insane month - not just for our movie of the month, but for cinema in general. I’m not sure how, but the movies get better and better (just like this group). Okay we have a lot going on this month, so let’s dive in!!

We’ve got another double feature coming at you with Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused paired with Everybody Wants Some. The last couple of months have had some crazy bangers, but we thought we’d lighten the load a little bit with the end of summer in sight. It is highly recommended to watch in release order, but we can’t tell you what to do. This month we’re changing up the time ever so slightly - so our monthly meeting will take place August 25th, 2026 at 6:30 pm CT. You can register for the call here. The meetings are scheduled for two hours, so please pop in and out of the call as much as you may need, you don’t have to stay on the entire time, and you also don’t have to arrive on time. As always, cameras are optional and you can call in on your phone. Lastly, if you’re interested in just listening, rather than participating, you can still join!

Film friends is hosting our very first in person meet up! We are so excited to get to meet some of our fellow midwestern cinephiles. If you are in the Midwest, or more specifically, Indiana area, come join us at Kan Kan Cinema and Bar. We are hosting an IRL discussion over Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark, an iconic game of trivia, and so much more! All the questions can be answered here, as well as RSVPing for the event. We will be streaming the movie and having our first film friends watch party on August 11th. More info to come on that soon. We hope to see you there!

As of June, we have changed some things in our snail mail system. If you would like to receive our movie announcements via snail mail, then please sign up for the paid substack subscription (linked here, 5$ a month). Once we have your subscription, we will send a follow up email gathering your information to send your snail mail too. If paying 5$ of month for mail does not serve you, fear not! We are keeping your addresses on file; there may be a chance on of these months you’ll be randomly selected to receive a free piece of snail mail. If you would like to receive snail mail beginning in September, please subscribe by August 20th. We do our best to get through as many people as possible, but anything after the deadline can’t be promised until the following month. Thank you for supporting film friends!

This month we won’t be hosting trivia due to the in-person event - but it will be back in September <3

The biweekly movie chat is back! Right now, we only have one scheduled for the month, but we may offer two for the lack of trivia. Either way, this chat is an opportunity to meet some of your film friends face to face, or camera to camera, and yap all things movies! New releases, old releases, movie recs, and everything in between! It super casual and mostly, just a really good time. This movie yap will take place August 18th, at 7 pm CT. You can register for our chat here.

If you are a film friend who loves art or graphic design, this is your chance to shine! After you watch the movie of the month, you will have until the 28th of the month to create an alternative movie poster. Once all the posters have been submitted, we will post the posters (anonymously) for everyone to vote on. Winner will receive a 4k physical disc (subject to availability) sent to their home. (For this month, your prize may be delayed as the movie is still in theaters lol). Please send submissions to filmfriendsadmin@gmail.com.

film friends is meant to be very community based, and with that, we have a couple of our friends of film that wanted to offer some other ways to be involved in our community:

Nat brings us the Criterion Challenge: each week, Nat spins the wheel to determine the weekly movie. After watching the weekly movie, enter your submission into the Google Form. Whoever watches the most movies will be the winner of a $200 Criterion gift card. (It’s never too late to enter! If you watch 11 of these films, you are entered to win another Criterion Gift Card!)

Will offers the film friends fantasy league, with a twist! Each player gets 100 points to draft a roster of movies during the summer season, with no limit on how many films they pick. Points are earned from two categories: worldwide box office gross and IMDb rating. Whoever racks up the most points by the end of the season wins. If you missed registration for the summer, do not worry. There will be opportunity to register in the fall.

Quinn offers the indie corner. Each month, Quinn will select an indie movie to complement our monthly movie, to highlight under-seen and underrated indie gems. The indie corner is currently on pause, but will be back up and running very soon <3

We know we have a million ways of communicating with one another, and a big part of this is because we want this to be accessible as possible. So here are all the ways you can find us:

Trevor made a website! You can find everything you need to know about each month at this link. Substack will always be the first to know, and all announcements and EYNTK will always be updated here. We also have a chat feature in Substack, so please utilize the feature to talk to other cinepals! If you’re interested in connecting with fellow film friends a bit deeper, you can join our discord chat. (You do not need to be a part of the discord, this is mostly for a deeper connection to the community <3). However, the discord chat is very active and very versatile. You can also find film friends updates through cinemastardust on tiktok.

We are always looking to add voices to film friends. If you are someone who is interested in writing about movies in any which way, shape, or form, maybe you’d like to write with us! If you’re interested, please email us or message us directly. <3

thank you so much for being here and supporting us, and each other.