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Film buffs bursting with a movie experience they are dying to share, grab a seat. The Chennai movie scene has opened up for film aficionados, with informal film clubs being set up on rooftops, office spaces, artist villages and even cinema theatres. Now, you’ve got the perfect movie and the perfect setting.

Take the Roof-top Film Festival (RTFF) – currently on the terrace of The Startup Centre at Alsa Mall in Egmore – where movie enthusiasts meet once a month for a theme-based movie marathon that goes on from 9.30pm to 6am. Though RTFF began over five years ago, it died out when the founders left Chennai.

So, when they revived it last year, the organisers decided the movement shouldn’t be centered around one set of people. “We have a different festival curator every month, who gets the movies and organises the venue and food. This way, different people handle the festival and it has less chance of dying out,” says advertising agency executive Sandeep Makam, who was the curator for the heist-themed festival held recently.

While the curator of the month announces the theme and organises the event, costs are split between participants, with each person paying an average of Rs 150. There is no membership and there is limited seating, so people have to sign in to attend. “We are also trying to bring in a person from the film industry who has specialised in the genre we are viewing. For instance, for the murder mystery marathon we brought in director Mysskin, who spoke about his movies,” says Makam.

In RA Puram, the C4 (Cinema, conversation, Coffee and Cigarettes) movie club meets every Saturday at 3.30pm to watch films that almost never make it to a mainstream theatre here. Founded by former advertising executive Vijay Menon, C4 members share their personal movie collections. “They can be in any language and genre but we do not screen pirated DVDs,” says Menon. “We announce the titles being screened on Facebook. We usually screen movies that are screened at film festivals the world over but never come to a theatre here. Later, we have a discussion,” he says.

What is really great about C4, says businessman Srinivas Krishnaswamy, is that you get exposed to movies you otherwise may not get a chance to see. Krishnaswamy took one of his favourites – the 1958 French thriller ‘Elevator To The Gallows’ –– for viewing last week and put together a short talk on the history of the movie and its making. “I look forward to gaining perspective from these sessions,” he says.

Some theatres are also making an effort to screen films other than the mainstream ones. PVR Cinemas has a Rare Films Club, an initiative that kicked off in November 2011 with the screening of Paresh Mokashi’s Marathi film ‘Harishchandrachi Factory’, India’s official entry for the 2010 Academy Awards. “We screen movies here every Thursday. We are trying to switch between Hollywood classics, Indian regional content and foreign language films,” says Shiladitya Bora, in charge of alternative programming for PVR. The screenings take place once a week across five cities. “The schedule will soon be up on the PVR website but we are also on Facebook,” he says.

In August 2010, Cholamandal Artists Village on East Coast Road started the Friday Movie Club, which screens films and documentaries related to visual arts. Open to all, the sessions are held two Fridays a month. “It’s part of an art education and outreach programme, where we try to generate interest in visual arts,” says Pallavi Nandagopal, who helps coordinate the screenings.

Several international culture centres in the city such as Inko Centre, Alliance Francaise, the Russian Cultural Centre and Max Mueller Bhavan also conduct screenings of movies related to their country. “We were surprised at the number of people, mostly youngsters, interested in Korean cinema,” says Gomathi Jagannathan of Inko Centre, which screens Korean movies on the fourth Friday of every month.

-times of india