language for the (cinematic) revolution
it's not just a matter of being on the same page - you gotta understand the words
welcome friends, cinema lovers, revolutionaries…
we’re just gonna jump right in okay?
I want you to think of this post as your first “packet” to the cinematic revolution we’re orchestrating here on substack. and if that seems too intense for you — fear not — it’s gonna be fun!! think of it more like joining a club rather than throwing a metaphorical molotov cocktail to the “current state of things.”
and while I don’t want to waste time on personal anecdotes, I do want to take a moment to “legitimize myself” (for lack of a better phrasing) for the task at hand.
my imagination (coupled with grace) is literally the only reason I am still alive. It has gotten me through immense trauma, self-destructive behavior, and suicidal ideation/ intrusive thinking. I tell you this to say - I am a BIG DREAMER. HUGE. there are WORLDS inside my brain that I could live in for my entire lifetime (and for a while did) but there’s nothing like this world falling apart to call one back to “reality.” and lucky for you I can tell you with complete certainty - we don’t have to stay in this reality - we can dream a new one - and we are.
and I believe there is no better place to start dreaming a new world than in CINEMA.
why?
because cinema is the closest artform that not only makes the intangible tangible but portrays it in a way that is entirely accessible to everyone. what do I mean by this? perhaps not everyone is going to go to The Met in their lifetime and look at a Rembrandt or Romare but they can and do go to their local theater to catch the latest showing or tune-in via their preferred subscription service. this accessibility and democratization allows for more eyeballs on the thing and more eyeballs means more people who are able to be transformed by the power of cinema.
I started Luz Films (luz means light in spanish) because I saw a way forward (a light in the darkness if you will) when everyone (except Ted Hope lol) seemed to feel hopeless. I recognized that if we could just dream together what a new world of cinema could be like then we could build it. and we are closer now than ever before in making this NEW a reality.
so here are some terms and articles for you to read through when you can that give language to this NEW. and for those of you who do not yet recognize the power of words allow me to quote Hope for you:
Having worked on Vanessa’s documentary on Taiwan, INVISIBLE NATION, as well as many other films dealing with issues of autonomy and democracy, it is easy to spot how power attempts to erase recognition of people, communities, nations, and ideas to help obscure its efforts to conquer. Words are a tool. Power believes its version of things become truth… if they say it often enough. So words can also be weapons. It is a proclamation of our right to exist to use the language we have so it doesn’t obscure the truth or our existence.
-Ted Hope, Let’s Reclaim the Language of the FKAFilmBiz (this article is your first assignment to read)
4 “terms” for the NEW CINEMATIC REVOLUTION
1. NonDē (THE MOVEMENT)
The newest wave 🌊 is already building. The water is getting sucked back out into the ocean and we can build this next wave differently with new structures that feeds the future waves of our new ecosystem where the filmmakers are the beneficiaries, not the studios or GSPs.
Filmmakers should own their creative work.
Filmmakers should own their relationship with audiences.
Filmmakers lead the distribution of their work in a sustainable way that fuels the next project and the next.
Filmmakers are going NonDē.
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2. cinemas as “cultural gyms” (reimagining theatrical experience)
This pillar explores three crucial elements:
The new gym floor – How might we transform lobbies, auditoriums, and transition spaces to create environments that signal "cultural transformation happens here"?
The workout zones – What if theaters included designated areas for different modes of engagement—intense focus zones, discussion nooks, social gathering spaces—rather than just rows of seats facing a screen?
Class inclusive design – How can we build spaces that actively welcome diverse communities rather than reinforcing existing cultural stratification? From income-verified pricing to mobile cinemas serving cultural "deserts," true inclusivity demands spatial reimagining.
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Sophie is embarking on this as a continued series so subscribe to catch up on the first three posts and enjoy all the posts to come!!
3. the new film criticism series (art’s interpreters)
I’ll be introducing a brand new film criticism series that I’ll be pursuing here on The Treatment in tandem with my usual posts. It will still largely involve the same type of film criticism that you always see from me, but with a special added dimension that I’ve only utilized sparingly up until now (and by sparingly, I mean I’ve used it in exactly one other post on this blog). Stay tuned! -
and should our North Star, as art communicators, not be to find value in something? Not to contrive value for the sake of #goodvibes, nor to self-servingly insist upon our tastes as an indicator of the film’s value, but to say things about a film that the reader can reckon with just as tangibly as they can with the film itself? To help expand one’s artistic and creative skill of watching a movie, and thereby reinforce the viewer — in all of their singularity — as a fundamental aspect of a film’s collaborative nature? To free the viewer of skepticism and teach them curiosity? -
4. “open loop cinema” (the films we’re working towards)
We're Free! Escaping Closed-Loop Cinema
Openness to artistic life beyond cinema allows a film to tap into something higher. “We are at the present moment because of all the work that has been done up to now,” says Italian cinematographer Vittorio Storaro. “There is no question that when you make a design, shoot a picture or photograph a movie, it is the representation of all two thousand years of history.” Without that openness, filmmakers start halfway down the tube, drawing only on material that has already been filtered. At best, the end result is a remix; a cover album. One step removed from the Source. -
Cinema culture has become painfully movie-brained. When we only watch movies, they begin to remind us only of other movies. -Ed William
“Algebra is like a sheet of music,” Bohr tells him. “The important thing isn’t can you read music, it’s can you hear it.”
The implication is clear. Oppenheimer is thinking too technically, too narrowly. He must widen his influences.
In the subsequent montage, Oppenheimer sees a Picasso, he listens to Stravinsky, he reads T.S. Eliot. He travels. He visits the gothic majesty of a cathedral, light breaking through the stained glass. A creative breakthrough emerges. He sees the world in a new way. His understanding of quantum mechanics deepens precisely because he steps outside the scientific establishment.
Like Oppenheimer, perhaps we - filmmakers and fans alike - need to pay more attention to the music beyond the screen.
Can you hear it?
- Ed William
I know you’re tired. I know things might seem overwhelming or look hopeless (on all fronts), but if history has taught us anything it’s this: GOOD things can come out of the bleakest of times.
let the cinematic revolution begin.
some of you might wonder why this matters so much. With everything happening in the world, why obsess over movie theaters? My answer is simple: Cinema, at its best, isn't a content delivery system but a synchronizer of human experience. When a room full of strangers laugh or cry or hold their breath together, something ancient and powerful happens—a reminder that we're not just isolated consciousness in separate flesh prisons but creatures capable of feeling in unison. - Sophie
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Ready for the revolution!