Eight Years of Film For Thought: The Story of Thoughtful Film Analysis

A little story time about the growth of thoughtful film analysis…

About 8 years ago I started going to the cinema regularly and began to write my thoughts in my iPhone Notes app. I distinctly remember watching Captain Phillips in the cinema and feeling compelled to write my thoughts down on screen (good thoughts of course – a fantastic Greengrass thriller).

A few years later after writing for my college newspaper, I started to document my writings on my own website so that I could still have an avenue to express myself after I graduated. In 2016 I started filmforthought.site as a way to thoughtfully express my thoughts on films I’d seen. I felt there was a gap out there in terms of long-form, thoughtful and considered film analysis. There were reviewers of course but I never felt that they explored the depth of the films that I craved.

Filmforthought.site started very small, with a measly 9 views in the first year (most of them coming from me on all my devices). As the years progressed I wrote about films I’d seen, both good and bad, whilst also starting to write about the best screenplays out there. I started to attend film festivals, with the highlight always being Cannes, a true cinephile’s dream and I love documenting this for the website every year. Film For Thought has covered some of the greatest film festivals across the world including Cannes, Venice, TriBeCa, Dublin International Film Festival and BFI London Film Festival, and we continue to provide thoughtful, on-the-ground analysis to subscribers and viewers. It was around 2018 when I pivoted to explore the film industry and market, and filmforthought.site has developed its credentials into an analyst of the market and the niche area of film marketing.

So from just 9 views in our first year, to 10,000 views annually, thoughtful film analysis has come a long way. It’s clear that there is a market out there for this kind of film analysis so thank you to everyone who has supported over the years. We’ll continue to analyse films, thoughtfully. As Epititus said, ‘No great thing is created suddenly,’ so here’s to passion, hard work and perseverance. Here’s to the fools who dream. Here’s to cinema. Here’s to more years of thoughtful film analysis.