About This Project
I started 2013 with an ambitious, slightly insane mission: watch 100 foreign films in 100 days and post daily comments on every film. It’s a worldwide journey through modes of cinematic storytelling. My emphasis is on diversity, and my goal is to think and write about film, culture, and narrative.
The project has its origins in illness. A few months ago, I came down with a kidney condition that was pretty painful. For days at a time, I wasn’t good for anything but lying on the couch. So I set up mini film festivals for myself. The Godfather, The Godfather II, The Conversation, and Apocalypse Now. Then on to David Lean. Etcetera. In addition to taking my mind off the pain, it lead me to some insights that only bingeing can bring.
I was glad to get better, but I missed that immersion. Toward the end of 2012, I ran across a list of great foreign films — and felt frustrated to think of all the great movies I’ll never have time to watch. But what if I turned it into a (temporary) mission? And used it as a path for exploration into storytelling.
Somehow talking about it turned into doing it. And here I am — with a very long Netflix queue and fresh batteries in the remote control. You can find daily posts at feedmesubtitles.com. I’ll also publish periodic updates here at Folded Story.
About Folded Story: Folded Story is the sister blog that I started with my editor, Christina Elmore. I’ll be using that site to post regular “meta-updates” about this project (how it’s going, what I’m learning, etc.).
Questions
Question: How do you have this much free time?
Answer: I don’t. In fact, this is nuts.
Question: What qualifies you to be doing this?
Answer: I have a television and subscription to Netflix.
Question: What counts as a foreign film?
Answer: I realize that the term will have different meanings for different people. For me, it means any film that contains little or no English.
Question: Wait, silent films don’t have subtitles — why do they count?
Answer: They have titles, and that’s close enough. As long as I’m deprived of English, it’s all good.
Question: What happens if you miss a day?
Answer: I’ll try to make it up as soon as possible. Or the world will end. I’m 99% sure it’s the first.
