When Stanford Business School grad Efe Cakarel got fed up with sub-par film options for video on demand while traveling, he decided to do something about it. “The offerings were as exciting as a train time table,” Cakarel said. “They reminded me of the bad video stores I used to visit in Istanbul in the ‘80s.” Thankfully for us, his reaction was to create The Auteurs, a film showcase and lovingly created community hub for movie aficionados and creative visionaries behind film projects (the site’s namesake). Cakarel and his team of filmmakers and programmers have cataloged and host 3,000+ films to date—everything from In the Mood for Love to the ‘70s Soviet flick Dersu Uzala–and are working with academics and critics to select their next offerings.

In working to create a place for intelligent film discussion and sharing, Auteurs writer Daniel Kasman said the team is looking to create a place where people can share their opinions but that isn’t elitist. “Popular doesn’t always mean good,” according to one portion of the site, and the anecdote to blockbuster film has been presenting hard-to-find greats as part of the IFC-sponsored Criterion Collection.

One user who goes by the nomiker Ms. Godard said she first noticed the site’s striking design. “I was looking for a movie social network and all them seemed crap, and The Auteurs is visually great. I also like the site because you meet really cinephiles and not people [who] like Adam Sandler.”

Another user who asked to go by his name on the community, Carlo is a Subterrenean Homesick Alien, frequently participates in the Cinemaethque portion of the site, where select films from the site are highlighted in weekly online festivals. He described the Auteurs as “more than just a forum for discussing films, but also a place to show your films, or watch other people’s films, made by users.” Get to it.

Partially republished from Josh Spear post.

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