On Wednesday and Friday nights at 9 PM, a group of students gather in the Multipurpose Room (MPR) of Raymond House. The room comes alive as the once-static air fills with the chatter of friends meeting up and people becoming acquainted with each other for the first time, and the night culminates in the watching of a film of the participants’ choosing. So far, the cohort has watched “Spirited Away,” Bottoms,” “Clueless” and “La La Land,” just to name a few, and they don’t intend to stop any time soon. The group chose a name for themselves befitting of their location: the Raymond Film Rats.
The Film Rats are the brainchild of a group of Raymond residents in the Class of 2028 who had the idea to watch a movie after returning from Gordon Commons one night when founding member Noah Mangual ’28 suggested that they make it a weekly gathering. Mangual said of the Film Rats, “It really feels like a community that I’m a part of.” Indeed, community is the perfect word for it, as each member plays a role: Trevor Brown ’28 sends out a weekly email, Miguel Solano Paz ’28 provides his laptop (which has an HDMI port) and the other members vote on a film using a survey that Brown set up for those on the mailing list.
“[Film Rats] gives us a place to meet other people we don’t usually interact with,” Solano Paz said. “People who have different classes than me, who live on different floors, who I’ve never seen before. With the Film Rats, I get a chance to speak to them. We also invite people from other houses sometimes, so it’s just a good place to hang out with your friends.”
As Solano Paz mentioned, the weekly gatherings are open to more than just Raymond residents. Students from other houses are generally invited by their Ray-dwelling peers, which adds to the fun of it all as people who have perhaps never set foot in Raymond can explore it for the first time.
Of course, Brown and Solano Paz have also come across some challenges when scheduling and planning their weekly Film Rats meetings. They had to move their gatherings to Wednesdays and Fridays since No Such Organization (NSO) had use of the Raymond MPR on Monday and Tuesday nights.
Another problem the group has run into is the lack of an HDMI cable. “Usually we either go to Davison to borrow one or we ask a few of the other students,” Solano Paz said. “It’s just been a trouble. We might either just buy an HDMI cable or find someone who we can borrow it from for a long time.”
People sometimes attend Film Rats meetings not just for the films but to mingle with other students. The conversations do revolve around the films, but students also discuss their day-to-day lives. One regular attendee, Xhoaldo Prenga ’28, said, “Even if I’m not watching the movie, being around a bunch of smart people makes me feel studious.”
According to Solano Paz, the Film Rats do not plan on making themselves an official club unless it is absolutely necessary. As Brown put it, they are simply “a spattering of individuals who are engaged in film.”