The cinephilia of excerpts
Traditional cinephilia venerates the complete work, but the internet has given rise to a new form: cinephilia of the excerpt. Enthusiasts now appreciate films through fragments, creating a participatory culture that redefines our relationship with cinema.
Traditional Cinephilia
Cinephilia is the love of cinema, the passion for films. It involves frequenting theaters, reading books and critiques about cinema, and participating in public events like festivals or themed movie nights. Personal access to films once came through VHS tapes, then DVDs, and now through legal or illegal downloads, allowing for the creation of a personal film library. Engaging in discussions, attending premieres, participating in shoots, visiting exhibitions or studios, or even themed city tours—like the Harry Potter tours in London—are all part of this passion.
Traditional cinephilia places great respect on the integrity of works. For example, in theaters, it’s important to stay until the very end of the credits and try to catch every detail, even if they scroll by quickly. Some films even include a bonus micro-scene after the credits, visible only to the “pure” cinephiles who stayed till the end.
The Cinephilia of the Excerpt
What I’ve described so far is traditional cinephilia. Now, I’d like to discuss what I call the cinephilia of the excerpt, a new form of cinephilia born with the internet, particularly through video platforms, YouTubers, and cinephile TikTok accounts. There’s a new type of cinephile who loves cinema just as much but enjoys films they haven’t seen in full—and don’t even intend to. Thanks to video platforms and the ability for anyone (not just film professionals) to access clips or even full movies and edit them, a new kind of cinephilia has emerged.
Just as VHS tapes or DVDs—which allowed watching films on TV—might have seemed like a desacralization of cinema (originally meant to be experienced in theaters), this adaptation was still driven by cinephiles. These individuals loved cinema and engaged with it outside theaters, refining their tastes. They could rewatch favorite scenes repeatedly, compare theatrical and TV audio mixes, or explore DVD bonus features revealing behind-the-scenes details. This was, in fact, a resacralization of cinema in a different space, through practices beyond just watching in a theater. Similarly, reading books, biographies, or published screenplays enriched the theatrical experience.
Sacralization of Desacralization
Today, it seems to me that in the wake of these seemingly desacralizing practices—which actually resacralize cinema through contemporary technologies and behaviors—we now have viewers and film lovers who don’t even try to watch classic films in full. For their cinephilia, excerpts—often accompanied by commentary and context—are enough. What they sacralize is their encyclopedic knowledge, as if they’d read an illustrated film dictionary without seeing every movie.
Social media also sees countless shared film clips, often turned into memes or creative trends. For example, years ago, the “The Queen is coming” clip from The Princess Diaries (Garry Marshall, 2001) went viral. The trend involved filming oneself answering a phone—except instead of a phone, people held pets (cats, dogs, chickens, rabbits) to their ears. It was absurd but hilarious, and thousands participated. This was cinephilia: a shared love for cinema, as the clip came from a film, not random audio. The sacralization of cinema was at play, even through caricature.
What I want to highlight is that this cinephilia of the excerpt, which thrives on clips without seeking full films, isn’t “inferior” to traditional theater-going cinephilia. It acknowledges the impossibility of watching every film and instead emphasizes participatory acts—sharing content, creating memes, or even fan films. Excerpt-loving cinephiles have a greater creative role: they’re no longer just spectators but active reinterpreter-remixers. Think fan fiction (like Star Wars expansions) or mashups (satirical re-edits of multiple films)—though I won’t delve deeper here.
Embracing These Practices as Creative Fuel
I’ll conclude with a suggestion for producers and filmmakers: your films may no longer be watched only in full but also—or exclusively—in fragments. Does this affect how films are made? I raise this to move beyond the assumption that these practices are “less pure” than traditional ones. They’re equally valid and do influence creation. They also reframe piracy: remixing excerpts often relies on illegally downloaded files, yet these excerpts boost films’ visibility and, ultimately, the industry’s economy. Piracy by cinephiles isn’t inherently harmful—it’s complex. (For deeper legal insights, see my article on legal fundamentals.)
Just as filmmakers once rewarded credit-watchers with post-credits scenes, they can now engage viewers who’ll only see excerpts. These clips will embed themselves into a new-generation film culture—loved, shared, and discussed, even if the full films remain unseen.
The image has become a language that everyone “speaks” on a daily basis, much more so than before the democratization of digital tools. Thus the stakes of images touch more than ever our existence in a very direct way, at the psychological, sociological, political, artistic levels... It seems essential to me not to avoid critical thinking about images, their technologies and uses. To think, there is nothing like experimenting, searching, conceptualizing, sharing. I share here resources, projects and experiences around images, which I hope will be useful, in the fields of education, art, philosophy...
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