Picking Flicks with Technicougar, the Chatham Film Club
Molly Green ’27, left, and Jada Jenkins ’26, right, are the co-presidents of Technicougar, the student-led film club. (Mick Stinelli)
Jada Jenkins ’26 and Molly Green ’27 don’t see eye-to-eye on everything.
Jenkins, who majors in media arts, is an unabashed superhero movie fan. Green, who’s pursuing an English degree, is more into romantic comedies. Jenkins likes to picture herself becoming a casting agent; Green leans more towards production and scriptwriting.
But there’s one thing they’re unanimous on: they love movies—making them, talking about them, and watching them.
During the first week of the fall semester, they found themselves talking about movies so much that they decided to start a film club, Technicougar, at Chatham University. The club (its name is a play on Technicolor, the film colorization process) is headed by Jenkins and Green, both co-presidents.
“I think it was a really easy choice to make, just because we were so passionate about it and we both really wanted to do it,” Green said during an interview in the Carriage House. “There was really no way it wasn’t going to happen.”
Both of them have a love for making movies. Jenkins remembers playing with her grandfather’s video camera as a kid and forcing her brother to do skits with her. Green found herself enamored with the behind-the-scenes work of filmmaking after writing scripts and going on set at her performing arts high school.
They want to use their club to bring their passion for film to other students at Chatham and, hopefully, bring some budding cinephiles out of the woodwork with an open-minded environment. “In terms of purpose, what it’s always been for me is that everyone can love film,” Jenkins said. “Film is for everybody.”
Jenkins insisted that there’s no such thing as bad taste in Technicougar. At their first watch party, they screened “Bottoms,” the raunchy teen comedy released last year, to a big and raucous crowd of students in the Eddy Theatre.
But they also want to show pictures that operate on the more “highbrow” end of the scale, like the 2013 microbudget sci-fi movie “Upstream Color,” which inspired discussions about sustainability and food systems.
Part of the enjoyment of the club, in addition to talking to other film fans about cinema, is the magical experience that comes with watching a movie in a dark room with a group, Green said.
“It’s a very low-stakes kind of event,” Green said. There are no expectations about how members should or can participate, except that they respect each other as fellow filmgoers. “It could just be fun for you, if you want.”
Students can become members just by showing up to a meeting. They’re held every other Tuesday in the Eddy Theatre.
“It was very important for me for the club to be a safe space,” Jenkins said. Both she and Green said they sometimes feel judged by male movie fans because of a perceived lack of experience or taste.
They also bring that open spirit to collaborating with other student groups, with plans to show last year’s blockbuster “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” with Chatham’s Taylor Swift club, or the best-picture winning “Everything Everywhere All at Once” with the Asian Student Association.
Green and Jenkins said their big hope for the future is to put on a Chatham film festival comprised of student-submitted work, particularly first-year film projects. “We want to be the space to be like, hey, people want to see your movie,” Jenkins said.
You can follow Technicougar on Instagram at @chathamfilmclub or visit the Chatham Student Government website for a full list of student organizations.