An NYC Film Club That’s So Bad It’s Good

A convo with Lily & Sofia on orchestrating a meeting of unusual minds

Written by

Partiful Co.

Bad Film Club isn’t your film bro’s movie club—it’s more of a cinematic cult for the baddies of NYC built on community, conversation, and a shared love of the big-screen. More than just another movie club, it's a self-proclaimed “judgment-free" space where popcorn lovers and film snobs can coexist in harmony.

What started as a simple New Year’s resolution between best friends Lily and Sofia has turned into a thriving film club in NYC, drawing cinephiles who want more than just another repertory screening. If you've ever dreamed of sipping a PBR while giggling through Blue Velvet, Bad Film Club is your new favorite way to experience movies in the city.

Give us the origin story — how did BFC come to life? How has it evolved over time?

Bad Film Club started as a pipedream-turned-shared New Year’s resolution between two best friends. We weren’t trying to run a marathon or join a run club, we just wanted a community that we felt didn’t exist yet: a group of people like us who love celebrating everything that both movies and the moviegoing experience have to offer.

How does BFC actually work? Who picks the films, and what’s the process like?

Bad Film Club meets in-person the last Thursday of every month. For nearly a year–one year in April!–our formula has been consistent: we pick a movie, pull up with our members (dubbed: “the baddies”), and then go to a bar to chat about it. We work together to select the movies, which are mostly repertory releases with a few exciting new movies thrown in. Lily tends to handle the logistics, including coordinating with theaters and members, while Sofia (aka our memelord) runs our finances and digital communications (hello Partiful).

What’s the difference between “your film bro’s movie club” and BFC?

We want everyone to feel at home with us in the movie theater, so we’ve made our barrier to entry as low as possible. All we ask is that you buy a ticket and keep an open mind. If you’re a cinephile who can name every Kurosawa movie in order, great: come to Bad Film Club. If you’re a cinesoftie who is here for the movie theater popcorn and vibes, also great: come to Bad Film Club.

If your film club were a director, who would it be and why?

A Neon-produced Nora Ephron movie directed by Luca Guadagnino avec la participation de Canal+. We’ve got witty repartee and the meetings of unusual minds but we’re unconventional and would crush at Cannes.

What’s the most controversial or divisive film you’ve ever screened, and how did people react?

Our first-ever screening was Alex Garland’s Civil War (2024). Sorry to have to pun like this, but it caused a civil war. Lily is on record strongly disliking it; Sofia is on record liking it slightly above average.

How do new people usually find their way into the BFC? Is it mostly friends-of-friends, or do strangers show up looking for their community?

When we started the club, we really leaned on our friends and their plus ones for numbers. As time has passed, the composition has shifted dramatically: many of our friends, having shepherded their own movie-loving friends to BFC, have gracefully bowed out, while those plus ones have stayed on. Tons of new folks have joined organically through connections on Letterboxd (hi Jason and Mike) or Instagram (hi Meg and Dief), and a few even through chance encounters in movie theaters. (Lily met one of our members, Corey, while chatting before a screening of Holy Motors at Paris Theater when they realized that in the past week, they had seen the same three movies at the same time across the same three theaters.)

Watching the Bad Film Club community evolve has been so incredibly rewarding. Every month, we hear from our members how special it is for them to have this opportunity to celebrate an art form they love with a group of people they might not have otherwise met.

If someone shows up solo, how easy is it to meet people? Do you have any rituals to help break the ice?

Show up solo to Bad Film Club and you’ll leave with three new IRL friends and a dozen new Letterboxd followers. It’s unavoidable. But ritual-wise, Sofia and Lily always wait outside the theater before the show starts to greet all members, new and returning, and pass out tickets. Everyone gets a hug, and we try to introduce new folks to a returning member so they have someone to sit next to in the theater.

At the bar, new members’ first round is on us – plus a cheeky BFC sticker to take home.

What’s one movie that’s completely off-limits for your club—and why?

500 Days of Summer (Lily) – I hate the “straight quirked up white boy falls for manic pixie dream girl” trope more than almost anything else and this is its platonic ideal (derogatory). Tarkovsky’s Stalker (Sofia) – was told by one too many people this movie would change my life, and they were right.. it did. It solidified my desire to start this club; I needed a safe space to talk about how infuriated this movie makes me.

If you had to describe the club’s audience as a single character archetype, who would they be?

BFC is the best friend in the romcom who kind of steals the show. Think Philip Seymour Hoffman in Along Came Polly or Carrie Fisher in When Harry Met Sally or Whoopi Goldberg in Waiting to Exhale or Judy Greer in 27 Dresses or Judy Greer in The Wedding Planner or Judy Greer in 13 Going on 30.