Who We Are and What We Do
The Austin film community has been going through some hard times of late. Allegations of sexual assault perpetrated against women have been raised against prominent film critics, and the Alamo Drafthouse has taken heat for at the very least enabling a culture that marginalizes female voices.
We are a film outlet largely based in Austin. Therefore, we wanted to take a moment to express who we are and what we strive to be.
Cinapse is a film outlet that strives to be a place that welcomes diverse voices and equal representation. We’re a fan-run outlet, and all of our writers contribute purely out of a love for film. We are founded on the ideas of discovering and championing films that we love. We cover older films and newer films with equal passion. Our team writes about what they care about and, frankly, little else. Like lots of outlets, we’re comprised largely of male voices, even mostly white male voices.
We want to explicitly say a big thanks to all of the female writers who have ever contributed and who currently contribute to Cinapse. Your voices are extremely vital. We also want to stand in solidarity with any female film fans and/or female film critics who have ever felt silenced, marginalized, or even, god forbid, themselves assaulted or harassed. We want to listen to you, we believe you, and we welcome your voice to be a part of our site.
We aren’t perfect. We’ve given more voice to the culturally dominant narrative. We’ve struggled with the current events rocking the film community and felt occasionally helpless. But we will keep writing about movies. We’ll keep doing what we’ve always done. And we’ll try to do it better. Let us know if you’ve ever thought of some specific ways we could do better. Our plan is to consult our own female staff with frequency, continuing to give them a platform to say what is on their mind and the space to say it without a filter. And to welcome and prioritize any new female voices who might ever be interested in contributing.
We’re one small part of a dynamic community. We want to do better by the women in this community, and will do our part to improve this space for underheard voices and viewpoints. We believe that, with work, this community can be better.
Listen. Believe. Give voice. Don’t be a dick. Movies forever.
And We’re Out.