Modular Film Festival 2026
Five years! This is the fifth annual Modular Film Festival! It was never supposed to be annual when Derek created it, but I took the torch and ran with it. So here we go again. This year we have a mix of prompts from MFFs Past (and future?)
September 1-30, 2026
Festival season. I've never been to a film festival, but I like the idea of stumbling across movies you might not otherwise see, accidentally juxtaposed with one another by virtue of screening in the same place at roughly the same time. This list of prompts is meant to help you replicate that experience. While there are 30 prompts and 30 days in September, do not feel obligated to see everything, or do one a day, or even watch them in this order. Treat it like a festival programming schedule where you sample new things or see what strikes your fancy. The joy is in the discovery.
Or watch one movie, in order, every day of the month. There are no rules and I’m not a cop.
The list
- 1. A #MovieBowl tournament winner.
- 2. A French New Wave movie
- 3. A movie with at least six words in the title
- 4. God forbid a woman have hobbies
- 5. The fifth movie in a franchise
- 6. A movie about a Weird Little Guy (gender neutral)
- 7. A movie from Northern Africa
- 8. A movie in the Kentucky Laserdisc Preservation Society archive
- 9-10. pair of movies from Sickos Double Feature Movie Night
- 11. A movie from the class I'm afraid to admit I slept through most of: Seeing Films Philosophically
- 12. A movie Thomas picked for the Mastodon #MovieClub
- 13. A movie directed by an LGBTQ+ filmmaker
- 14. A movie directed by an Indigenous filmmaker
- 15. A movie directed by a non-white non-male-identifying person
- 16. A movie prominently featuring rodent(s)
- 17. A video game movie
- 18. A movie from 40 years ago
- 19. A movie from 80 years ago
- 20. A movie from 120 years ago
- 21-22. Wrong Frogs Double Feature (Two unrelated movies with the same, or very similar names).
- 23. A movie about TV
- 24. A non-Christmas/non-Halloween holiday movie
- 25. A superhero Movie featuring no characters owned by Marvel or DC
- 26. A Best Picture loser (nominated but lost)
- 27. A movie produced by Mosfilm
- 28. Referenced in Gilmore Girls
- 29. A movie under 90 minutes long
- 30. A movie based on a play
Bonus/Free space/swap: Shuffle your watchlist and watch the first movie that pops up
Tag your lists "MFF" and "ModularFilmFestival" to see what others are going to be watching in September!
And for my own personal edification
My picks
- My Neighbor Totoro
- Shoot the Piano Player
- Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti
- The Killing of Sister George
- Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation
- Zeiram
- Talking about Trees
- Black Orpheus
- Paris, Texas
- Raising Arizona
- Ikuru
- The Seventh Seal
- Memoir of a Snail
- Drunktown's Finest
- Gray Matter
- Deadly Eyes
- Pokemon the Movie 2000
- The Texas Chainsaw Masacre 2
- Beauty and the Beast (1946)
- The COnseuences od Feminism
- Running Scared (1986)
- Running Scared (1980)
- Stay Tuned
- Arbor Day
- Sky High
- A Bridge Too Far
- The Diamond Arm
- West Side Story
- Permanent Vacation
- Bug
