For people who love watching movies, it is a real struggle to find films that are not contemporary or screening on the local cinemas. With the latest copyright laws and regulations, downloading movies from the internet or even watching them online may be difficult for inhabitants of many parts of the world. For this reason, a valuable alternative is being part of a film society. Also known under the name of "cine-clubs", such non-profit organizations mainly have an educational aim. Besides this, they also an entertaining and informative function, giving the audience the possibility of watching audio-visual works to which they normally would not have access, according to established schedules. In order to obtain membership in such a club, there are special entities, such as a film society federation, which facilitates the process of creation and development of the cine-clubs.

The reasons for which people want to be part or even create film societies are diverse: either they want to watch a particular type of movies, but they do not have access to it, or they are interested in cinematography as a science, or even the most basic reasons, like the fact they hate paying large amounts of money asked by commercials cinemas. Furthermore, some people have thought of this as a charity method, in order to raise funds for different causes. If you are planning to start such a society, there are four "golden rules" you should know: first of all, it must be a non-for-profit organization, then, screening is available only for its members and you must not charge them for entry to single screenings, and the main structure of the organising committee has to have at least five members (president, secretary, treasurer and two other members at choice). For this reason, you have to make sure that your organization is relevant for the community where you live, and choose other people who will also be in charge of making the important decisions in the onset. One of these decisions would be the type of movies you are planning to provide: some societies have a wide range of movies, while others are specialized on a certain type (for example vintage or Victorian movies), depending on the target audience.

Since one of the main reasons people join a film society is that it is easier than going to the local cinema, the location is also highly important. In order to be easy to reach by a wider audience, the headquarters of the organization should be in a school, church or any other cultural community centre or place with enough seats and possibility of projection.  As far as the venue is concerned, there is a series of details to be taken into consideration: costs, accessibility, comfort, acoustics or degree of availability. Another important element is the equipment used in order to display the films. At least one member of the organization must have technical knowledge, and you must also afford performing devices, unless the location chosen provides all the equipment needed.