I close my eyes, and I can see it all as if it was yesterday. I’m 11 years old, I’m waiting for my parents to leave the house, my friends are hidden outside, it’s not the first time we’ve done it, but the nervousness feels the same. Finally, I hear them start the car and leave the house; my friends see them pass by, they know it’s time. We greet each other and enter the house. Unlike kids our age, we didn’t get together to play football, and certainly, not to hang out with girls. We were the “weirdos”. Our happy place was the entertainment centre with the giant TV and VHS tape recorder that my father bought to record his football games, but it was all ours when he wasn’t home. It was the fourth time we’d watched The Shining, and it still scared us just as much as the first time. We always got movies that our parents wouldn’t let us watch, and watched them anyway. Later I realized that those moments were true happiness. Do you remember those days? I’m sure you do.

The years have passed, and although it seems that I have lived multiple lives, the love for cinema is still present in me as it was in those years. My best talks, relationships, and moments are connected to cinema. So yes, being the “weirdo” in those days has recently become an aspirational lifestyle… who would have imagined it. I’ve been a fan of MUBI for several years now. I continue to learn and be amazed by your hand-picked curation and for keeping people like us together.