15 Questions With Ali El-Sadany, Editor of FilmSlop
"I know there’s so much discourse about this right now but this was genuinely one of the first times I’ve fully surrendered to a film."
Name: Ali El-Sadany
Location: San Francisco
Occupation: Co-founder & editor of FilmSlop
Links: FilmSlop.com, Instagram
1. What’s your favorite day & time to go to the movies?
a. Wednesday at 7. Objectively Wednesday is the worst day of the week. You are no longer riding the high of the previous weekend and you are still so far away from the upcoming weekend. I’ve made it a weekly ritual to go to the movies on Wednesday after work so that I can have something between weekends to look forward to. Ever since then my life has been glowing. Joyful. Beautiful. Nothing beats the feeling of waking up knowing you are going to watch a movie.
Also generally, the new movies come out on Thursday and sometimes you get to catch an early access screening on Wednesday so you get to watch a movie earlier than the general public (and feel superior). If there is no early screening, then you get to catch up on the old movies from the last week that you did not watch before the new movies come out. I think that’s beautiful.
2. What’s your favorite movie theater?
AMC Metreon 16. Without a doubt.
To be honest think I hate this movie theater but I have such a difficult relationship with it. It’s the theater closest to my office so I am able to take a walk after work and melt into a reclining chair. The seats are so comfy. They play everything. But it’s also probably the most chaotic theater in the world. It is truly the most lawless place in America. You can do anything there and no one will stop you. You can legitimately do anything you want. I am certain that I could bring in a full Thanksgiving dinner and a sword and no one will ask any questions. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen someone bring in a bowl of spaghetti and eat it with their bare hands there. It’s ridiculous. I love it so much. It’s the best theater in the world.
3. What’s your go-to movie theater snack & drink combo?
Some sort of cookie adjacent thing and a cup of water!
4. What’s your dream movie theater snack & drink combo (if noise and sound weren’t an issue)?
This is going to sound insane but I am going to speak my truth. Cookie dough (and not the fancy fake healthy edible cookie dough, the kind where you are at risk of getting salmonella) and an iced vanilla chai.
5. First movie you remember seeing in a theater?
Doogal. I want to caveat by saying that I don’t think know if this is a real movie but also this is the first movie I remember seeing. It was traumatizing. There was a little blue guy named Zebedy (I think) and a red guy named Zeebad and they were fighting each other for some reason and then Doogal was a little dog-looking creature guy. He was also friends with snail that wore underwear I think?
Frankly there is a chance that this is not a real movie and I’m fully making all of this up but I am too scared to look into this because I remember it made me really scared and I’m not sure I’m ready to confront that. Also if this isn’t real then I have to face the possibility that I invented him, and that’s somehow worse.
6. Last movie you saw in a theater?
Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie. So so funny! Can’t recommend it enough.
7. Is there a movie you wish you could have seen in a theater?
The Fall (again). I watched it for the first time the day after everyone and their mother got to see the Northern Lights in America and San Francisco didn’t get it so I was bummed. But then I saw The Fall and felt pity for those fools who did not get to see the true beauty that I witnessed.
8. Please describe your ideal movie theater seat.
Recliner seat (cozy) near the direct middle, but closer to the right edge.
9. One thing you would change to make movie theaters better?
More movie theaters. There should be less Sweetgreens and more movie theaters. Everywhere I go there is a godforsaken Sweetgreen but there are not enough movie theaters. We should tear them all down and replace them with movie theaters.
Also we should do something like an airport lounge for people who are subscribed to the movie theater’s membership program where you can hang out before and after your movie and make friends or just talk about the movie.
10. Tell me about an especially memorable moviegoing experience that stands out in your mind.
This is probably not the answer you’re looking for, but when I saw A Quiet Place 3, it was really quiet and I didn’t expect it to be that quiet. Clearly neither did the person three seats next to me and my buddy. I do not know how many hot dogs they were eating but they were eating them in such a crazy way. Everyone could truly hear every bite and the slobber. It was a slice of hell but also a great memory and I’m glad I got to experience it with a friend.
A more serious answer would be Hamnet. I know there’s so much discourse about that film right now but it’s genuinely one of the first times I’ve ever surrendered fully to a film. Candidly, the last few months have been very difficult and I’ve become intimately familiar with loss. I’m the kind of person who will lean towards suppressing emotions and try to keep everything together and I don’t like allowing myself to linger in sadness. Watching Hamnet was one of the first moments in this year where I was forced to pause and actually let myself be sad. It was nice being guided by a film alongside a full audience of people who were experiencing the same sensation. I wrote about my journey with grief and the film here.
11. Is there a trailer you’ve seen before a movie recently that stuck with you?
Recently, The Testament of Ann Lee. It looks so cool.
12. What’s a movie you’re looking forward to seeing?
The Testament of Ann Lee. It looks so cool.
13. What’s your dream combination of director and lead(s)?
Mona Fastvold and Amanda Seyfried. It would be so cool. Just kidding. My serious answer… walk with me here. I think I’d love to see Conner O’Malley do a serious character study. Maybe Andrea Arnold to direct? Her characters always feel so feral and alive. I think Conner has the potential to be one of the best performers of the decade; he has so much unharnessed energy that could be electric in the right kind of serious role. Her films are almost all about trapped energy.
14. If you could live in a movie, which one would it be?
This is a really basic answer but Paddington 2. I don’t think I would want to live in a world that is remarkably different from ours, but I like the idea polite pastel universe where everyone is kind, bears wear duffel coats and can speak English. I think I could thrive there. I would be their mayor.
15. Why do you think people should continue seeing movies at the movie theater?
My love language has forever been sharing movies with my friends. Nothing is more romantic than “hey, I saw this and it reminded me of you.” Nothing is more beautiful than watching a movie and understanding the people in your lives more through it. Movies are meant to be shared with the people you love. They are also made to be consumed on your own. So many films have changed the way I process things and engage with my emotions. Movies are forever connective. It’s not even about “understanding art” or “supporting cinema” or whatever nonsense. When you are in a movie theater you are sharing an experience and sitting in the dark with strangers and watching someone’s brain projected forty feet tall. Theaters are one of the few places explicitly designed to realize people feel the same weird things you do. It’s one of the last places where everyone shuts up and experiences the same thing at the same time.
That’s also a bit of why I started FilmSlop. I wanted a place where people could write the way we actually talk about movies; in a messy, emotional, and maybe a little dumb (sometimes) way. I am just trying to make space for people to write about how movies make them feel instead of proving they “get” them. It’s all the same impulse of chasing the feeling of belonging to something for a few hours before the lights come up and everyone quietly goes back to being strangers.
“Nothing is more beautiful than watching a movie and understanding the people in your lives more through it.” I love this so much😭
love the idea of a movie lounge for theater members! all of amc's macguffins bars should have a-lister happy hours