Our Plans for the Second Half of the Year (Important Read)

Woah, we're halfway there! Announcing major updates for the second half of the and more.

still from Right Now, Wrong Then

The first several months of 2025 were relatively slow and sporadic with our publishing and social media engagement. We made a few posts similar in tone to this one, but as you read this post, you will see we have a plan. If you are a long-time subscriber or like to hate-click on our posts, you most likely have seen a surge in our posting since last month via Substack/Twitter (we're not calling it X). So let’s get it out: Film Daze is back. (Feel free to play this song as you read along!).

For those who are new, Film Daze is an independent publication and media outlet that provides a platform for the unheard and underrepresented voices of the film community. At Film Daze, we value transparency and communication, so we'll get right down to it with an outline of our plans for the second half of 2025. Please read throughout for special announcements and discounts.

First, we just sent out our first subscriber poll for best film of the year (so far), so make sure you participate if you want your vote to count. Results will be posted on July 1st.

Thanks to our paid subscribers, we published two essays by Black women (guest writers) on Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, plus an essay by staff writer Veronica Phillips. One of which was our most liked essay of all time. Editor Farah recently covered Cannes on our behalf, and our most-read piece of the year (so far) is by Alisha Mughal, who has a book releasing next month.

With your support, we wish to continue this throughout the year.

We also heavily discounted our paid subscriptions till July 1st. This is the lowest our paid subscriptions will be for the whole year. It is a way to show our thanks as we found our footing. We couldn’t operate without our paid subscribers, as they fund most of our publishing/editing. We will introduce paid subscriber exclusives later in the fall.

Now, here is our publishing outline for the second half of the year, along with our new column! A few things might be added/adjusted as the year progresses.

• Our monthly cinema club will continue with film recommendations/picks from Veronica Phillips / Alisha Mughal.

• We have a few film festivals to cover for the year’s second half, including TIFF.

• Noir November

• 31 Days of Horror (October).

• There will be one last paid subscriber sale close to the fall Holidays.

• Audio post (think podcast) will be featured sooner rather than later on our Substack

• “The Return” has been discontinued, but “Film Peaks” will continue.

• We will continue to accept submissions from guest writers. Info here

• New series of posts that will serve as staff introductions (think Criterion Closet picks

• Beginning in July, we will have at least one featured post per week.

Now, let’s talk about our new column, “Home Video,” a new staff/guest column that will provide insightful writing on what we consider essential directors/films/series (classic and contemporary) available on streaming services and home video (physical collection). Think Criterion Channel, MUBI, TCM, etc.

As an extension of this column, based on his Mission: Impossible marathon, our social media manager, B. Lee, will write weekly/bi-weekly about media that can be viewed at home. He will start with Charlotte Wells’ Afersun and Johnnie To’s The Heroic Trio / Executioners. Afterwards, he will marathon through the Johnnie To essentials via The Criterion Channel.