A/Z. MOVIE GUIDE Aims to Take You on a Journey Through Film

Remember way back, such a long, long time back, when you could go to video stores with knowledgeable workers and shelves and shelves of movies, and explore the titles and get recommendations from strangers and discover really great movies? Well, whether you can remember those days or not, they are gone, never to return, and scrolling through the super specific suggestions on Netflix just isn’t the same. They never suggest anything that grabs you and surprises you by how much you love it.

So how are we going to discover great movies now? You could try A/Z. Movie Guide, a book project that aims to “promote interest in film history, worldwide cinema, and contemporary films.”

“The concept stems from the idea that there is a World of Film out there to be explored, and the best way to take a trip to this world is with a travel guide book.”

The completed book is 650 pages and features 1700 films from 88 countries, with over 600 reviews that explain why you should appreciate the film. No synopses, no criticisms. The book also contains lists of Oscar, BAFTA and Cesar Award winners, as well as lists of major festival winners. 

In addition to all that, the book is really beautiful. It features alternate posters for over 200 movies, with work by 135 artists from 26 countries.

If you are interested, you can help crowdfund the book here. (The donation levels seem high until you realize that the Argentinean peso has a very favorable exchange rate.) If you aren't interested, you can see more images from the book here. The book itself is written in Spanish, so if you aren’t fluent you may have some difficulty reading it, but it’s always fun to see which movies people love and think are important, even if you don’t understand all their reasons. 

Watch the video for a further explanation of the project. (The English version is on top.)