Power is hardest to challenge when we can’t see how it works. The Citizens Film Club brings people together around documentaries exploring Big Tech, democracy and political power - in cinemas, community spaces and online. Each screening becomes a live conversation with filmmakers, journalists, activists and experts, asking not only what is happening, but what we’re going to do about it.
What you get
- Watch bold independent documentaries that challenge power, reveal hidden systems and rarely reach mainstream screens.
- Hear directly from filmmakers, journalists, activists and experts through live discussions - online and in the room.
- Come together in cinemas, pubs and community spaces, or join from home. Meet people who want to understand the world, not just scroll through it.
- Connect with campaigns and practical ways to get involved. Organise a screening. Start a conversation. Help change what happens next.
Why a film club?
Films have always been more than entertainment. They can expose what is hidden. Share knowledge. Hold people to account. Change how we understand the world. But some of the films doing this work are becoming harder to find.
Streaming platforms optimise for engagement not cultural importance. Many of the streamers won’t commission films that matter because they have been captured by corporate interests.
Algorithms decide what gets surfaced, recommended and watched - while films exploring the biggest questions facing us can quietly disappear.
And we've lost something else along the way - the shared experience of watching something together. We've spent years being pushed into individual feeds and personalised screens. There are fewer places to gather, watch, debate and connect around the things that matter. The infrastructure of visibility is missing. So we're building it ourselves.
Film Club is a new initiative from the Citizens, but we know it might not be for everyone. If you’d rather not receive Film Club updates but still want to hear from us about our journalism and camapigns, update your preferences below.
Season one coming November 2026
For our first season we are pleased to be partnering with Doc Society, the innovative non-profit working with the boldest and most inspiring filmmakers from all over the world.
Together we have selected six films known collectively as The Big Tech Playlist: independent documentaries exploring Big Tech and the world it is changing. Politics. Democracy. Climate. Power. Society. Different films. Different perspectives. One shared space to watch, question and discuss it all.
This is a grassroots experiment in creating our own spaces for visibility, connection and action, beyond the feeds and algorithms that increasingly shape what we see.
Together, we can be stronger than any algorithm.