Counter Arts Film: February Writing Prompt

This month, let’s get a little romantic…

Ah, cinematic romance. I don’t know about for other people in a general sense, but I know that for me it is one of the first things to come to mind when thinking of cinema.

Romance has existed within film since its very beginning. A film called ‘The Kiss’ was released in 1896, the same year as the release of what is considered to be the first film (though some would argue the point), L’Arrivée d’un train en gare de La Ciotat.

So, with it being February and Valentine’s Day coming up, it seemed like the right time to study these filmic loves in detail to celebrate. But, in keeping with our name and main intentions here at Counter Arts, we would like for those getting involved to go a little more outside of the norm when submitting. I’m not about to shout at anybody or wildly reject pieces on ‘normal’ (mid/high budget Hollywood productions) romance films, but I would like to see a good range!

So, as usual, I will gather some examples for you all to consider.

• LGBTQ+ romance — I find that LGBTQ+ films seemed to explode in popularity around 2016/17. There was a heap of brilliant queer romance films released so closely together then, from Moonlight and God’s Own Country to 120 BPM (Beats Per Minute) and Call Me By Your Name. Since then, our screens have welcomed the likes of Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Passages, Red, White & Royal Blue among others, and LGBTQ+ romance even went mainstream with Bros in 2022.

Let’s explore this! Bonus points (not literally…) if you can find films with a happy ending rather than a tragic one in this case. Queerness, like blackness, is much more frequently seen on screens nowadays but too often ends in tragedy rather than highlighting queer joy.

• Independent romance — It’s also always good to explore what kind of stories are being told outside of mainstream Hollywood. It wouldn’t be a Valentine’s prompt without coverage of Richard Linklater’s Before trilogy. But you can dig deeper than that, too. Ali & Ava is a great choice. Barry Jenkins’ adaptation of James Baldwin’s If Beale Street Could Talk is a masterpiece. You can cover Only Lovers Left Alive, Her, Once, etc. There’s a lot of cinema demanding your attention here!

• World cinema romance — I’ve enjoyed a lot of world cinema’s input into the romance genre in recent years. I adored 2022’s One Fine Morning, for example. I think that Claire Denis’ romantic films are all excellent — Friday Night, Let the Sunshine In and Both Sides of the Blade are all great films. The aforementioned 120 BPM is a fantastic French film, too. Eric Rohmer made many terrific romances. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, a massive inspiration for La La Land, is almost constantly on my mind. All of these examples are French, aren’t they?

Well, thankfully, there are examples from elsewhere too. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul is a brilliant German film. The Cranes are Flying, made in the Soviet Union, blew my mind when I saw it a year or two ago. Ingmar Bergman’s Summer with Monika is great, even if maybe a little more anti-romantic than romantic. We can all get emotional together with In The Mood for Love by Wong Kar-Wai.

• Tragic romance — This one is probably my favourite. I won’t spoil any of the films, but this is where to bring in the films that make you sob. There is some overlap here with the other categories — Call Me By Your Name and If Beale Street Could Talk both belong here, too, to a certain extent, but there are many other choices. This is the place for your films and shows like A Star is Born, The Bridges of Madison County (which I will be covering!), The Fault in Our Stars, Blue Valentine, The End of the Affair, Romeo and Juliet, All That Heaven Allows, Leaving Las Vegas, The English Patient, etc. Last year’s Past Lives might be worth a look for those who didn’t get around to it yet.

• We also can’t leave out some classics. I’m intensely partial to Silver Linings Playbook. There’s a lot to be discussed in Brief Encounter by David Lean. There’s Something About Mary may be a more controversial choice but I think it is brilliant. Broadcast News can never receive enough love, and neither can films like One From The Heart, Roman Holiday, The Lady Eve, West Side Story or You Can’t Take It With You. There’s a lot to love in all of the above.

As usual, this prompt is not intended to hinder the great variety of work that we receive here at Counter Arts. If you can’t tell from my gushing above, there’s a lot of great films to be considered here, but we will continue to accept articles of all kinds through February (and at any time!). These prompts are not compulsory when submitting to Counter Arts at all! You’re free to write about whatever you like so long as it fits with our categories of: Art, Culture, Equality, Photography, Literature, Film (and TV), Music.

Happy writing to all! And thank you for your continued submissions.

Special thanks go to those who joined in with our Brazilian focus in January — my love and gratitude to Yusuf Ali, Amanda Melheim and Filmofile!

Read their work here: