First Take Program




First Take Critic Program Featured in Flagpole


What is the First Take Ciné Critic Program

This program will engage 10 film aficionados from the Athens area who will make it their life’s goal to identify the films that are sure to speak to your heart and soul.

Ciné is a nonprofit independent arthouse theatre that provides films that inspire, educate, and build community. Ciné enriches the quality of life in Athens, offering the opportunity to share in the vitality of a unique community movie-going experience. In 2018 we provided access to over 300 feature films.

Ciné is fortunate to have a very loyal following of viewers, but we feel we have only scratched the surface of movie viewers in the Athens area. We wanted to develop a program that would introduce the larger Athens community to the really incredible cool films and events that we offer throughout the year.

If you have questions about the program please contact our coordinator at slynn@plexusweb.com.

What does a critic do?

Each critic is expected to preview and write film reviews for at least 6 films in a one year term. These reviews should be 300-500 words. We expect our critics to post the reviews on all of their social media profiles, in addition to the First Take Ciné Critic website.

Our critics will possess integrity and ethics and will not engage in plagiarism, trolling, discrimination, or other hateful or harmful conduct on any platform that mentions the name or brand of Ciné. Our critics will write honest reviews. If they hate the film, they will tell you why. If you love the film, they will tell you why.

We will create a Ciné Critic profile for each critic on the First Take website. These profiles will include name, career/employer/life’s work, photo, top 5 movies, favorite hobbies, favorite music, favorite books, etc. We want our critics to showcase their personalities so our viewers have a good idea of what films they might like because they identify with one or more of our carefully selected film critics.

We expect critics to be avid moviegoers, and have an interest in reviewing films. The perk of being a Ciné Critic is that you get to see films BEFORE the public sees them. Ciné has a diverse selection of films throughout the year. We do not pre-screen every single film we show, but we do preview all feature films or films with larger distribution.

How do we select our critics?

Our selection criteria for choosing these 10 critics will take many factors into consideration. We will make sure the program provides a diverse set of preferences in selecting and reviewing films.

Do you have what it takes to be a First Take Ciné Critic? See our job description for more details, and fill out our application if you feel you would excel in a position like this!

Application Cycle

We will accept applications for the next class of Cine Film Critics from September 15 - September 30, 2020. Applicants will be notified of acceptance to the program by October 15. The second group of First Take Cine Critics will begin their terms on October 31, 2020.