Cinemaphile

A Cinemaphile or Cinephile is most respectably noted as a person who dedicates their life to the academic study of cinema. The earliest cinephiles were that who bore the French New Wave or "La Nouvelle Vague "- André Bazin, Jacques Donial-Valcroze and Alexandre Astruc amongst others and film movements.

Could be a colloquial name for someone who is an avid fan of movies. From knowing hundreds and thousand of small facts and anecdotal stories to do with all their favourite films, being able to perfectly repeat large portions of script from their favourite films - all from memory (imitating all the various characters as they go), to collecting all the merchandise, associated paraphernalia, movie posters, various versions of the movie, cinemaphiles go above and beyond what most usual filmgoers would accept as a 'normal' filmgoer's appreciation, sometimes to the point of absolute devotion.

This term is somewhat interchangeable with the word 'cinephile', and both can be (and are) used to mean the same thing. The word 'cinephile' is more often used in Europe, especially in French, to describe a devoted movie lover (the word 'cinephile' having an obvious root in the French word 'ciné', which itself is derived from the word 'cinéma').

Cinephiles should not be confused with fans of certain film franchises such as Star Wars, Harry Potter or The Matrix. Nor should they be confused with the fandom that has arisen around films that may be deemed cult classics or "geek" favorites. Cinephiles are people that are obsessive over the "incomplete" films, that leave room for obscure interpretation, or films in general. They do not include people who are obsessive over just a single film or series. Nor are they interested only in films that appeal to certain subcultures.

An example of a more restrained cinephile (someone who is more 'in to' movies but while they do not reach the point of dedicating their life to one or more films, still knows a lot of interesting facts about films they've seen, and has seen a lot of films) is the character Tony DiNozzo from the American TV series NCIS. He can frequently be heard comparing a situation to a situation in a film, or drawing comparisons between another character or one of his workmates and a character from one of his favourite films.