For a little over four years now, I’ve been using the Gateway Cinephiles blog to pour out my thoughts about virtually every film I’ve seen theatrically during that period, and a good chunk of the films I’ve watched in my own home. The motivations to engage in this project have been numerous: the personal gratification of having a self-motivated commitment to fulfill; a desire to hone my writing craft in a forum where it is constantly open to criticism; and a rather egotistical certainty that I had something interesting to say about cinema.
My efforts to make the Gateway Cinephiles blog a space of depth, integrity, and singular perspective haven’t gone unnoticed. Writing for this blog has has allowed me to makes some wonderful connections in the St. Louis film community, and provided a (ahem) gateway to a freelance job with the St. Louis Magazine arts blog, Look/Listen.
That job is going to be demanding more of my time in 2012, as I provide reviews, retrospectives, festival coverage, and other posts at Look/Listen. Given that commitment—not to mention obligations to my family, the demands of my day job, and the other interests I want to pursue—I can no longer provide content to the Gateway Cinephiles blog on a regular basis. To put it simply, something has to give, and unfortunately that something is Gateway Cinephiles. It’s a purely elective pursuit, albeit an enjoyable one.
I’ll still be posting here sporadically, when the mood strikes me or I have something vital to say about the current cinema that isn’t appropriate for Look/Listen. Nothing is forever, so in the event that I have a loosening of commitments elsewhere, I might someday return to blogging on a routine schedule at Gateway Cinephiles.
Thanks to all my readers. I’ll be posting links on Facebook to my Look/Listen pieces and to any future, occasional essays here, so feel free to track me down and friend me if you want to keep track of my future writings.
Andrew Wyatt
January 3, 2012