CINE·BRATS
Guide

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CineBrats? Who's it for?

CineBrats is a curated guide to explore the canon of film history alongside a way to see how much of it you've actually consumed.

It organizes cinema into Collections — bounded, opinionated sets of films drawn from the Movements, Auteurs, and all-time Lists that define the medium. As you log the films you've seen, your coverage of that canon resolves into a single number: your Cinephilia Score. You can then set goals: choose the Collections you want to complete, and work toward them.

CineBrats is built for people who take film seriously — who want to work through the whole canon, not just the highlights, and want a map to get there.

What is the CineBrats canon?

The canon is the whole set of films CineBrats considers essential — every film in every Collection, taken together. It is the map of the medium this whole site is built on.

Nothing is in it by accident. A film earns its place by belonging to at least one Collection: a Movement that changed how films get made, an Auteur whose body of work you have to know, or a List that the field has argued over for decades. A film in no Collection is not in the canon, and is worth no points.

That is why the canon is deliberately bounded rather than exhaustive. It is not every good film ever made — it is the films you would have to see to say you know cinema. Your Cinephilia Score measures how much of it you have covered, and the more central a film is to the canon, the more it is worth.

It grows, but slowly and on purpose. Curation through constraint is the point: a canon that let everything in would tell you nothing.

What is the difference between a Lens, Collection, and a Film?

Across CineBrats, three terms organize everything, from broadest to most specific:

  • A Lens is our top level: the broadest way films are organized. There are currently three — Movements, Auteurs, and Lists — and each Lens contains many Collections.
  • A Collection sits in the middle: it belongs to exactly one Lens and gathers many Films around a single, specific subject. A Collection is the level you complete by logging all of its films. Examples: French New Wave, Mumblecore, Elevated Horror.
  • A Film is the bottom level: a single movie. A Film belongs to one or many Collections and can sit in Collections across different Lenses. The number of Collections a Film belongs to is its centrality.
What is a Cinephilia Score and how is it calculated?

Your Cinephilia Score estimates how much of film history's canon you've seen — and it's built to reward importance, not just volume. Two things move it: the films you log and the Collections you complete.

Points come from the canon

A film earns you points because it belongs to Collections. That's the whole idea. Log a film that sits in no Collection — a comfort watch, a comedy special, something nobody would call essential — and it's worth exactly 0.00. It still shows up in your Activity and your film log; it just doesn't move your score.

Inside the canon, a film earns more the more often it shows up in the parts of the catalog that signal importance: a little for each Auteur Collection it belongs to, a bit more for each Movement, and more still for each List it lands on. If a film sits on our one definitive “spine” list (Greatest 250 Films of All Time), it gets an extra premium on top.

Here’s the formula we use to determine how many points any given film is worth:

film value = auteur · √(auteurs) + movement · √(movements) + list · √(lists) + spine premium
summed over every film you've seen

To note:

  • Auteur membership counts, but counts least. An important director making a film doesn't automatically make the film itself important — so a film carried only by its director's name earns the smallest amount we award.
  • Appearing on more Lists helps a film’s score, but with diminishing returns. A film on four Lists is worth more than one on a single List, but not four times as much.

Finishing counts

You're rewarded for completing a Collection. Bigger Collections are worth more to finish, and more prestigious ones count for more.

completion bonus = weight · √(Collection size)
for each Collection you've fully completed — weight rises Auteur → Movement → List → spine

Worked examples

Here's how a few real films in the catalog actually score, at the current point weights:

  • Chinatown (1974) is in the New Hollywood Movement Collection, on the Greatest 250 Films of All Time spine List, and in the Roman Polanski Auteur Collection. It collects all three memberships plus the spine premium, for a total of 2.40 points.

  • Shoah (1985) sits on two lists — the spine and Greatest Documentaries. The two memberships don't simply add up; the square root tempers them, so it lands at 2.21 points.

  • Snowpiercer (2013) appears only in the Bong Joon-ho Auteur Collection. That's the smallest membership we award, so it's worth 0.15 points.

  • Paddington 2 (2017) is in no Collection at all. Log it and you'll have logged it — but it adds 0.00 to your score.

How high can it go?

Right now, the highest possible Cinephilia Score is 1,220.02 — every film's value across all 1,119 films currently spread over CineBrats' 98 Collections, plus every completion bonus, which is exactly what you'd earn by seeing all of them. That ceiling isn't fixed. Because CineBrats keeps adding Collections — and every new Collection brings new films and can raise the value of films already in the catalog — the maximum only ever climbs.

How a score is shown

Everywhere it appears, a Cinephilia Score is written in one consistent form:

58.4012%

Reading it left to right:

  • The score is your current Cinephilia Score. It can never fall when CineBrats adds Collections — only hold or climb. Editorial additions add memberships: a film you've already logged might join a new Collection (raising its value), or the new Collection might be one you've already completed (handing you its bonus).
  • The percentage is how much of the current maximum your score represents. Unlike the score itself, it can move in either direction over time: as new Collections push the maximum higher, your share of it shifts.
What's the difference between when I logged a film and when I watched it?

Every film in your log carries two dates, and they answer different questions.

The log date is when you told CineBrats about the film. You can't change it, because it's a matter of record: it's the moment your Cinephilia Score moved. That's why your Scoring Timeline is ordered by log date — it's the history of your score, not of your viewing.

The watch date is the day you actually saw the film. It's yours to set, and it can be any day in the past. That's what your Activity diary is ordered by, because a diary of watching should be a chronology of watching.

For most films the two are the same day: you watch something, you log it, and you never think about this again. The interesting case is everything else — the hundreds of films you saw long before you ever found this site.

Setting it

When you log a film from its modal, it assumes you watched it today. If you didn't, hit change and pick the day. There's also I don't remember, which is the honest answer for a film you know you've seen but couldn't date to save your life.

You can change it whenever you like: reopen any film you've logged, open the log panel, and set the date. Changing it moves the film around in your diary — it doesn't touch your score, because your score didn't change, only your record of when you watched.

Logging in bulk doesn't ask. The logger's batch grid is built for getting through a lot of films quickly, so it assumes today. Fixing that afterwards is what its Batch Edit Films You've Already Seen mode is for: every film you've logged is listed there with its date on the row, so you can correct one in a click — or tick a whole stack of them and set the same date on the lot.

Films with no watch date

A film with no watch date still counts. It's still seen, it still scores, it still fills in a Collection. It simply has no place in a chronology, so instead of guessing, those films are collected at the bottom of your Activity under A Long Time Ago, Before Records Were Kept, listed alphabetically.

If you bring your history over from Letterboxd, your diary dates come with it — those become watch dates, unless you tell the import to leave dates out. A film Letterboxd only knew you'd rated, with no date attached, arrives with no watch date rather than pretending you watched it the day you imported.

How are Collections constructed?

The editors at CineBrats decide which Collections to add — which Movements, Auteurs, and Lists are worth building. That's where our opinion ends. Everything inside a Collection — above all, which films comprise it — is drawn from credible, leading film critics and editorial sources, not from us.

To weigh those sources, we use AI. Several frontier AI platforms — not one — systematically search across the best available criticism, weigh the differing judgments against one another, and work toward a final selection. Relying on multiple independent models rather than a single one is deliberate: it reduces the influence of any one system's bias.

How often are new Lenses, Collections, and Films added?

Roughly monthly we add one new List, Movement, and Auteur Collection — along with all of the new Collection's films. We don’t currently anticipate adding any new Lenses.

What data does CineBrats collect, and how is it handled?

CineBrats collects as little as it can, and never sells your data.

What we collect

  • Account basics. When you sign in with Google or Apple, we receive your name and email address from them. You can also sign in with just your email: we send you a one-time link that expires in an hour, and store only your address and a scrambled copy of that link — never the link itself. Either way, CineBrats never sees or stores a password, because there isn't one.
  • Your activity on the site. The films you log, the Collections you set as goals, and your profile details.
  • Anything you import. If you bring your history over from Letterboxd, you upload an export file and we read your films, ratings and lists out of it. We keep what we read; the file itself is discarded once it's been read.
  • Basic technical data. Your IP address and browser type, which our host and CDN process automatically to serve pages and keep the site secure.
  • Anonymous analytics. We use Umami, a privacy-first, cookieless analytics tool, to count page views and see which features get used. It doesn't track you across other sites and doesn't build an advertising profile.

How we use the data we collect about you

Only to run the site: to sign you in, save your film logs and Cinephilia Score, show your profile, and understand in aggregate what's working. No advertising, no data brokering.

Who it's shared with

We don't sell or rent your data. It's handled by the services that make CineBrats run — Google and Apple (sign-in), our hosting and CDN providers (delivery and security), and Umami (analytics). We also use Anthropic’s agentic coding tools to build and maintain our site, and Anthropic often accesses our database directly during this process.

Where a model sees your ratings

Two features ask an AI model to read your taste: the pairing that matches you with Collections after you've rated ten films, and the Collection recommendations on the canon. Both send the model the titles you rated, the ratings you gave them, and your three taste answers — never your name, your email, or who you are. The model we use for this is Anthropic's, and it is used to answer the question and nothing else; your ratings are not sold, published, or used to advertise to you.

What other people can see

Your profile is public by default — your Cinephilia Score, the films you've logged, your Collections and your Tracks can be seen by anyone with the link, which is the point of a profile worth sharing. If you'd rather it weren't, Settings → Privacy has a single switch that hides it from everyone but you.

Cookies

We use a cookie to keep you signed in, and a second one to remember that this device belongs to a member, so a returning visitor lands somewhere sensible. You can switch that second one off under Settings → Nit Picky Stuff. We don't use advertising or tracking cookies — which is why you won't see a cookie-consent banner.

Your rights

Contact us at [email protected] to: ask what we hold about you; correct it; or delete your account and data at any time. Depending on where you live, you may have additional rights under laws like the GDPR or CCPA — we'll honor them.

Children

CineBrats isn't directed at children under 13 (or under 16 in the EU and UK), and we don't knowingly collect their data.

Last updated: October 2026.

How do I delete my account and my data?

You're always free to leave.

To delete your account and everything tied to it — your film logs, goals, profile, and score — email [email protected] from the address you signed up with, and we'll remove it.

Deleting your account erases your personal data from the CineBrats production database (though we can’t guarantee the data will be deleted from our secure backups). Anonymous, aggregate analytics that can't be traced back to you may also remain.

What are the terms of using CineBrats?

The short version: use CineBrats in good faith, and understand that it's offered as-is by a small, independent project.

  • It's free, and provided "as is." We work hard to keep the canon accurate and the site running, but we can't guarantee it will always be available, error-free, or complete. Film data comes from third parties and may contain mistakes.
  • Use it fairly. Don't try to break, overload, scrape, or abuse the site, and don't upload anything unlawful or infringing where the site lets you add content.
  • Your account is yours to keep in order. You're responsible for what happens under your sign-in. We may suspend or remove accounts that abuse the service. If you log that you’ve seen a film, be honest — we consider a “seen” film as one you’ve watched 100% of.
  • The site and these terms can change. CineBrats evolves and these terms along with them.
  • Limitation of liability. To the fullest extent the law allows, CineBrats and its makers aren't liable for any loss arising from your use of the site.
Who owns the films, images, and names shown here — and how do I report a concern?

CineBrats is a guide to film history. It doesn't own the films it maps, and it doesn't claim to.

  • The films, posters, and images belong to their respective studios, distributors, and rights holders. Poster images and film data are provided by TMDB; we display them under TMDB's terms, and we are not endorsed by or affiliated with TMDB.
  • Trademarks and names — studios, publications, and other services we reference are the property of their owners. We name them only to identify and discuss the films. CineBrats is an independent project and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any studio, publication, streaming service, or rights holder.
  • Our Collections are informed by respected lists and critics, never copied from them.

Are you a rights holder with a concern? If you believe something on CineBrats infringes your copyright, contact us at [email protected]. We take these issues seriously and will review — and, where appropriate, remove the material — promptly.

I have a question and/or need help. Who do I contact?

Email us at [email protected].

Who created CineBrats?

CineBrats was created by Jonathan Powers. Hi, that's me. 👋

I first had the idea back in 2010, after watching the excellent documentary Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession. What struck me was that there was a whole world of films most people had never heard of, and a rich subculture built around them. But every time I tried to explore film history and level up my own literacy, I felt like I was stumbling around in the dark — unsure what to watch, or worse, lacking the context to make sense of an older or obscure film once I had.

Fifteen years later, I finally built this site. It's entirely a passion project, and I have no idea whether it will attract a single other regular user. If it doesn’t, that wouldn't be ideal, but I think it'll still have been worth the effort.

What new features does CineBrats plan to add?

Lots. CineBrats is in early beta, built by one person, and the roadmap is shaped by what the community asks for — so your feedback genuinely steers it.

On deck: deeper community features (campaigns to shape the canon, editorial voting), richer profiles and sharing, more Collections across Movements, Auteurs, and Lists, and smarter taste-based recommendations. Right now the focus is growing the community and getting feedback.

Have an idea or a gripe? Write in: [email protected].

How do I import my ratings from Letterboxd?

Head to Settings → Data Import — three steps that turn a Letterboxd export into logged films, watch dates and lists on CineBrats.

1. Export

Go to your Letterboxd export page and download your data — Letterboxd emails you a .zip file. That's the file you upload here; nothing else works.

2. Upload

Choose the .zip. Nothing starts yet — picking the file just unlocks the settings.

3. Settings

Configure Import Settings is where the import is decided, and starting it is the last thing you do there.

  • Map the ratings. Letterboxd rates on a 0.5–5 star scale; CineBrats rates 0–1. Pick whichever of the three mappings sounds like how you actually rate — I rate evenly, I rate generously, or I rate harshly. Whichever you pick applies to every film in the import.
  • Choose what comes over. Films, watch dates and lists are each their own switch, all on to begin with. Leave watch dates out and every film arrives as “seen, but I don't remember when.”
  • Choose which lists. The lists in your export are read out and offered one by one, so you can bring three of them and leave the rest behind.
  • Say who wins a disagreement. For ratings and for watch dates, separately: keep what's already on CineBrats, or let Letterboxd overwrite it. Keeping is the default — but keeping never means ignoring. A blank is filled either way: if you never rated a film here and your export knows what you gave it, that isn't a conflict, it's new information.

Then Start Import. A progress box counts the films imported, the ones already logged, the ones that came without a rating, the ones we couldn't match, and the Tracks created — and lands you on your Film Log when it's finished.

What happens to each film

  • A film you rated on Letterboxd is logged at the converted rating.
  • A film you watched but never rated is still logged — just without one. You can rate it here any time.
  • A film CineBrats can't match to a title in its catalog is counted as Not found and skipped.
  • A film with no watch date on Letterboxd arrives here with no watch date, rather than pretending you watched it the day you imported. It still counts and still scores; it just has no place in a chronology, so it collects at the bottom of your Activity under A Long Time Ago, Before Records Were Kept.

What happens to your lists

Every list you created on Letterboxd (not ones you only liked or saved) becomes its own CineBrats Track, holding the same films in the same order, on your profile under the Tracks tab. Re-running an import later won't duplicate a list you've already brought over — it's matched by name and reused.

A few limits

Only one import can run at a time. Your file has to be a real Letterboxd export (a .zip holding diary.csv, ratings.csv, or watched.csv) — anything else is turned away before the import starts, with a reason why. The archive is read and then discarded; what we keep is what was inside it. And Tracks have their own ceilings — 20 per member, 250 films in each — so a very long list, or a very long shelf of them, can stop short.

Welcome to CineBrats! We measure your film literacy, then chart a personalized path to drive you deeper into essential cinema.