Do you say Movie or Film? I asked my followers on my Instagram Britishenglishus this same question and most of them said movie! I think sometimes we can actually lose track on whether or not vocabular

Andrea - Aisha

Professional Teacher

Do you say Movie or Film? I asked my followers on my Instagram Britishenglishus this same question and most of them said movie! I think sometimes we can actually lose track on whether or not vocabulary is actually British or American English! What do you think?

Jan 22, 2023 7:53 PM

Answers · 3

I'm a native US speaker. I use both. There is a slight tendency to say "movie" when we are thinking of it as entertainment, and "film" when we are thinking of it as a serious art form. When we are getting very serious indeed, we might say "cinema." Tom Hanks is a great movie actor. Do you want to go see a movie this weekend? The British Film Institute considers "Citizen Kane" to be one of the greatest films of all time. The Sundance Film Festival is an important US cultural event. I tend to say "movie" when it is not a professional production. I have some home movies my parents made of me when I was a baby.

January 23, 2023