“Amateur films and series as well as school and/or student films and series are […] not allowed.” 

This is what you can read on The Movie Data Base’s New Content Bible. Amateurs, which are mostly young filmmakers, cannot be represented on The Movie Data Base because they are not professional enough. 

This is revolting because this discredits young filmmakers who use this platform to get more recognition (especially because it provides data to influential websites such as Letterboxd). A film is not a film just because it is released in theaters everywhere. A film can be amateur content released in a local theater or even a video posted on YouTube.

With this rule, The Movie Data Base, known for being an open data base filled with such richness of content, disappoints its users. Indeed, we, the users, did not only use this website to get info on blockbuster movies but we used it to get information on our favorite young directors, actors,…

But, there is a solution. The amateur section of the new content bible is often changed (“These policies are subject to change”). 

Thus, with this petition, we hope to get The Movie Data Base like we used to love it back.

Please share this to your friends and family so that this petition reaches the most people and gets to The Movie Data Base.

Together, well go through this.