The ways cinephilia has been represented in feature films is linked to the conception of an elitist attitude to cinema that started out in the 50s in Paris, but also to the Hollywood paradigm involving the Star system and the logic of film fans. Simultaneously, other kind of cinematographic content -documents, movies created by amateurs through popular education workshops -may have been considered as the evidence of a counterculture movement that would systematically challenge those dominant models, thus making it understandable only as related to them. The aim of this paper, from a socio-historical perspective, will be to analyse a set of documents and unseen amateur films, made by participants of audiovisual and cinematographic workshops held by the OROLEIS in Toulouse in the 70s. From these, the writings dealing with films are obviously prone to metadiscursive and dialectic analysis; however, other kinds of material reveal the prominence of artistic intent. This artistic commitment cornes with a threefold purpose, as it seeks to make passion for film an original and persona! thing, to promote the sharing of that passion with others, and to fmd an appropriate art fonn for such an exchange.