The film fans who refuse to surrender to streaming: ‘One day you’ll barter bread for our DVDs’

Amanda Bowman’s DVD collection. ‘I just feel like [companies] are trying to herd people into streaming. It’s frustrating. It’s also isolating,’ she says.Photograph: Amanda Bowman

When a hurricane struck Florida in 2018, Christina’s neighborhood lost electricity, cell service and internet. For four weeks her family was cut off from the world, their days dictated by the rising and setting sun. But Christina did have a vast collection of movies on DVD and Blu-ray, and a portable player that could be charged from an emergency generator.