Chandle,
This forum was built by Ron Epstein and Parker Clack, who are still the owners. They started back in the late 80's already, but it really came to life when they (finally) moved to a domain of their own, in 1997. At the same time the DVD hit the market as a video medium for films and with its success, the forum started to grow exponentially.
Several members of those first periods are active here still, BTW.
Although the forum is "technically" based in the US, it doesn't 'belong' to a specific country. It is truly international and although the majority of the members are citizens of the USoA, there are many members from different other countries: African, Asian, Australian and European countries (as well as North- and South-American countries

). In short: all over the world, from every continent that has Internet connection!
If you want to know more about our goals and aims, please read our
Mission Statement for a start, but you will quickly learn more about the various subjects we discuss here by going on reading, and, as we do hope, participating.
I'm sure some other members can fill you in even more on some details you may want to know!
Cees