We watched Charade at a Tattoo Parlor with Strangers

As I've stated On Here, I've started a non-profit that is all about making movies more accessible in Appalachia. Between Sony becoming a champion of killing physical media (which I railed against a few weeks back) and the general toxic affect capitalism has on small towns (a topic that I've been brewing on for a while, so expect a post about it at some point) its becoming harder and harder for folks to consume media - this is exaggerated the poorer you are. Communal screenings is something that is not just anathema to both the presidents of Sony and Netflix - it's something they think is dying and they're doing what they can to drive a stake into its heart.

I, not so respectfully, disagree with them.

People showed up for Charade !!

This past weekend, our non-profit hosted our very first event! We held a free screening of Charade (1963) for the community. We worked with a local tattoo parlor, Woolly Worm, that has an artist lounge in its backroom for a venue. We rented a popcorn machine and chairs from the local Army Base's MWR (Morale, Welfare, and Recreation) - the cheapest place to borrow stuff from and surprisingly easy to work with. We got soda, popcorn, candy, and even pickles to sell. We made some stickers and buttons as well as my very first zine, which I'm rather proud of. We posted fliers in this town and the biggest one nearby.

We had fifteen people show up and had a blast. I knew very few of them and some of them knew each other. There was no solid age demographic, some old and some young. Some hadn't seen this film in decades and some were watching it for the very first time.

It was an intimate time, watching Charade at a tattoo parlor with strangers. And it felt magical.

The history of cinema grew from folks coming together in a dark room to be entertained by the magic of moving pictures. There's still magic in that - the spectacle of seeing a thriving art form a century later on an impossibly large screen. As I write this, one of the oldest stories ever has been given life anew, specifically on IMAX.

But that's also the problem. A century ago, the town I'm in had a movie theater. You don't have to go too far in any community in the US without seeing an abandoned and derelict theater. Small towns used to have a tiny theater to help share films with folk, but now they have to go a town over and spend fifty bucks on stale popcorn and watered down pop.

I guess I want to bring that back - the experience of being able to, as a community, come together and experience culture. I could go on about the fascinating cultural elements of Charade as well as the next films I want to present to the community. I got a laundry list of flicks I'd love to present (o! to see Abel Gance's Napoleon with a room full of sickos) and from this recent viewing, I feel that there are folks that will want to come out.

There's magic in that.