And another one is in the books as they say.
With The Civic Theatre currently out of commission, a full restaurant of film lovers huddled inside Sakura Sushi, who graciously hosted this year’s annual Civic Theatre Oscar Party. The big winner of the year was Sean Baker’s Anora, garnering three personal Oscar wins for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay as well as Best Actress for Mickey Madison.
As exciting as it was to see a truly independent film made with love, creativity and an extremely small budget take the honours, what was truly heartwarming was Sean Baker’s Best Director acceptance speech and his incredible generosity in shouting out and championing the value of independent theatres, like our own Nelson Civic Theatre Society.
“We’re all here tonight and watching this broadcast because we love movies," he said. "Where did we fall in love with the movies? At the movie theatre. Watching a film in the theatre with an audience is an experience. We can laugh together, cry together… and, in a time in which the world can feel very divided, this is more important than ever. It’s a communal experience you don’t get at home. And right now, the theatre-going experience is under threat. Movie theatres, especially independently owned theatres, are struggling, and it is up to us to support them. During the pandemic we lost nearly 1,000 screens in the U.S. and we continue to lose them regularly. If we don’t reverse this trend, we will be losing a vital part of our culture.
“This is my battle cry. Filmmakers, keep making films for the big-screen. I know I will. Distributors, please focus first and foremost on the theatrical releases of your film. Neon did that for me, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Parents, introduce your children to feature films in movie theatres and you’ll be moulding the next generation of movie lovers and filmmakers. And when we can, please watch movies in the theatre and let’s keep the great tradition of the movie-going experience alive and well.”
Baker’s sentiment can’t be more bang-on, and it communicates perfectly why we do what we do at The Civic Theatre. I just feel so fortunate to live in a community where cinema and arts are valued. The community’s continued support through the pandemic and all the other hurdles along the way has ensured that our local independent cinema isn’t among the statistics of the thousands of screens worldwide forced to close.
We are so close now to reaching our goal of a viable three-screen venue, but we still need your continued support of the NCTS to get over the finish line. So keep coming to the movies, buy memberships and donate where you can; and we, the NCTS team, promise to keep the battle cry alive, so we can all keep seeing movies, introducing our children to the theatre and continueing to enjoy the communal movie-going experience for generations to come.
Jason Asbell is the NCTS programming director and father to future cinephiles.
