SEEKING THE GOOD LIFE IN AMERICA

Like many of us, Joy is not content with the high consumption modern lifestyle we live in the United States. So she journeys to three different intentional communities – places where people have chosen to share land and resources in all kinds of creative ways. The result is a fun and engaging crash course in sustainable living, thinking outside of the box, and finding positive solutions in an increasingly challenging world.

Thursday: 7:00pm

Cost: $5.00

Hi everyone. I’m sad to say that Compact Cinema will be closing its doors soon at 16 West. I had hoped there would be a lot of demand for a movie theater downtown, and for a movie theater that shows documentaries, but unfortunately attendance started out low and fell off from there, with no (zero) people showing up for any of this past week’s shows, despite lots of posters and stacks of flyers around town, and a growing following on Facebook. Financially, I took things right to the edge to get the cinema set up, and the time I’ve taken from my day job to run the cinema is preventing my job from paying the bills.

A main goal of making Compact Cinema a full-time movie theater was to bring more foot traffic into the 16 West Marketplace, to help the other unique businesses in here, but that has not happened. Meanwhile, the live music events at 16 West have indeed brought lots of people in, so there is no longer a need for Compact Cinema to do that. I plan to re-open Compact Cinema at another location at some point, but it will probably only show movies once a month or at most once a week, until there is more demand.

If you’d like to see any of the fascinating documentaries we’ve been showing, come see them while you still can. Get some food at one of the restaurants, bring it in and enjoy your meal while you watch the movie, and then stay for an audience discussion afterwards. I’m only showing movies on Saturday this week, so that I can spend more time catching up at work. After this week, I’m not sure when or if I’ll continue showing movies. One of the things I most wanted to do at Compact Cinema was to show locally-made documentaries once there was a steady audience showing up, to support our local filmmakers. I have at least a couple really good local documentaries that I would like to show, so let me know if you’d be interested in seeing them in these last few weeks.

And of course, I want to give a big “thank you” to the folks who have shown up to see our documentaries; I really appreciated your presence, and enjoyed all of the wonderful audience discussions we had afterwards. This has been lots of fun!

-Ben

MONEY & LIFE

This film by Roanoke native Katie Teague asks a provocative question: can we see the economic crisis not as a disaster, but as a tremendous opportunity? This cinematic odyssey connects the dots on our current economic pains and offers a new story of money based on an emerging paradigm of planetary well-being that understands all of life as profoundly interconnected.

Saturday: 1:00pm, 8:30pm

Cost: $5.00

INEQUALITY FOR ALL

A passionate argument on behalf of the middle class, this film features Robert Reich-professor, best-selling author, and Clinton cabinet member-as he demonstrates how the widening income gap has a devastating impact on the American economy.

Saturday: 6:00pm

Cost: $5.00

FREEDOM RIDERS (Free Admission!)

Chronicles the story behind hundreds of civil rights activists called the Freedom Riders who challenged the racial segregation of the American interstate transport and by traveling together in small interracial groups and sitting where they chose on the buses and trains to demand equal access to terminal restaurants and waiting rooms, and to bring racial segregation national attention.

Saturday: 3:30pm

Cost: FREE!

MONEY & LIFE

This film by Roanoke native Katie Teague asks a provocative question: can we see the economic crisis not as a disaster, but as a tremendous opportunity? This cinematic odyssey connects the dots on our current economic pains and offers a new story of money based on an emerging paradigm of planetary well-being that understands all of life as profoundly interconnected.

Wednesday: 6:00pm;  Thursday: 8:30pm;  Friday: 8:30pm;  Saturday: 1:00pm, 6:00pm

Cost: $5.00

INEQUALITY FOR ALL

A passionate argument on behalf of the middle class, this film features Robert Reich-professor, best-selling author, and Clinton cabinet member-as he demonstrates how the widening income gap has a devastating impact on the American economy.

Wednesday: 8:30pm;  Thursday: 6:00pm;  Saturday: 3:30pm

Cost: $5.00

FREEDOM RIDERS (Free Admission!)

Chronicles the story behind hundreds of civil rights activists called the Freedom Riders who challenged the racial segregation of the American interstate transport and by traveling together in small interracial groups and sitting where they chose on the buses and trains to demand equal access to terminal restaurants and waiting rooms, and to bring racial segregation national attention.

Friday: 6:00pm;  Saturday: 8:30pm

Cost: FREE!

MONEY & LIFE

This film by Roanoke native Katie Teague asks a provocative question: can we see the economic crisis not as a disaster, but as a tremendous opportunity? This cinematic odyssey connects the dots on our current economic pains and offers a new story of money based on an emerging paradigm of planetary well-being that understands all of life as profoundly interconnected.

Wednesday: 6:00pm;  Thursday: 8:30pm;  Friday: 8:30pm;  Saturday: 1:00pm, 6:00pm

Cost: $5.00

INEQUALITY FOR ALL

A passionate argument on behalf of the middle class, this film features Robert Reich-professor, best-selling author, and Clinton cabinet member-as he demonstrates how the widening income gap has a devastating impact on the American economy.

Wednesday: 8:30pm;  Thursday: 6:00pm;  Saturday: 3:30pm

Cost: $5.00

FREEDOM RIDERS (Free Admission!)

Chronicles the story behind hundreds of civil rights activists called the Freedom Riders who challenged the racial segregation of the American interstate transport and by traveling together in small interracial groups and sitting where they chose on the buses and trains to demand equal access to terminal restaurants and waiting rooms, and to bring racial segregation national attention.

Friday: 6:00pm;  Saturday: 8:30pm

Cost: FREE!

INEQUALITY FOR ALL

A passionate argument on behalf of the middle class, this film features Robert Reich-professor, best-selling author, and Clinton cabinet member-as he demonstrates how the widening income gap has a devastating impact on the American economy.

Wednesday: 6:00pm;  Thursday: 8:30pm;  Friday: 6:00pm;  Saturday: 3:30pm, 8:30pm

Cost: $5.00

FREEDOM RIDERS (Free Admission!)

Chronicles the story behind hundreds of civil rights activists called the Freedom Riders who challenged the racial segregation of the American interstate transport and by traveling together in small interracial groups and sitting where they chose on the buses and trains to demand equal access to terminal restaurants and waiting rooms, and to bring racial segregation national attention.

Wednesday: 8:30pm;  Thursday: 6:00pm;  Friday: 8:30pm;  Saturday: 1:00pm, 6:00pm

Cost: FREE!

INEQUALITY FOR ALL

A passionate argument on behalf of the middle class, this film features Robert Reich-professor, best-selling author, and Clinton cabinet member-as he demonstrates how the widening income gap has a devastating impact on the American economy.

Saturday, March 1st:  3:30pm, 8:30pm

FREEDOM RIDERS

Chronicles the story behind hundreds of civil rights activists called the Freedom Riders who challenged the racial segregation of the American interstate transport and by traveling together in small interracial groups and sitting where they chose on the buses and trains to demand equal access to terminal restaurants and waiting rooms, and to bring racial segregation national attention.

Saturday, March 1st:  1:00pm, 6:00pm

Compact Cinema will start showing a selection of documentary films on Saturday, March 1st (the original opening on Wednesday has been pushed back).  The first show will be at 1:00pm, with a different film at 3:30pm and then the same two films repeated at 6:00pm and 8:30pm.

You are invited (and encouraged!) to do “Dinner and a Movie” by ordering a meal from any of the restaurants or food vendors in 16 West, and bringing the food into the theater to eat while you watch the movie and enjoy the big-screen experience!

The experience doesn’t end when the credits roll, either, as you are invited to participate in an audience discussion after each film, so everyone can share their thoughts and insights.

Check back here shortly for the full listings of titles and descriptions for our first week of thought-provoking films! And there may be one or more FREE showings… stay tuned!

In the past week, I completed the most important and difficult parts of construction.  These involved hanging the screen from the drop ceiling, hanging the video projector from the ceiling, and running all the cabling through the ceiling to the appropriate places.

I started with the screen. With some tiles removed from the drop ceiling, I could see there was nothing to mount the screen to:

So, to support the weight of the screen, I built a wooden truss that would span the width of the room and sit on top of the walls on each side:

Then I lifted the truss up into the ceiling (with help from Aaron from RACXpress!), secured it into place, and hung the screen from it:

Then, I replaced the drop ceiling:

Then I mounted the video projector to the ceiling in the rear of the room, using a special mount kit that sits atop one of the ceiling tiles:

I then cleared out most of the room to make space for the initial, temporary seating. Sometime soon I plan to build two rows of raised flooring in the very back:

With the screen, projector, and temporary seating in place, the space is nearly ready to show movies.

I created a Compact Cinema logo, made a banner from it, and hung it over the entrance to the theater:

Then I started working on mounting a flat-panel TV into a window to show the upcoming movie listings.  First, I built a wooden frame to hold the TV:

Then I lifted it up into place and secured it to the ceiling and the metal window frame:

I will paint the frame sometime soon so it blends in better. But regardless of that, I now have a working digital signage display:

If you happen to walk by, take a look at the screen to see what’s playing!