My memory of certain films is entirely shaped by the experience around watching the movie itself. I was taken by my father to a rerun of Gone With the Wind and my father paced up and down the aisle, causing such embarrassment to a teenager that I spent half the movie under a seat. Some movies remind us of certain theaters, others of who was there with us, still others define key patches of life. Going to the Movies is a social activity linked to a range of cultural behavior patterns: popcorn, dinner and a movie, late night horror, trailers, kisses in the back seats etc. As the entire aim of running a film festival is to build excitement and connection to movies via community and discussion, the Going to The Movies Oral History project is a perfect fit for DCIFF, and we're excited to expand it to cities nationwide. Let’s save this huge part of our cultural history as we move on to hand-held devices and laptop movies. Perhaps in the process we can rekindle interest in community movie theaters as active parts of our lives and save some of the classic theaters out there that are being left to fall down.
- Deirdre Evans-Pritchard, DCIFF Executive Director