Sure, you’ve all got Netflix etc. But what if you’re a dedicated patron of the area’s purveyors of distinctive independent, foreign and art-house films. Good news! Screening groups are offering films online and a way to contribute to keep these businesses and organizations alive. The only drawback is you have to make your own popcorn!
Cleveland Cinemas has launched its Virtual Screening Room where it’s partnered with some independent distributors to share some films online. And 50% or more of the revenue with go to support its theaters, such as the Cedar Lee and Capitol Theater, which are often the go-to places for new off-the-beaten-path releases and well-regarded new indie films.
For instance, starting on April 10, they’ll be offering Best of CatVideoFest, a 40-minute compilation of popular clips from past editions. You can choose payment levels from 99 cents on up. Oscar-nominated Polish film Corpus Christi and the very timely documentary Slay the Dragon, about the decade-old strategy to steal our democracy via gerrymandering, are available April 10 as well. They’ve got a long list of still-available movies they’ve previously debuted.
Go here to see the list and buy a ticket.
Both Akron’s Nightlight Cinema and the Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque are continuing to offer the type of specialized films their audiences crave.
Nightlife Cinema’s Virtual Screening Room is offering the chance to buy a ticket and watch a movie at a time of you choosing, just like in a real theater only with more generous timing options. In addition, they’ve created an introduction to each film. Through April 9, they’re showing Brazilian surrealist film Bacurau and Saint Frances, about a young woman nanny in Chicago’s affluent north shore suburbs. Check in to see what’s next.
The CIA Cinematheque is also offering movies to stream at home. It’s also offering Bacurau through April 30 (It had screenings scheduled for late April which were cancelled and plans to show the film in its theater when it reopens.) Also available is the sweeping epic Colonel Redl, set in pre-World War I Austria (April 8-23), oddball French horror film Zombi Child (through 4/30), and The Hottest August (through 4/16) featuring interviews with New Yorkers in August 2017 which “finds them unsettled about a panoply of things — rising rents and temperatures, an unpredictable new President, marching white nationalists, and distressing reports about distant hurricanes and wildfires, among them.” On the other hand, maybe not that last one if you need something to distract you from what’s happening.
Go here to see the full list of their offerings.
Your ticket purchase at both Nightlight and the Cinematheque will help give these groups a viable future.