Thoughts as We Program our October-December 2022 Season by Craig Hammill

This week’s blog post is a quick one. But we’re at an inflection point.

Right now, our Secret Movie Club Theater is closed for renovations. We’re taking the time to do everything we can to make the theater the best it can be when we re-open October 1st.

One of the things we’re focusing on is actually returning to our three month seasons. So we’re in the process of confirming most of the titles we’ll show from October to December. I always liked programming a season. There’s a different feeling when you can see a lineup for three months. Like the ebb and flow of the ocean tide. You can see series come and go and how they comment, interact, dialogue with each other.

While we don’t want to give away too much too early, we are prepping series with names like I Scream, You Scream, Italian Horror Masters (expect some dope 35mm prints of Bava, Fulci, Argento masterworks). International Noir (with a specific focus on some of the noir classics that have come out of Asia-specifically Vietnam, Taiwain, the Phillippines, and Japan) splashes across our screen sometimes in drenched sunlight other times in shadowy nocturnal silvery hues of black and white. And Seeing Double where we screen a movie and its remake but only when each is gem unto itself with a different take that shows just what great filmmakers can do with the same basic story (think Cape Fear 1961 and Scorsese’s Cape Fear 1991 or the 1958 The Blob and the 1980’s practical effects masterpiece The Blob).

And as we finalize and prep our Happy Holidays & New Year series for December, we just added an all-time classic on 35mm. . . that has nothing to do with the holidays but feels like a holiday gift anytime we get to screen it.

We’re also putting the finishing touches on the remainder of our Director of the Year John Ford series including possibly striking some new 35mm prints (!!) and we’re even throwing a New Year’s Eve Party this year complete with a silent film classic about New Year’s, a live original score, and an after party with food, drink, dancing, the works.

At the same time, we’re also working to expand and grow the success of our Open Mic Short Nights which have been some of our greatest community events as you bring your short films with a new night at the beginning of each month: the Filmmaker-Actor night, where moviemakers can bring in scenes and actors can come and we’ll put them together to workshop them, hear readings, etc so folks can bring works in progress and put them up on their feet.

So while this blog post has become a bit of a laundry list of what you can look forward to this Fall, it’s also a marker. Secret Movie Club has always had a lot of potential because of the belief and faith you’ve put into it. Everyone has put into it. From the audience to the Team Members behind the scenes to the moviemakers who come and do Q&A’s (out of the goodness of their hearts).

If Cinema is going to beat anew with a vital, vibrant, vigorous heart, it’s going to need to be inspiring. It’s going to have to offer up experiences and events you just can’t get at home. The communal component of cinema, long its secret anchor, has to be re-affirmed, re-defined, and re-activated.

So stay tuned. We’re determined to make something special. With your help and participation.

Craig Hammill is the founder.programmer of Secret Movie Club.