No, I’m not Ringo Starr, but I have been receiving a lot of mail as of late.  The subject of these digital letters vary on perspective, but are singular in topic: why can’t I program better films with more diversity?

Here is a composite of some of these letters (with a touch of invention):

Dear Jason,

Despite your rugged good looks and intelligent repartee, you have been a great disappointment to me as of late.  I am not alone in lamenting the lack of Wednesday Documentaries and Thursday Independent films so far this summer. 

What is your problem?  The Secret Life of Pets for two weeks? Star Trek, Jason Bourne and Suicide Squad for 7-day weeks for the next three weeks following?  I understand you need to bring in the big films, but can’t you maybe run a different flavour at the 9 pm Tuesday or Thursday showing? This is why I won’t consider becoming a member of The Civic, but will buy an occasional ticket when you have a movie that interests me. Not enough variety.

Yours truly,

Sir Winston Belvedere

Before I continue, I should say that my father has already beaten you to the punch in the disappointment department, so we will no longer dwell on that, but I will answer to the rest:

Dear Sir Belvedere,

Thank you for the letter.  As programmer, I feel your pain all too regularly.  I live for the Thursday fare and would love to program more further afield international titles as well, but alas as a single-screen we are constrained by studio restrictions on the mainstream titles that bring in enough money for our doors to stay open.

The summer is the worst of it, with the whole blockbuster scene, which you have already alluded to, but please consider June before you think that your beloved Civic has forsaken you: we screened a Royal Opera House presentation, Miles Ahead, Video Freex (doc), The Lobster, Money Monster, Royal Ballet’s Frankenstein, Love & Friendship, Gurukulam (doc) and The Meddler.  Most of our year is diverse like June and truth be told, The Civic is the most diverse single-screen that shows current mainstream that I have ever encountered.

Unfortunately, during July and August and over the Christmas break, we are a slave to studio guidelines for playing titles that, if we gave a miss to, would hurt our survival.  Our goal is to get to a 3-screen venue, so that we can capitulate with the studios for the bigger releases, but also have a greater freedom and flexibility to program diverse titles across all our screens.

In order to get to the 3-screen we need to first stay open, which depends on the support of audiences willing to wait and see films in Nelson that we bring in late-run to accommodate our diversity on Weds, Thurs and split titles over the weekend, and on the flip side, our lovely loyal Thursday patrons, putting up with the occasional drought to cover our expenses. Ultimately, we need the continued support of our membership choosing to renew their memberships to show that Nelson supports a vibrant local cinema.

Rest assured the Fall is going to be full of diverse marvels of cinema, which will also include selections added by a new Community Curators program.

I hope this letter finds you well and that we can count on your support going forward.

Sincerely,

Jason

I always look forward to receiving feedback and improving where we can.  Don’t miss the upcoming Walking The Camino: Six Ways to Santiago, with director Lydia Smith playing on July 20th for a last chance to see something worldly before leaving the planet with the crew of the Enterprise on the 22nd.

Jason Asbell is the Theatre Manager, Programmer and cute drummer for The Civic Theatre.