As the digital age progresses many icons of our past are being left behind, including drive-in movie theaters. Since 1933, drive in theaters have been a staple of American Past-time for youth and adults alike. It is no secret that movie theaters, especially drive ins, have not been doing so well due to the economy and the rise in pirated movies. All theaters are being forced to switch to a new kind of digital projector if they want to be able to play current movies at a high quality. This means spending tens of thousands, possibly even hundreds of thousands of dollars on a single projector in order for the theater to still function. With less than 375 drive in theaters in America left, this has become a real concern of many movie fanatics. Honda (yes the car company) decided to do something about it.
I have only ever been to 1 drive in during my lifetime so far. I was on a family vacation to Wisconsin when I was in 8th or 9th grade (don't ask me why my family chose to go to Wisconsin...) and one thing my mom planned for the trip was a stop at a drive-in movie theater. We saw a double feature, first was Journey to the Center of the Earth, and after that was The Dark Knight. Despite how awful Journey to the Center of the Earth was, the drive-in movie theater proved to be one of the least shitty parts of my shitty family vacation. It was honestly an experience I remember to this day, and one I would not wish to forget. There is something about the atmosphere of a drive in that changes the movie-going experience. There is more of a sense of community and family. I hope that I get the opportunity to return to another drive-in during the near future.
So far Honda has donated 5 projectors to drive-in movie theaters across America and helped raise enough money for 4 more. They are urging for you to help however you can, whether it be a monetary donation, visiting a drive-in or even spreading the word. More information can be found at http://projectdrivein.com/.
For anyone interested in attending a drive in movie theater, the closest one to Ithaca is in Elmira, and about an hour away from school.
I'd like to take this post to promote some film festivals!
Here's one I've been looking in to! I'm not 100% sure on what I want to do just yet but I'll figure it out. If anyone would like to help me out on it let me know! I'd be happy to bring some other people in on this!
This is another interesting website I found over the summer when I was looking for more film festivals to submit White Lights to.
Withoutabox is cool in that it gives you all kinds of film festivals all over the world! I did try to submit my film to one festival but the process was a little confusing and I didn't get my film in on time. Anyway, if you can figure it out, it's worth a try!
It's good to go to film festivals whenever possible even if you're not entering a film. It's fun to not only watch the films and where they place, but also to try and compare them to films you have made and see if the film would belong there! You'd be surprised, some films that are entered aren't as advanced as one might think they would have to be. Your film could really fit in well!
Some people can't really handle film festivals in that they can't sit through so many movies at once. However, some people can handle it. I'm certainly someone who can handle it and I love going to them just to see the films! I'd also recommend the Theodore Case Film Festival in Auburn NY if anyone happens to be a local or even remotely in the area. I live in Mexico, NY so it's a good hour and 15 min. drive for me to get to it's location at Auburn Public Theater! Which is one of my favorite places! However, unfortunately they didn't do the Ted Case Film Fest last year so there was no way of knowing if they will bring it back again this year or not. It was a great festival (non-competitive) to view the different films being made by various people in the NY area! I met some really great people there as well. Since it's non-competitive I can tell you I know a lot of people that work there as well as the owners! They're a great bunch of folks! So if you're ever in the Auburn area check it out they've got lots of artistic events not just in film but also in music, poetry, and other ars!
This is one of the guys I met at Ted Case FF in Auburn. He actually comes from the same roots as I do in that he went to my old school (Cayuga Community College) and then came to Ithaca he then transfered to Oswego. I don't plan on doing that however! His name Is Jeffrey Newell and he's extremely talented. This was one film festival that he did for a 36 hour film festival. He said he'd never do it again, however I think he did do a 24 hour film festival just recently.
I love seeing ALL of the videos he does, he's truly an amazing person. I would love to work with him someday. I'm sure I will have the opportunity at some point in time.
I would like to try to make a 24 hour film someday just to see if I could and what would come from it.
It'd be good for my brain!
TaTa for now!
