Wilmington’s longest-running independent movie theater recently launched a three-part Cinematic Summer Tour, which runs through August. From the 1948 Italian drama “Bicycle Thieves” to the late David Lynch’s neo-noir mystery “Mulholland Drive,” Theatre N is screening movies from 18 countries across 100 years of filmmaking.
“Summer usually tends to be a little slow for us,” says Andrew Larason, the theater’s executive director. “So we are taking advantage of that and saying, ‘If we can’t get people out here to see the new films, let’s build whole programming around something focused.’”
Theatre N is running three series in Blu-ray format: an international directors showcase, featuring films from six highly regarded directors from six different countries; a passport series, screening an acclaimed international film every week; and a global spectrum series with genre-based selections, including comedy, horror, and romance.
“This is the first time we’re dedicating months to going back and playing some good stuff that’s been out there,” Larason says. “I’m just excited to see things that have never really been on the big screen in my lifetime, and I think it’s a special opportunity to be able to experience that.”
Featuring movies from notable directors, such as Charlie Chaplin, Ingmar Bergman, and Akira Kurosawa, the theater aims to educate audiences on the ways in which films have evolved over time by giving patrons a taste of different filmmaking styles and concepts.
“It’s planned more as a course,” says series programmer Tom Cavanaugh. “[It’s] a history of film, going through different cycles and different movements, and seeing how a film was taken throughout the decades back in time and how it came to be here and over the world.”
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