According to L.A. Weekly, Quentin Tarantino, a longtime advocate of sustaining the life of 35mm film, will be taking full possession of The New Beverly Cinema, a homey cinema treasure house for L.A. locals. The theater, almost exclusively devoted to repertory screenings (usually presented as double features), was opened by Sherman Torgan in 1978, and it has always been a known destination for the town’s passionate crowd of serious cinephiles. When Torgan died seven years ago, programming and management of the theater fell into the hands of his son Michael. It was also the time that Tarantino, a longtime fan of the theater, stepped in and bought the property outright.
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Tarantino has always had a hand in programming the theater’s eclectic mix of classic and grindhouse movies (Tarantino has famously collected hundreds of his own personal 35mm prints), but Torgan and his team were pretty much in charge of the theater.
This morning, however, Tarantino announced to the Weekly that he will be taking complete charge of the theater’s programming schedule, deliberately focusing on 35mm prints. Tarantino wants to keep the old tech alive in at least one movie theater, so it helps that he owns one.
On the other hand, Tarantino is muscling out a 36-year family legacy, essentially buying out a local business for himself. Plus – and this is a legitimate concern for film archivists – 35mm film actually restricts a lot of the theater’s programming. The New Beverly had installed a digital projector, as more and more films – both small indies and big-time studio films – were turning to digital. With a 35mm-only policy, the theater will no longer be able to debut smaller films from local filmmakers (as they have done in the past) who only have access to digital. And some newer smaller indie films – like, say the excellent Frances Ha – won’t be offered to any theater in 35mm format.
If Tarantino has enough clout (and he has plenty – this man insisted that Django Unchained by shown in 35mm in any and all theaters that were capable of it), he may be able to demand 35mm prints from the studios.
Is he being retro, or is he resisting change?
The New Beverly Cinema is located at 7165 Beverly Blvd. In Los Angeles.
Witney Seibold is a contributor to the CraveOnline Film Channel, and co-host of The B-Movies Podcast. You can read his weekly Trolling articles here on Crave, and follow him on “Twitter” at @WitneySeibold, where he is slowly losing his mind.
