Special Screening

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    Lost & Found Film and Independent Arthouse Cinemas: In Conversation with Leslie McMichael

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    “Snow White” (1916) was shown for one night only — and not one more — on Screen One of The West Newton Cinema, an independent theater nestled between a massage parlor and audiologist ten miles west of Downtown Boston. Current showings are pasted on the low marquee and the ticket booths are covered in multicolored post-its and flyers. It has stood on Washington Street for nearly 90 years, and was recently saved by the West Newton Cinema Foundation (or WNCF), a nonprofit organization formed by the local community to keep the theater alive through financial difficulties and the age of streaming. 

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    The Gospel of Carrie White

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    When the lights dimmed and the screen began to flicker, I felt like I was standing in front of an altar. There was something holy about that crisp October night in Cambridge, when The Brattle theater transformed from a movie house into a cathedral of cinema. The smell of buttered popcorn floated through the air as strangers shuffled to creaky seats, their plastic cups fizzing with delicious cherry cola. It wasn’t just a screening. It was a gathering of believers. A horde of cinephiles grouped, itching for their fix.