By Gary Meyer
For over a year few of us could go to a theater and enjoy movies the way they were meant to be seen. Audiences are slowly feeling comfortable returning as theaters have made a host of improvements to protect us and to my knowledge no new cases of Covid have been tracked to a cinema.
A candid conversation with the film programmers at the Berkeley Art Museum Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA).
by Julie Lindow
One would never expect such real-life horror to happen at the gorgeous, historic Castro Theatre in San Francisco. That fateful night, I was slinging candy and popcorn. The air was thick with that hot buttery scent as I salted the last bag of popcorn and patrons scurried into the theater. The manager clunked the heavy double doors closed. The calm after the storm. It was also the calm before the storm of Hallows’ Eve that was a few nights off.
By Gary Meyer
Evolving menus. Sensual environment. Champagne and Oysters on the half shell. Since 1999 Foreign Cinema has been a magical destination for San Franciscans and international visitors. It is a place with an ever-changing menu for brunch, lunch, dinner and late night and is like no other restaurant you have ever enjoyed with its outdoor cinema and various unique rooms. You can even eat in the projection booth.
by Gary Meyer
Magic and “live” ghosts, goblins and other creatures of the night go back a long way. What we refer to as “augmented reality” today is hundreds of years old. In 1584 Reginald Scot wrote in his study to debunk beliefs in witchcraft, magic and other superstitions, The Discoverie of Witchcraft, that people dressed in sheets had fooled believers certain they had seen ghosts.
Interpretation of Robertson’s Fantasmagorie from F. Marion’s L’Optique (1867)
by Gary Meyer
Movie theaters used to show two feature-length movies plus a cartoon, newsreel and novelty or comedy short plus coming attractions. Some big city cinemas, known as “grind houses,” might show three or four films in a day around the clock.
