[EDITED BY: SPENCER EVERHART & GRIFFIN SHERIDAN]

Welcome back to BEAM FROM THE BOOTH, the official newsletter of the GRAND RAPIDS FILM SOCIETY!

To begin, a thank you to everyone who came out Monday evening for our screening of Persepolis, especially our friends from Vault of Midnight, who brought copies of Marjane Satrapi’s original book.

Join us THIS EVENING (8/26) at 7:00pm for our signature free social event, FILM SOCIETY ROUNDTABLE to take part in open-discussion with fellow cinephiles.

And looking ahead, we have back-to-back can’t-miss events next week with METROPOLIS featuring A LIVE METAL SCORE (8/30) and Gina Prince-Bythewood’s LOVE AND BASKETBALL (8/31)!

This week in the newsletter, however, we look back at our screening of the original roadshow cut of Apocalypse Now last weekend with this piece by David Blakeslee...

APOCALYPSE THEN AND NOW: MY PERSONAL JOURNEY

[BY: DAVID BLAKESLEE]

Widely considered one of the all-time greatest war movies ever made, Apocalypse Now was one of those rare productions that had already established a near-legendary reputation well before its images were first projected onto screens accessible to the general public. And when I invoke the word “legendary,” I’m not necessarily implying anything along the lines of fondness, affection, or even simple respect. The film’s development (dating back to the late 1960s) and production (with location shooting in the Philippines starting in 1976), gradually acquired a mythic aura as director Francis Ford Coppola and his crew endured catastrophes of ever-escalating proportion.

Typhoons that demolished intricately constructed sets, jungle-borne diseases, heart attacks, nervous breakdowns, tyrannical outbursts of near-abusive control and unbridled ego mania, the deployment of serious weapons of war that ignited massive fireballs of exploding munitions, and more. The narrative of Apocalypse Now’s torturous route from concept to creation was eventually captured for posterity in Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse (1991). That remains the definitive record and one of the greatest “making of” feature-length films ever made simply because the story it told was so incredible that it might be dismissed as hyperbolic if the footage didn’t exist to back it up.

But before Eleanor Coppola’s (the director’s wife) behind-the-scenes footage and diaries were preserved in the documentary, enough of the lurid details had already made their way into press releases, gossip columns, and journalistic news reports to capture my attention in a big way; as a seventeen year-old when the film made its American premiere, the title of the movie itself evoked a sense of doom and danger.

I knew that the word “apocalypse” was derived from the Greek word that provided the basis for the biblical book of Revelation, a text that at the time was widely considered (due to widely distributed books like The Late Great Planet Earth) to be a predictive blueprint for totalitarian enslavement of humanity in thrall to the Antichrist. His demonic global reign would eventually lead to an eventual denouement of rampant slaughter and nuclear annihilation before God sent his avenging angelic armies to right all the wrongs and usher in a new millennium of heavenly peace...at least for those fortunate enough to escape the final judgment that tossed them into an eternal lake of fire. While I knew that this movie was more about the Vietnam War than about an imaginative portrayal of the End Times, I anticipated that there would be enough grisly brutality to justify the allusions baked into its title.

And as for the personality behind the production, Coppola himself was a local guy who’d made quite a name for himself in early 1970s showbiz (as I hardly need explain to readers of this article). His status as a cultural luminary in the Northern California arts scene created a lot of interest in the region and made any new anecdote about his latest misadventure grist for gossip, casual chatter, and coverage in the media. As I learned from reading various blurbs and press clippings in the San Francisco Chronicle and other Bay Area news sources (where I was living at the time) about the pervasive insanity and combative friction that occurred on set, my curiosity to see for myself what had emerged from all that chaos demanded to be satisfied at the earliest opportunity.

So even though I had seen most of the “event” movies of the late 70s that had been pitched to me and millions of others at that time, Apocalypse Now was the first movie I ever went into with incredibly high expectations, especially since they weren’t established by the usual mass marketing campaigns that had stoked my interest in some of the most hyped films of the era: Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Superman, Alien. No, Apocalypse Now approached me on different terms, promising not so much an alluring escape into delightfully visualized realms of speculative science fiction and fantasy but rather an aggressive plunge into dark and blood-drenched insanity based on actual historic events.

The living nightmare that Coppola and crew sought to portray wasn’t a tantalizing realization of what had hitherto only existed in our imaginations — it was a stylized report of atrocities that had actually occurred within recent memory, under military orders, cloaked in secrecy, considered too dangerous and disturbing to openly and freely acknowledge to the general public lest this knowledge have a disruptive effect on their ability to function as contentedly productive laborers and citizens.

I can’t truly recall the date that I first saw Apocalypse Now, but I’m pretty confident that it was within a week or so of its broad distribution. Not knowing where the narrative was going to lead, not having any significant exposure (as far as I can recall) to film reviews at the time, I’m happy to let readers know that I was genuinely blown away and astonished by what I saw during that first viewing. From the first swooping sounds of helicopters overhead followed by the devastating blossom of fireballs in the palm trees while Jim Morrison crooned “this is the end” (at the very beginning!) all the way through to the echoing utterance of “the horror…the horror...” (a phrase with reverberations that will never fully subside), Apocalypse Now met and surpassed that young man’s expectations of something unique, revelatory, and consciousness-altering. I took it in a couple more times during its original run and have watched it on quite a few occasions over the subsequent decades, including the Redux edit in the early 2000s, the Final Cut in IMAX on my birthday with my (adult) kids in attendance several years ago, and again — just now — revisiting the “Roadshow” version that I saw back in ‘79 on the big screen this past Friday. It’s my second favorite film of all time, behind 2001: A Space Odyssey, both of which I consider life-changing works as far as my own experience, perception, and understanding of the world are concerned. Apocalypse Now. Apocalypse Then. Apocalypse Forever!

If you’d like to nominate someone else in the community for a future spotlight, please fill out this form. If you’d like to explore the archive of past Community Spotlights, click this link.

Beam from the Booth is heading on another brief hiatus to allow the gang some extra space to enjoy the remainder of the summer season. Don’t worry: we’ll still be in your inbox to remind you of all the good stuff coming up, and you can expect the newsletter proper to return in late September.

We’ll see you at the movies!

— The GRFS Committee

We appreciate you taking the time to read this installment of BEAM and truly hope you’ll continue to do so. Be sure to subscribe to get a new issue in your inbox every week.

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Submit for OPEN PROJECTOR NIGHT

[EDITED BY: SPENCER EVERHART & GRIFFIN SHERIDAN]

Welcome back to BEAM FROM THE BOOTH, the official newsletter of the GRAND RAPIDS FILM SOCIETY!

The dog days of summer may be heading into our collective rear-view mirror, but that doesn’t mean we’re letting up on the fun before the month is up. We’ll be hosting no less than five events in the next twelve days! Here’s a quick breakdown:

First, THIS FRIDAY (8/21), we’re hosting a screening of the rarely-seen, original 1979 ROADSHOW VERSION of FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA’S APOCALYPSE NOW. Come see this iconic work, as it was originally released, on the big screen!

And next week is host to our screening of PERSEPOLIS (8/24), our signature free social event, FILM SOCIETY ROUNDTABLE (8/26), and something truly special on SUNDAY (8/30): 1927’s METROPOLIS with LIVE ACCOMPANIMENT featuring a METAL SCORE.

And we’ll close out August with our screening of Gina Prince-Bythewood’s LOVE & BASKETBALL (8/31) — a film we’ve been hoping to screen for some time now and are pleased to have finally found the perfect opportunity to do so.

Now, we’re pleased to offer another entry in our ongoing “Production Parables” column with an insightful essay from new contributor Jordan Skutar. Enjoy!

PRODUCTION PARABLES

THE RIGHT OF REFUSAL

[BY: JORDAN SKUTAR]

One of the biggest questions I get about being a freelancer is “how do you get your work?” If you aren’t self-employed, there’s this curiosity about how it all works; I think my family might think I’m using the term “freelancer” as a synonym for “unemployed” (which is only sometimes true). The film market is tough and made tougher by an ever-growing work force and ever-shrinking amount of work. You work as a local across the state (or across state lines), work across different departments, and accept a wide range of rates — all in the name of finding enough gigs to make your month.

With that, we’re back to the original question: how do I get my work? Sometimes it’s work-for-hire sites, sometimes it’s a Facebook post I replied to, but 90% of the time it’s word-of-mouth.

What I have always loved about the film community is the opportunities to help support and uplift each other. I’m always looking for ways to help out my friends on their sets whenever I can. We’ve all worked on each other’s sets before, paid or not, and know what it takes to make a film set run successfully. But I’ve found people are much more hesitant to ask for help if it’s low-paid or unpaid — and I can understand why! No one wants to seemingly take advantage of a crew’s time and effort. But hear me out...what if you had the professional trust in your friends and colleagues to give them that right of refusal? Gas be damned, travel be damned, day rate be damned.

I love my job and the people that I work with so much, and I strive to support them as much as possible. I wouldn’t ever be offended if someone asked me to work for free on a set that was unpaid or a longer drive for me (assuming there’s more than a bag of Doritos at crafty), but I will be offended after finding out that I was wanted but not asked out of the assumption I’d say no. Give me that right of refusal and, again, have enough trust in our professional relationship that if I can make it work then I will, and if I can’t then it isn’t anything personal. I think I speak for everyone when I say we all want to be included in each other’s projects. But, in an industry driven by word-of-mouth recommendations, that can’t happen if we’re assuming the answer before we’ve even asked the question.

The West Michigan community knows it better than most the number of markets you can advertise yourself to — Lansing, Detroit, Chicago, even Ohio and beyond in some cases. It’s a bummer to miss out on opportunities because people thought they were doing you a favor by not asking you to make the drive from Grand Rapids to Ann Arbor. But if you’re coming from a good place and asking with awareness and humility then chances are I’m going to say yes. And if I’m unavailable then I’ll at least find it thoughtful you reached out.

I get it, as freelancers we’re constantly watching out for exploitation. And that’s good! But put trust in your people that they want to be there for you, and they’ll trust that you want them there. I’m also a big believer in what goes around comes around. If you have a solid relationship with someone, at least give them the ask, you never know what might come out of it.

Be good to each other, be respectful of one another, and also maybe throw your friend a paid gig when you can after they worked that fourteen hour overnight for your short film.

We appreciate you taking the time to read this installment of BEAM and truly hope you’ll continue to do so. Be sure to subscribe to get a new issue in your inbox every week.

Subscribe now

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Submit for OPEN PROJECTOR NIGHT

[EDITED BY: SPENCER EVERHART & GRIFFIN SHERIDAN]

Welcome back to BEAM FROM THE BOOTH, the official newsletter of the GRAND RAPIDS FILM SOCIETY!

To begin our special 150th issue, a heartfelt thanks to everyone who joined us (and Circle Jerks and Alex Cox) in wishing the Wealthy Theatre a happy 115th birthday this past Monday! Also, in case you missed it, our very own David Blakeslee wrote a personal essay connected to the event about his own punk rock past, the time he saw the Circle Jerks back in 1981, and the legacy or Repo Man.

Here is a special message from Wealthy Theatre director Chris Kotcher:

This August officially marks 115 years for the historic Wealthy Theatre!

Why August? Well, we’ve always known that the building has been around since 1911, but we only recently learned when the theater first opened its doors to the public. According to an article in the Grand Rapids Herald (shoutout GRPL History Center Digital Collections), that date was August 10th, 1911!

The theater has some great history that we plan to share more of throughout the month. In short — it was originally built for vaudeville, opening under the name Pastime Vaudette. Later, in 1920, it was renovated to show motion pictures and became known as a neighborhood movie house. In the 60s, it screened predominantly independent, foreign, and arthouse cinema; closed in the 70s; was almost demolished in the 80s; then, in the 90s, some neighborhood heroes rallied to save it, restore it, and finally reopen it.

Today, now part of Grand Rapids Community Media Center, we do a little bit of everything. When someone asks, “what do you do here,” it’s hard to know where to start. These days, I often just look at our most recent lineup, because odds are it’s a good snapshot of the wide range of things happening here. August is no exception.

Touring national artists like Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Stewart Copeland one weekend to local youth arts program Girls Rock Grand Rapids the next. Classic films like Stand By Me and North By Northwest to new independent releases like Fucktoys and Who’s Watching. WT’s ability for hosting performing arts and film is especially celebrated this month: another edition of Open Projector Night Music Video Edition, Metropolis with a Live Metal Score, and on the official birthday, 8/10, an extra special event with Circle Jerks AND Repo Man AND Alex Cox.

If the original owners, Thomas and Laura Giles, in 1911 knew what was happening this month, they would probably have a lot of questions...but I do think they would be impressed by the audiences, range of programming, diversity, and community that is happening here. The spirit of vaudeville was a wide variety of entertainment and arts, accessible for all people. Today still has that same spirit, in a modern way, and I see it growing.

For as long as I’ve worked here, I’ve always been impressed and inspired by the energy of this place, the community it attracts, and the way it helps us connect with each other. We’re excited to celebrate that this month, and we hope you join in!

Stay tuned for more history, events, and opportunities to help. We’re accepting donations as well so you can support the next chapter of WT. We have some building upgrades we’re working on, some of which we’re excited to share with you very soon. Thank you for being a part of this place and big thanks to the staff, the incredible community of volunteers, all the artists, partners, producers, neighbors, and people — past and present — who’ve been a part of what makes this place so great. A building doesn’t exist at all without the humans that make it, this celebration is for all of us. Thank you. And HBD WT!

We greatly appreciate Chris taking time to share some of those fun details about our favorite picture house, as well as the staff and patrons of Wealthy Theatre — today, yesterday, and tomorrow!

It’s on historic occasions such as these that the Film Society has the great privilege of hosting an inter-dimensional being known simply as THE PROJECTIONIST or, as some of you have taken to calling them: THE FILM PHANTOM.

Whenever we have the chance to speak with such an entity, we always seek its advice, and this time we actually passed along some questions of your own that we collected on our social media pages. We've recorded their answers on ceremonial celluloid sheets, as is customary, and have now transcribed them for your edutainment. Enjoy.

FROM THE PHANTOM — 2026/08

[BY: THE PROJECTIONIST]

Greetings, humans.

It is I, The Projectionist. I am once again gracing the mortal plane with my presence. It has been some time since I was last able to journey here. I am pleased to see that the committee and community members of the Grand Rapids Film Society have continued my existence’s eternal purpose of sharing in the power of cinema with great passion.

It is to my understanding that some of you have inquiries regarding both myself and my views on certain subjects in the realm of film. In this recurring column, I will do my best to present you with answers that hopefully satisfy your developing minds.

Let us begin.

Dear Film Phantom, is it true that you live in the shadows of the esteemed Wealthy Theater?

I hail from the 8th Dimension, which exists across the entirety of your 3rd Dimensional reality, so I suppose I do. I am there in the shadows, in the light, in every flicker of the moving image.

Film Phantom, please rank the local Grand Rapids multiplexes.

Any space taking part in the sacred ritual of exhibiting sequential art is worthy of my approval. As you humans say, “why pit two queens against each other?”

What tips do you have for getting people to be quiet during a movie? (And is eating popcorn too loudly a valid reason to ask someone to be quiet?)

It seems mortals continue to discover new ways to ruin the movie watching experience. It’s not so much if, but when, my attention will be broken from the screen and drawn to some fleshy blob of meat who knows not how to eat their popcorn properly. Or their mind control devices’ directive to scroll Facebook is just too damn strong for their earthly vessel.

Having existed for many millennia, I have crafted several foolproof steps of how I like to handle those who break the crucial social contract of theatergoing.

• Quietly seethe in my seat. Sometimes defeat is the quickest route to victory.

• When quietly seething fails, I like to loom over the interloper and inform them that I am all too aware of the sounds of their eating, or the light of their devices, or that their conversation shouldn’t be louder than the movie.

• Challenge them in battle. If you think you can win, I say take up the fight. If you realize too late that you can’t, quickly change your physical form so that they won’t recognize you when the lights go up.

I know my experience may not be applicable to all, so if you require further assistance in dealing with these distractions, simply chant “Film Phantom” three times (very quietly of course), and I shall appear and drag them to hell, in the vein of one of my favorite craftsmen, Samuel Raimi. Yes, it does temporarily create a disruption in the theater... but once word gets out, I believe it will diminish the urges of others to disrupt the service.

***

This is all the time I have for now, unfortunately. I can feel my corporal form disintegrating once more. If you find yourself seeking my wisdom in the meantime, please send your inquires to the inbox of our social media pages or the email address, grandrapidsfilmsociety@gmail.com. I shall answer them upon my return.

To quote a favorite of mine:

I’ll be back.

We appreciate you taking the time to read this installment of BEAM and truly hope you’ll continue to do so. Be sure to subscribe to get a new issue in your inbox every week.

Subscribe now

Plus, join us on social media, where the conversation is always happening, and you can get the most immediate updates from GRFS.

Join the GRFS Discord server

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GRFS on Instagram

GRFS on Facebook

Know someone you think will dig BEAM FROM THE BOOTH? Send them our way!

Share BEAM FROM THE BOOTH

And if YOU would like to contribute a piece to an upcoming issue, we highly encourage you to send us an inquiry.

BEAM SUBMISSIONS INQUIRY

Look for ISSUE #151 in your inbox NEXT WEEK!

Until then, friends...

Our Website

The Wealthy Theatre

Submit for OPEN PROJECTOR NIGHT

TONIGHT, MONDAY (8/10), in partnership with Sister Midnight, we are thrilled to host esteemed punk band CIRCLE JERKS for a live performance and screening of Alex Cox’s REPO MAN (1984).

First, a reminder that this is a SOLD OUT event. If you don’t already have tickets, we highly suggest making friends with someone who does, because it’s going to be a rad evening.

For those who are joining us, doors for the event will be at our usual time, 7:00pm, before the Circle Jerks take the stage at 8:00pm for an opening set. Our screening of Repo Man will begin as soon as the band is wrapped up. Be sure to stay after for a Q&A with director Alex Cox, as well as Circle Jerk members Keith Morris & Zander Schloss! It’s a full line up tonight, folks. We’re stoked.

And even if you aren’t able to make it tonight, we encourage everyone to enjoy this piece from our own David Blakeslee as he reflects on his own time in the punk scene, including a previous encounter with the Circle Jerks! Check it out…

LIVE FAST, REPO YOUNG: MY FULL CIRCLE CIRCLE JERKS MOMENT

[BY: DAVID BLAKESLEE]

Though it might not be all that apparent to the casual observer at this stage of my life, I’m a man with a punk rock past. Born in 1961, I came of age at the perfect time to get caught up in the riptide of a cataclysmic late 70’s cultural shift that introduced bands like the Sex Pistols, Ramones, the Clash, and a swarm of other voices thrusting recklessness and chaos into the popular lexicon. Living in the San Francisco Bay area between 1977 and 1983, opportunities to see a lot of great performances were routinely available to me. Many of them inhabit my memory as life-altering formative experiences that inspire gratitude and amazement to my grown-up self that I somehow landed in the right place and time to see what I saw.

One of those most vivid recollections was the night that I first saw the Circle Jerks. Formed by singer Keith Morris after he left Black Flag in the very early stages of that band’s history, the Circle Jerks quickly caught on as the elements of hardcore thrash tempos and slam dancing reset the standards for what punk rock was supposed to look, sound, and feel like. A bit of online research confirms that the show took place on April 11, 1981, at 10th Street Hall in San Francisco.

Details of the event are blurry – don’t bother asking me about the set list, or even how I found out about the gig and got there. But there is a photograph I found online that shows me and three other guys who were all part of a band called Church Police in the crowd as Circle Jerks frontman Keith Morris scans the crowd – coiled, feral, a lit fuse about to hit the payload.

I’m only partly visible, just a sliver of my face which was mostly hidden by the head of our bass player Bruce, who’s located directly behind Keith’s hand on the microphone. Eric (drummer) and Tim (singer) are immediately to my right.

Outside of a few clubs (most notably, the Mabuhay Gardens and the On Broadway, located across the street from each other in SF’s stripper bar red light district) that routinely scheduled punk bands and advertised in the local press, most hardcore gigs in 1981 were still underground affairs that we only learned about through word of mouth or random posters glued to walls, lampposts, and bus stop shelters within a day or two of the event. The price of admission was never more than single-digit dollars, and one never paid up front without at least trying to worm your way onto a guest list or sneak in through a side entrance.

10^th Street Hall, a venue associated with a nearby Catholic church, had a very short but eventful run of hosting performances by some of the greatest West Coast hardcore bands of the early 1980s (including Dead Kennedys, No Alternative, Black Flag, Adolescents, and more). That night, the Circle Jerks were added as a last-minute undercard to headliners D.O.A. (from Vancouver), but the CJs were the bigger draw, at least to me, as they were rapidly rising to prominence in the LA punk scene. That might have been their first of many SF shows for years to come. The Circle Jerks had already put out their first album, titled Group Sex – 14 songs totaling less than 16 minutes. It could have been a one-sided record, but they still made us get up and turn it over every 8 minutes if we wanted to hear it all. I had pretty much memorized the album (not much effort required) by the time I was able to hear it played live.

Though my memory isn’t exactly clear or photographic, I know that the Jerks left a vivid impression – D.O.A., not so much. I’d seen ‘em before and for all I know we didn’t even stay to check out their gig. I was kind of stupid back then. “Live Fast Die Young” wasn’t just a track buried in the middle of Side 2 of Group Sex. I took it as a motto, maybe even a prophecy.

A few years later, I had already moved on from my band and the SF punk scene, relocating back to Michigan (where I was born) and entering another one of numerous phases that categorize my personal history. Much too long of a story for me to go into here.

But to their everlasting credit, the Circle Jerks persevered, releasing albums of increasing length (they finally breached the 30-minute mark on their 1985 album Wonderful.) In 1984, they entered the cinematic pantheon through their contributions to Repo Man, both on the soundtrack and on the screen.

Alex Cox’s film captures so many aspects of the social malaise that produced our cohort of disaffected, casually nihilistic punks. Generic merchandising, anodyne slop, dead-end jobs, paranoia-inducing weirdness from the full spectrum of institutional authorities, conspiratorial innuendos bubbling up from dubious but persuasive contrarians, impulsive bursts of petty criminality and mindless aggression, conflicting subcultures trying to sell us visions of a future that already looked dead on arrival.

The band appears in the film performing a lounge-lizard variation of “When the Shit Hits the Fan,” from their 1983 project Golden Shower of Hits, showing their propensity for weaving strands of knuckleheaded comedy into the mix. They also land another track from that album, “Coup d’État” on the soundtrack, a more straightforward and politically charged rendition of their hypersonic audio assault.

The Repo Man soundtrack was a major source of discovery for 80s kids as the punk rock attitude, style, and ethos spread inland from the US coasts where punk initially took root. Iggy Pop, Black Flag, Suicidal Tendencies, Fear, and other bands form a lineup of witnesses that straight society would regard as suspects.

Tonight, I and other attendees at the sold-out event will have what I fully expect to be an indelibly unforgettable experience, featuring a live concert by the Circle Jerks (expect to hear around 20 songs in the course of a breakneck 30 minutes), a screening of Repo Man, and a Q&A appearance by Alex Cox. For me, it’ll be a full-circle moment, 45 years plus having passed since I first had the chance to watch Keith Morris lead his band through their set.

And that’s just the beginning of the bounty that awaits us: behold the grizzled cadaverous demeanor of Harry Dean Stanton, the radioactive Chevy Malibu and the menace that lurks in its trunk, cans labeled simply as “FOOD” in that dreadfully dehumanizing pale-blue on white color scheme, a catalog of endlessly quotable one-liners, scattershot departures into non-linear chaotic mayhem, an utter lack of interest in maintaining plausibility or respectability, reveling in its exploration of the absurd. All in all, a lattice of coincidence, a plate of shrimp that pops up without explanation, a moment in the cosmic unconsciousness.

We cannot wait to host all you punks tonight. See you then!

Our Website

The Wealthy Theatre

Submit for OPEN PROJECTOR NIGHT

Folks, we are on the precipice of what is perhaps the most packed, most exciting months of programming in GRFS history! I will waste but no time introducing the list of events because, there is just so much damn cool stuff coming up, you should check it all out for yourselves.

That said, for our music fans especially, this is a line-up you do not want to miss.

Take a look!

MONDAY, AUGUST 10th

CIRCLE JERKS X REPO MAN

[PRESENTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH SISTER MIDNIGHT]

Sister Midnight and Grand Rapids Film Society are proud to present a LIVE performance by the Circle Jerks followed by film screening of the cult classic film Repo Man. A Q&A will follow with director Alex Cox, Keith Morris & Zander Schloss!

About Repo Man: A young punk, recruited by a car repo agency, finds himself in pursuit of a Chevrolet Malibu with a huge, $20,000 bounty--and something otherworldly stashed in its trunk.

MORE INFO

THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 14th

F*CKTOYS

[GRAND RAPIDS PREMIERE, FEATURING LIVE Q&A WITH ANNAPURNA SRIRAM]

Grand Rapids Film Society presents teh Grand Rapids premiere of the new feature-film, F*cktoys! With live in-person Q&A featuring filmmaker/star Annapurna Sriram! Exclusive merch available for sale in lobby!

Part-time sex worker, full-time chaos magnet, AP is convinced that the universe has it out for her... and she might be right. In Fucktoys —the wild, unfiltered debut from writer/director/star Annapurna Sriram—AP seeks a cosmic reset after a swampy tarot reading (courtesy Big Freedia) tells her she needs $1,000 and a sacrificial lamb to lift her curse. Armed with neither, she sets off on a bizarre quest with her kindred spirit Danni (Sadie Scott) through Trashtown, USA —a dystopian, neon-drenched sprawl of assorted oddballs, Tom of Finland cops, and strip clubs galore.

MORE INFO

TICKETS

SATURDAY, AUGUST 15th

WHO’S WATCHING?

[FEATURING Q&A AND LIVE PERFORMANCE WITH TIM KASHER]

Caleb is a metal head loner who becomes obsessed with his new coworker, Krista. He begins invading every aspect of Krista's life. As his infatuation escalates from inappropriate to criminal, we're left asking who is really watching whom.

Director Tim Kasher will perform a live set before presenting his new film.

MORE INFO

TICKETS

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19th

OPEN PROJECTOR NIGHT: MUSIC VIDEO EDITION

[IN PARTNERSHIP WITH WYCE]

GRFS & WYCE present Open Projector Night: Music Video Edition! A whole programme of only the best music videos filmmakers with a Michigan connection have to offer!

Open Projector Night is an ongoing film series; its intent is to showcase the diversity of films connected to Michigan and establish a venue to highlight local film in Grand Rapids, MI. Films are selected and curated into a program by a panel of Wealthy Theatre staff and volunteers.

MORE INFO

TICKETS

FRIDAY, AUGUST 21st

APOCALYPSE NOW

[1979 ROADSHOW VERSION]

American Zoetrope’s brand new restoration of the original 1979 film, which for the past 25 years has rarely been screened theatrically, is of the original “Roadshow” version, exactly as it appeared on first release. The Roadshow has no credits whatsoever; instead, ticket buyers will be given a collectible new reprint of the original 12-page souvenir booklet.

About the film: At the height of the Vietnam war, Captain Benjamin Willard is sent on a dangerous mission that, officially, "does not exist, nor will it ever exist." His goal is to locate - and eliminate - a mysterious Green Beret Colonel named Walter Kurtz, who has been leading his personal army on illegal guerrilla missions into enemy territory.

MORE INFO

TICKETS

MONDAY, AUGUST 24th

PERSEPOLIS

In 1970s Iran, Marjane 'Marji' Satrapi watches events through her young eyes and her idealistic family of a long dream being fulfilled of the hated Shah's defeat in the Iranian Revolution of 1979. However as Marji grows up, she witnesses first hand how the new Iran, now ruled by Islamic fundamentalists, has become a repressive tyranny on its own.

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TICKETS

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26th

FILM SOCIETY ROUNDTABLE

[FREE SOCIAL EVENT]

What is a Film Society Roundtable?
At a Roundtable event, you split up into groups of around 10 people. A moderator will help facilitate conversation and take notes. In your group, you will all be offered equal opportunities to talk. It is a networking event as well as a support group. Groups will have around an hour and a half to meet your fellow group members, talk about issues you are having, ideas for the community, or just share a fun story or opinion on a movie. An opportunity to connect, learn, and share - for anyone in the GR film community.

Must Register!
For the upcoming Film Society Roundtable, we will be having you register by field of interest (ie. filmmaking, cinephiles, and screenwriting). This is for our team to gauge the audience’s interest and set up the groups accordingly. If you just want to come and don’t have a particular interest - just choose general admission. You are welcome to change groups the night-of or for future events.

Space is limited, please RSVP in advance.

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SUNDAY, AUGUST 30th

METROPOLIS

[FEATURING A LIVE METAL SCORE]

Grand Rapids Film Society presents a screening of the 1927 film Metropolis with a live metal score performed by The Silent Light!

In 1927, Fritz Lang imagined the distant future of 2026… welcome to Metropolis. In a futuristic city sharply divided between the working class and the city planners, the son of the city's mastermind falls in love with a working-class prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences.

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TICKETS

MONDAY, AUGUST 31st

LOVE & BASKETBALL

Monica Wright and Quincy McCall grew up in the same neighborhood and have known each other since childhood. As they grow into adulthood, they fall in love, but they also share another all-consuming passion: basketball. As Quincy and Monica struggle to make their relationship work, they follow separate career paths though high school and college basketball and, they hope, into stardom in big-league professional ball.

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TICKETS

Tickets for all events— and more— are available now at GRFILM.ORG.

(Tickets cost $2 more at the door; save time and money by buying online!)

Tell your friends. We hope to see you there!

Our Website

The Wealthy Theatre

Submit for OPEN PROJECTOR NIGHT

[EDITED BY: SPENCER EVERHART & GRIFFIN SHERIDAN]

Welcome back to BEAM FROM THE BOOTH, the official newsletter of the GRAND RAPIDS FILM SOCIETY!

Before we get to this week’s epic feature, a massive thank you to the fine folks with WGVU and Living West Michigan for putting together this heartfelt (and comprehensive!) feature highlighting GRFS. Check it out below if you haven’t already seen it.

THIS MONDAY (7/27) at 8:00pm, we are pleased to host a screening of Wong Kar-Wai’s CHUNGKING EXPRESS (1994). Join us for this highly influential masterclass in charming character and compelling cinematic storytelling. Plus, stay after to partake in our post-film discussion.

Now, our own Caleb Francis Jenkins is here to take you on an exploration of the harrowing task that our friends at Celebration Cinema have undertaken in screening Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey on 70mm IMAX film. Why say anymore when I can let the bard speak for himself…

A JOURNEY INTO 70MM IMAX

[BY: CALEB FRANCIS JENKINS]

I’ve worked in movie theaters for about a decade and as a projectionist for a number of those years, but I have had very few opportunities to get up close and personal with projecting celluloid film. It is a technical form I have always been interested in learning more about, and a format I plan to shoot on someday in my life. I got a taste of threading 16mm for one of GRFS’s screenings of It’s A Wonderful Life and have been hungry for another experience like that ever since.

In the spirit of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, I decided to put on my journalist hat and snag a sneak peek at the IMAX projectors at Celebration Cinema North (I promise I was invited and didn’t sleuth my way into the booth). A huge thanks to my friends at Celebration Cinema By Studio C who made this special visit possible: Emily Loeks, Director of Community Affairs & Public Relations — Emily is an incredibly bright, caring and wonderful human being; Jesse Forquer, Vice President of Technology aka chief wizard — her expertise extends to presentation technology and all of the IT systems for the whole circuit, she’s been with the company since 2003; also, Kevin Wolters, Presentation Technology Manager — who is part of the corporate IT team and has been an integral part of film projection integration and training at the company for almost 25 years.

PREPARING FOR THE ODYSSEY

Caleb: So what has happened in projection land since Oppenheimer a few years ago?

Emily: Oppenheimer came onto us by surprise — we had a month or two to prepare. Our [limited] team slept in the booth and was stretched to the limits with the resources that we had. IMAX sent us a projectionist or two, and we had one person from our team who had been around long enough that they knew the history of that platform because we used to present spool film and all of our shorter classic IMAX presentations. This time, IMAX sent us one of their specialists two months ago, a guy named Richard out of Canada. He spent a full week with seven members of our team doing essentially an IMAX bootcamp. It is complex, and it’s an art form to work with those projectors. So they spent a whole week at it. And ever since then, every window we haven’t been playing movies, the rotation of the projectionists has been to do practice shifts and be running things through. So we now have what’s probably one of the deepest benches in the country of a team that internally is trained to be able to do this kind of presentation...and it’s an increasingly specialized skillset. Our projectionists are really excited because it’s really fun and to actually get to work with celluloid film again and to do something new. So that team has been working really hard at getting ready for this.

Jesse: I didn’t train for Oppenheimer. I told Kevin if we ever show film again, I’ll promise I’ll learn how to do it...then we learned we were getting The Odyssey, so I learned right along with our other projectionists. Kevin did the lion’s share of our training. We did bring a technician in from IMAX that did a weeklong training for most of our projectionists. There’s a lot of opportunity to make mistakes, so we’re trying to be as prepared as possible for this...and this is why we practice, there’s a lot of pressure, and with a sold out show at 1:00M [for example]. But our seven person team has had a ton of training time.

THE FILM & PLATTER SYSTEM

The entire film was assembled and placed on the platters for me to see when I arrived, and it was a massive monster...as to be expected from Nolan.

Emily: The film itself arrived last week. You’ll see in here the historic platters didn’t accommodate Nolan’s scale of film. So there’s actually an orange extension on the platter that’s basically the Christopher Nolan extension.

Jesse: That had to be added for Oppenheimer...you need these clamps to hold everything secure, and you can see once again it’s needed. [The film] arrived in three silver boxes and was clipped together, made by Kevin. 52 reels total. It’s about 11 miles long and 600 pounds of film.

Caleb: Do you just have this one copy of the film print?

Emily: We just have this one copy of The Odyssey. I believe to print that copy is several hundred thousand dollars. So securing a print is a really big deal.

Jesse: When I got into this business we were still running film. Once we converted to digital, it was not in our mind we’d go back to film very often. We kept our projectors, obviously, and have done our best to maintain them over the years.

Emily: You had to have held on to these projectors, which is increasingly rare. We have a large booth that gave us the capacity to essentially do the toggle and to hold onto these even though the majority of what we’re presenting is digital. A lot of theaters don’t have booths that have that luxury and spaciousness to be able to make the digital conversion and also hold onto these. The IMAX projectors here were installed in 2001 when we opened [Celebration North]. One of the distinctive things about it was that we opened it with an IMAX screen which, back in that day, was used for all classic films…[and films like] The Human Body…it was shortly after that when IMAX started to work with Technology DMR doing post-production modification that made Hollywood film available to IMAX screens too. What they never tried to do prior to Christopher Nolan was to shoot on IMAX film for the big screen.

THREADING THE PROJECTOR

Now this is really where the magic happens. The Odyssey print was on the bottom platter — one single film spliced together from many reels. The threading starts at the platter system, which then feeds through a complex series of rollers and sprockets all controlled by a rotor. The film then loops. There’s lots of double and triple checking the rollers throughout the whole process.

Jesse: ...you have to be right on. If you’re so much as one sprocket off, it’ll throw off the timing and ruin things quickly. [As the film plays, it winds up back on this platter] so every time we show the movie, it’s rewound [for the next showtime.]

Observation: When that projector started, it sounded like a steam engine rolling. then it really picked up like an electric lawn tractor with the whirling hum of a jet plane propeller — absolutely wonderful. The light glowed so lovely and the rotors started spinning really fast. God, it sounded so good!

Jesse: We’re just making sure it starts up okay and the rollers are spinning right, then we’ll look in the window to make sure the audio is in sync.

Further Observation: As I walked past the projector toward the booth window that peered into the auditorium, I thought I was going to be one of the first people in Grand Rapids to see this movie. I felt so special. I looked out to see Matt on the screen in front of me. But then it dawned on me that this wasn’t the Matt (Damon) I was looking for, but instead McConaughey’s voice boomed out from the speakers...and then I remembered that they were just showing me a test loop of film from the top platter (Interstellar), which I suppose was still an “alright” thing.

Jesse: This is moving at 24 frames per second, 337 feet per minute

Caleb: These are specifically 70mm IMAX projectors, right?

Kevin: Yes. These will only run 15/70 film. Each frame is 70mm diagonally, each one is 15 perforations. Whereas 35mm is 4 perf, and there’s 70mm that is 5 perf. Those both run vertically, this one is horizontally.

Caleb: What do you feel is the difference between watching IMAX film vs digital?

Jesse: So, much better resolution. Most digital movies are 2K...4K something like that. IMAX is more compared to 12K or higher. It’s much higher resolution, image, you get that cinematic feel — that warm film experience. We want to create more than a movie, like my shirt says, this is going to be more than a movie. It’s going to a be a beautiful movie.

Caleb: So, if Odysseus’ journey was to project film on the big screen, what are the pitfalls, and what can he do to overcome and conquer the journey? Basically, what can go wrong?

Kevin: You have a projectionist mis-threading, a projectionist making an error; you’ve got potential projector issues; there’s human error, there’s the technical issues; and obviously acts of God like weather that [make it so] we have to shut it down and stop it. Particularly weather, and 24 hours...[we need to make sure] we have enough staff and people that are capable of running it. And, honestly, the best thing we’ve been able to do is just keep going step-by-step one at a time and keep getting people trained up as best as we can. I’ve been in here everyday this month pretty much [training] with new people coming in who have never done this before, and we’ve run the test reel over and over. It makes our projector used to running more often too.

Caleb: And if the film happens to break, what do you do?

Kevin: If we have minutes of damaged film, we have to switch to digital until we can get IMAX to send us a replacement. Or we have black slugs we can put in temporarily that will fit, but you’ll see it on screen. If the print gets scratched, it’s scratched forever. There’s a difference between 35mm and IMAX. 35mm you can recover pretty quickly because the soundtrack is right on [the film strip itself]. If you splice two frames out, you splice two frames out and you’re never gonna notice a difference. [With 70mm], if you cut two frames out then your sync is off by two frames...and mouths are off, you have to put a black slug in. So it’s crazy it’s all based on frame count. But that gives you the most picture, [not having the soundtrack on the film], based on the actual size of the frame.

Caleb: When you talk about syncing video and sound, how does that work?

Kevin: So the logic controller actually counts frames. Every time the [projector] rotor spins, it counts frames...it syncs and sends a time code to the audio system and counts as it goes. The time code/frame count from the projector is how the audio syncs to the image as there is no physical audio track on the film itself.

THE FUTURE OF FILM & LOOKING AHEAD

Caleb: Does Celebration have any of the old film projectors or just IMAX?

Kevin: No, I wish we did. The only one is outside our corporate office, an old 35mm, just a show piece that isn’t connected to anything which came from Studio 28 or before.

Caleb: Does Celebration hope for more film experiences?

Emily: 100%. It’s not so much an economic equation for us, as it is a love for...we’re cinephiles. We like to see the diversity of what can come to the screen. The quality of light is something beautiful. I don’t know how many people can discern or differentiate. Digital is very pristine, it’s clear and doesn’t break down, but it’s also pixelated. Even with the highest resolution, its resolution is delivered in pixels. And pixels essentially have a black frame around them, and so it takes an extremely bright projector to get high resolution digital to screen in a way that isn’t dim. You have to have a really bright projector in order to get a digital presentation that is nice, but there is something that is truly special about the resolution on film and the luminosity of what that puts on the screen.

Caleb: Are you hopeful that there’s going to be a resurgence of more movies shot and presented on film?

Emily: If Christopher Nolan has anything to say about it...

Caleb: (laughs)

Emily: Nolan has in his contract a mandate that it’s shown in this format because he loves it so much. So when he’s working with a film production company, he has in his contract that they will find him X number of screens around the world to present in this way. So that makes the film companies eager to work with us.

Jesse: IMAX likes us now too because they don’t have to send us projectionists.

PRO TIP: If you’re seeing The Odyssey in 70mm IMAX at North, exit out the top of the theater to view the projection gallery where you can peek into the booth through glass windows. Sorry you won’t be able to enter the booth like I did, but I hope this article made you feel like you were right there with me.

REFLECTION: The sound of that film buzzing and whirling will live in my head rent-free for quite a while. Now to call up my high school English teacher and go see this film. Until next time...

If you’d like to nominate someone else in the community for a future spotlight, please fill out this form. If you’d like to explore the archive of past Community Spotlights, click this link.

We appreciate you taking the time to read this installment of BEAM and truly hope you’ll continue to do so. Be sure to subscribe to get a new issue in your inbox every week.

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The Wealthy Theatre

Submit for OPEN PROJECTOR NIGHT

[EDITED BY: SPENCER EVERHART & GRIFFIN SHERIDAN]

Welcome back to BEAM FROM THE BOOTH, the official newsletter of the GRAND RAPIDS FILM SOCIETY!

Thank you to everyone who came out for True Stories last night! We loved having the opportunity to share David Byrne’s opus of eccentric Americana with the local community, and we appreciate all the folks who stayed for our enthusiastic post-screening discussion.

A reminder that our signature free social event, FILM SOCIETY ROUNDTABLE, returns NEXT WEDNESDAY (7/22) at 7:00pm (Doors - 6:30pm). Beat the heat and join us for a night of open, friendly discussion about all thing cinema! Come meet and mingle with local film fans and filmmakers alike.

Speaking of local filmmakers, we are pleased to present this interview with our most recent Open Projector Night audience vote winner, Ian Crowley! Enjoy!

FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT

IAN CROWLEY

OPEN PROJECTOR NIGHT JUNE 2026 - AUDIENCE VOTE WINNER

[BY: NICHOLAS HARTMAN]

First and foremost, to our readers who don’t know who you are — who is Ian Crowley? Please, tell us about yourself!

I am a comedian and filmmaker originally from Metro-Detroit. I lived in Seattle for three years doing gig work as a freelance filmmaker/editor and stand-up/sketch comedian. Last year, I returned to Detroit and began the process of finishing my film and journalism degree, which I started before I moved west.

You took the audience vote award, congratulations! How does it feel?

Not to be that guy, but it’s pretty splendiferous. I feel ecstatic any time I get to screen my work for a large group, much less over a hundred people! For a majority of the audience to choose my film feels like a truly high honor, as someone driven to make films that people connect with and enjoy. To be completely honest, the collective laughter happening in the room during my film was already rewarding enough for me as a comedian.

For those who haven’t seen Superior Piracy, can you tell us what it’s about?

Superior Piracy is an absurdist comedic nightmare starring the beauty of The Great Lakes. The film follows a video journalist in his pursuit of producing an investigative documentary on the pirates that sailed Lake Superior. Amongst hopes for an exposé on long-lost pirate treasure, funding for his film is pulled by an unconvinced movie studio. This sends the video journalist spiraling to Lake Superior to find the treasure.

What was the inspiration behind Superior Piracy, and why did you want to tell this specific story?

Moving back to the midwest from Washington was profound because I saw Michigan in a new light. First I was flooded with nostalgia as if I was returning to the Swiss Alps in the 1600s. However, soon I became transfixed with the uniqueness of the landscape of my home state in a novel way, just as I had seen the badlands of the Dakotas or the plains of Montana. Rich wetlands and dense forests, foothills and dunes that reach dull heights as you head north, and of course: the ethereal and encompassing Great Lakes. Despite knowing I wanted to honor my home and explore the Great Lakes as a setting for a film, I couldn’t narrow down which lake to focus on. This led to an idea to make films for all four contiguous Great Lakes to Michigan (Michigan, Huron, Superior and Erie) corresponding to each of the four seasons. Immediately I knew I wanted to shoot the Lake Superior joint in winter, due to the almost arctic severity of the cold and snow up there. While researching the Great Lakes I became aware and interested in the existence of pirates on the lakes. The intersection of industry & trade and history & folklore became fertile context and motivation for a comedic story about a video journalist who is trying to find a long lost treasure that isn’t there, a la Geraldo Rivera. Rivera was an investigative reporter known to Boomers and Gen-x’ers for his would-be exposé on the potential findings of a sealed vault that belonged to Al Capone. The only problem being there was nothing inside the vault. In my research, I found that the likelihood of any “treasure” in Lake Superior was near zero, as all the valuable items that sank were promptly recovered, or had been long-found by divers. This motivation of my character producing a documentary on something so silly allowed me to play the fool, which is something I am very used to as a comedian, often deploying a clown persona on stage.

As a painter/filmmaker myself, I’ve always looked at using different cameras as akin to using different paintbrushes. It creates a new look and feel to the piece. With Superior Piracy, you have a mix of a VHS (old broadcast feel), animation, etc. Can you tell us why you chose to have a variety of styles rather than using just one?

In returning to Detroit and deciding to finish my film and journalism degree at University of Michigan - Dearborn, I began making this film as a final for a Directing and Editing capstone class. For the class, we were using a Canon C-300 with a lens kit and tripod, which I initially planned on using for everything. My original plan for the documentary segment was to up the frame rate on the C-300 and use digital effects to make it feel evocative of public broadcast. However, with some access from the faculty at the school I was able to get my hands on a 2000s era tape camcorder (which I shot the opening and b-roll of the documentary segment with), and an Ikegami camera (which was used for the sit-down interview). Ikegami cameras were industry standard through the late 70s and 80s and were sent all around the world to news stations. It was the first camera that could film directly to a VHS tape, making it perfect for broadcast. A studio tech at the university who has been there since the 80s showed me the camera and agreed to operate it while I conducted the interview. Looking back, the film would simply not be as good if I didn’t use the actual cameras to create the tactile feel. In the original vision I imagined adding glitches digitally, but with the actual gear I was able to capture multiple glitches that enhance the quality and are varied and unique enough that all of them made the final cut. When the film exits the documentary segment and enters the cinematic portion, the contrast between the two cameras and aesthetics is so jarring that it really feels like we are entering “reality” from the hyperreal documentary segment.

I understand how difficult, stressful, and exciting making a film can be. Can you share some ups and downs you experienced through the process? When it comes to obstacles (if any), can you share how you overcame them?

This film was an absolute rollercoaster. Every time I felt like I had something planned or locked down, constant curve balls kept me on my toes and thinking creatively. Some notable highs would be laughing my ass off and spending time with my friends who helped with the film as well as taking in the beauty of Michigan up north during the trips whenever I could. Some trickier aspects of the film process arose when things didn’t go as planned. For the interview segment at Dossin Great Lakes Museum, we had the museum to ourselves to shoot from 10am to whenever we were done filming...that is, until the museum realized they double-booked us with a field trip of school children. This led to us having to conduct the interview in a banquet hall in the museum rather than the exhibit area. Another snafu was trying to get the shot of me underwater after jumping in Lake Superior. Some of the ideas included jumping with a GoPro in a less cold lake than Superior for the match on action. Due to the other lakes I had in mind being smaller and murky, I ultimately decided a pool would be best so the water was pristine and blue, making it feel like crystal clear water. Once I decided I wanted to shoot in a pool, finding a pool to let me film became a surprisingly challenging task to the point that that close-up became the very last thing I shot. There were countless hotel managers that never got back to me, and when trying to film at a rec center I was sent through multiple email chains and eventually found myself emailing an “aquatics specialist.” The specialist got back to me a smidge too late, as I already had found a hotel that would allow me to film. However, to add insult to injury, when I got to the hotel to film, the staff was very confused and tried to stop me. Fortunately I was able to convince them after recounting my conversations with the manager.

Open Projector Night is a Michigan-based film series that highlights the talent we have in the state. Can you share with us how being in Michigan has helped shape you as a filmmaker?

I firmly believe in midwestern Americana as a force in comedy and entertainment. People who make art from the midwest often have similar sensibilities. From the people and culture we grew up around, our distance and dissonance from the elite way of viewing art on the coasts, and an innocent, un-killable hope that sharply contradicts an anarchistic skepticism of the integrity of institutions and industries brought about by the neglect of cities like Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland — the midwest has unique aesthetics and poetics. Top this off with a suburban upbringing, and it colors all of the comedic work with a reverence for the liminal, the meaningless and the absurd; Lynch, Waters, Tim & Eric, Greg Araki, Jackass, all come to mind. Not to mention the underlying repression of a lot of places in the middle of America exposes the children there to far more exciting taboos than those in the east and west, allowing for commentary on sex, religion, and politics in these places to be simultaneously more cutting and more unique, due to its novelty and the weight of its transgression compared to on the coasts. Some notable examples of the type of midwestern sensibility I am talking about can be found in comedians like Meg Stalter and Patti Harrison hailing from Ohio, Tim Robinson and Sam Richardson from Michigan, and Conner O’Malley from Illinois. Reverence for the liminal and absurd is fertile ground for an obsession with horror films, from which I have derived a lot of my love for cinema. Growing up, I’d watch any and every horror movie, good and bad. I love both equally because you can learn a ton about filmmaking from bad films (sometimes more than the good ones). Bad horror films are often comedies, so it’s a win-win for me.

Who and what inspires Ian? What excited you to get out of the bed in the morning?

At the risk of sounding queer (which I am, lol), I feel that I am in service of the indomitable human spirit and its longing to learn, connect, play, and discover. Good art, to me, forces the artist and the audience to reckon with reality, be presented with a new vision of reality, and synthesize the two versions in their brain and heart, hopefully to gain some form of higher knowing or feeling. This manifests as the process for the artist and the impression of the art on the audience. I have had a lifelong obsession with both the process and the impression of art. It has allowed me to appreciate reality and the beauty of this world so much more vividly as someone who found it hard to connect to the world and has given me so much purpose.

Generic question here, but we must know: what is your favorite film and why? If you don’t have a favorite, give me three that stand out to you and how/if they played a role in your creative process.

I feel overwhelmed by the concept of finalizing a favorite movie list so, instead, I will discuss my recent appreciation for some of the greatest sequels of all time, movies that truly built upon the greatness of the first installment and took the story to new heights. Jackass 2 and The Matrix Reloaded. I could elaborate, but I don’t think I’m going to...except maybe referencing that reality slapstick like Jackass is the reason I actually jumped in Lake Superior rather than any other version of events.

I feel like every filmmaker has that “spark” — that moment where they say to themselves, “Yes, this is what I want to do, I want to make films.” Did you have that moment, and if so, could you share it with us? If you didn’t have that moment, what made you want to make movies?

I grew up running around with my friends and a camera; shooting shorts, sketches, vlogs, stunts, pranks, you name it. After my friends would go home, I’d spend hours editing on different softwares and researching filmmaking. Before that, though, I would wear out VHS tapes of Spider-Man 2 or Toy Story 2 (hey, wait, those are two great sequels as well) and watch through the credits, being laser-focused on all the special features. As the craft of filmmaking began to reveal itself to me, I made as many films as I could. This took me into college at University of Michigan - Dearborn where I nearly completed a degree in film and journalism until the pandemic changed learning, and I decided to take a hiatus and move west with my now-wife. In Seattle, I worked as a standup/sketch comedian and freelance videographer and editor. After three years and gaining some professional and life experience, my partner and I decided to move back home for a spell before deciding our next move. This led to me deciding to finish my film and journalism degree, which I am currently doing. Superior Piracy was a final project for a Directing and Editing capstone class. I took the opportunity of coming back to university a bit older to really get the most out of the mentorship from the professor and take full advantage of the studio, faculty, and equipment. I believe the time away from school was terrific because it allowed me to enter the professional sphere and develop a portfolio, so when I returned I had a new perspective and a fresh quality to my relationship to learning and school as a student. I have a thesis left for the fall semester, and I am going to be producing another short film for that, only this time with one-on-one mentorship. The thesis film and my degree should be complete by the end of the year.

This is a question I like to ask all our award-winning filmmakers: if you were able to make your dream film and had an unlimited budget, what would you make?

I would make a to-scale practical set for a Honey I Shrunk the Kids remake. Gigantic animatronic ant.

What’s next for Ian Crowley? Anything in the works?

So before my thesis this fall, I am producing a summer short film with some help from the university. It is the next chapter in my Great Lakes series, this time covering the infamous Lake Erie during the summer time. Instead of just me, this film follows a film crew on a road trip along the coast investigating the Lake Erie Monster. Interviews should include lake ecologists and local historians, true believers, and skeptics. Some key locations include Cedar Point and Put-In Bay. This one bleeds a little into Ohio, but is still very much Michigan-based as well. It will have another hyperreal bent, with the film crew road trip movie being the narrative tissue connecting the documentary segments. It is tentatively called Erie Rockin’ Rollercoastosaurus

How do we stay up to date with your work? Any socials you want to share?

My handle is (at)iancrowley137 on Instagram and YouTube. My filmmaking and comedy can all be accessed there as well as my music.

Any words on your experience at Open Projector Night?

I am incredibly grateful to everyone who makes Open Projector Night possible. As a Michigan filmmaker who made a film to honor the beauty of the Great Lakes, while I have already submitted to many places outside of the state, having it screened at festivals across the state was — and is — the dream. Also, knowing my peers in the festival were Michiganders as well was a collective experience I have yet to have with filmmakers since I have been back home, so it was a great experience. I am grateful to the audience for voting for my film and for laughing as well. Thank you to Wealthy Theatre, Grand Rapids Film Society, and the lovely folks at Open Projector Night for putting on such a great event that highlights the incredible work of local filmmakers! And thanks for this interview!

We appreciate you taking the time to read this installment of BEAM and truly hope you’ll continue to do so. Be sure to subscribe to get a new issue in your inbox every week.

Subscribe now

Plus, join us on social media, where the conversation is always happening, and you can get the most immediate updates from GRFS.

Join the GRFS Discord server

GRFS on Letterboxd

GRFS on Instagram

GRFS on Facebook

Know someone you think will dig BEAM FROM THE BOOTH? Send them our way!

Share BEAM FROM THE BOOTH

And if YOU would like to contribute a piece to an upcoming issue, we highly encourage you to send us an inquiry.

BEAM SUBMISSIONS INQUIRY

Look for ISSUE #149 in your inbox NEXT WEEK!

Until then, friends...

Our Website

The Wealthy Theatre

Submit for OPEN PROJECTOR NIGHT

[EDITED BY: SPENCER EVERHART & GRIFFIN SHERIDAN]

Welcome back to BEAM FROM THE BOOTH, the official newsletter of the GRAND RAPIDS FILM SOCIETY!

A reminder that our first event of the month is coming up NEXT MONDAY (7/13) with our screening of DAVID BYRNE’S TRUE STORIES. Given the seeming explosion of appreciation for Stop Making Sense, the iconic Talking Heads concert film, since the 2023 A24 restoration/re-release, we expect to see all of you at this one. While not a concert film, and not explicitly a Talking Heads work, expect plenty of Byrne’s signature strange, surrealist energy.

Paige Adams returns to the newsletter this week with her continued alphabetical explorations of the Turner Classic Movies catalog!

Check it out…

TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES FROM A-Z

[BY: PAIGE ADAMS]

Part III: G-I

[Find “Part I” in issue #97 and “Part II” in issue #123]

It has been a while since my previous installment, so I thought I might reintroduce the series a bit! I enjoy working within set limitations and hoped this would bring about a thought-provoking challenge by increasing the variety of films I watch under such simple instructions: I would pick a film from the TCM hub on HBO Max for each letter of the alphabet. So far, it has gotten me to watch several films I probably would not have otherwise reached for without the context of this challenge. Sometimes it can feel overwhelming to choose a film when there are a plethora of options; like most people, I would prefer not to spend upwards of an hour choosing something to watch. To somewhat reiterate my first installment — I always go back to the memories I have of choosing a film from the library and only having the selection of what was directly in front of me!

G.

Good Morning (Yasujirō Ozu, 1959)

Two brothers take a vow of silence when their parents refuse to buy them a television.

My first Ozu film! Another fun part of this challenge is that it often gives me an opportunity to watch a director’s work I have been meaning to dive into. This was an enjoyable watch, and I’m excited to see more by him. I found this story to be compelling as it gives you a glimpse into a tight-knit community; everyone is in each other’s business so, naturally, conflict and comedy ensue. While the boys engage in their own acts of rebellion, there is simultaneously a string of miscommunications with the women’s dues to a local organization. It certainly reminded me of all the devices that are easily taken for granted such as a television set, or in-home washer/dryer, and in the case of the film they serve as status symbols.

My favorite characters are the grandmother and the younger son. The oldest and youngest represent two sides of the same coin with their penchant for honesty. They each made me laugh more than anything! Overall, I was fascinated with Ozu’s way of commenting on social dynamics and the nature of “niceties.”

H.

Harlan County, USA (Barbara Kopple, 1976)

The most contemporary film I have watched out of the bunch. This October will mark the documentary’s 50th anniversary. Over and over, the doc reiterates: “whose side are you on?” There is no doubt about whose side Kopple is on as she gives an inside look into the small Kentucky town coal miners and their families’ strike as they fight for a new labor contract. It’s an important reminder that true power is in the collective. They had faith in Joseph Yablonski, a popular union representative to unseat Tony Boyle, incumbent president of UMWA. Boyle remained president, and — soon after — Yablonski was murdered. The miners still had to carry on and pick up the pieces. Lois Scott, a no-nonsense woman, is one of leaders within the women who are continually striking for their husbands and family members who work in the mines. There is a powerful moment between her and the police chief. Kopple and her crew were directly involved in the action and escalation of violence between the strikers and “gun thugs.” It was clear that the presence of the crew kept at bay some of the violence by holding the people intimidating and attacking the strikers accountable. Incredible watch!

I.

I Married a Witch (René Clair, 1942)

This one was good fun! It follows a 17th century witch who was burned at the stake and trapped and unleashes a curse on the descendants of the man who accused her. 250 years later, she and her father escape their prison and cause havoc on the current generation. I found this film to be incredibly witty and charming. Its atmospheric and super short. Veronica Lake is a dream. I’d slide down the banister and get into trouble with her any day of the week! It was really cool to see the practical ways they went about showing off her magic and all the classic ways we are familiar with witches. Made for an entertaining watch!

If you’d like to nominate someone else in the community for a future spotlight, please fill out this form. If you’d like to explore the archive of past Community Spotlights, click this link.

We appreciate you taking the time to read this installment of BEAM and truly hope you’ll continue to do so. Be sure to subscribe to get a new issue in your inbox every week.

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July has arrived, and GRFS is here with offerings to help you step out of the heat!

We’re pleased to celebrate another ART HOUSE THEATER DAY on THURSDAY, JULY 30th with a very special presentation of BOOTS RILEY’S SORRY TO BOTHER YOU, which will feature an AHTD exclusive video intro by Riley.

Now, check out our full lineup for the month...

MONDAY, JULY 13th

DAVID BYRNE’S TRUE STORIES (1986)

Talking Heads singer David Byrne plays host to this bizarre patchwork of tabloid-inspired tales, set in the fictional town of Virgil, Texas. Cruising the streets in his cherry-red drop-top, Byrne introduces viewers to the local eccentrics gearing up for the town's 150th anniversary.

MORE INFO

TICKETS

WEDNESDAY, JULY 15th

ON-CAMERA ACTING WORKSHOP - PERFORM. RECORD. GROW.

The Grand Rapids Film Society is proud to host a special On-Camera Acting Workshop led by film and television veteran Andrew J. Ferchland (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Fan).

This workshop is designed for actors of all levels who want to sharpen their on-camera performance, deepen their scene work, and receive professional-level feedback in a focused, supportive environment.

THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT.

MONDAY, JULY 27th

CHUNGKING EXPRESS (1994)

Two melancholic Hong Kong policemen fall in love: one with a mysterious female underworld figure, the other with a beautiful and ethereal waitress at a late-night restaurant he frequents.

MORE INFO

TICKETS

THURSDAY, JULY 30th

SORRY TO BOTHER YOU (2018)

[ART HOUSE THEATER DAY 2026]

Join us in celebrating Art House Theater Day with a screening of Boots Riley's Sorry to Bother You!

In an alternate reality of present-day Oakland, Calif., telemarketer Cassius Green finds himself in a macabre universe after he discovers a magical key that leads to material glory. As Green's career begins to take off, his friends and co-workers organize a protest against corporate oppression. Cassius soon falls under the spell of Steve Lift, a cocaine-snorting CEO who offers him a salary beyond his wildest dreams.

MORE INFO

TICKETS

Tickets for all events— and more— are available now at GRFILM.ORG.

(Tickets cost $2 more at the door; save time and money by buying online!)

Tell your friends. We hope to see you there!

Our Website

The Wealthy Theatre

Submit for OPEN PROJECTOR NIGHT

[EDITED BY: SPENCER EVERHART & GRIFFIN SHERIDAN]

Welcome back to BEAM FROM THE BOOTH, the official newsletter of the GRAND RAPIDS FILM SOCIETY!

Right on the heels of another season of Movies at the Museum, we’re pleased to be teaming up with our friends at the GRAND RAPIDS ART MUSEUM once more for their latest “Michigan Artist Series” exhibition. This latest show is dedicated solely to experimental cinema with Michigan connections. From GRAM:

Inspired by their programming at Wealthy Theatre, entitled Open Projector Night, this exhibition celebrates the varied ways in which Michigan filmmakers are expanding the boundaries of the medium. This exhibition is curated by Spencer Everhart, Jackson Ezinga, and Nicholas Hartman of the Grand Rapids Film Society, in collaboration with the Grand Rapids Art Museum.

While the exhibit is not set to open until January 2027, we’re now calling for submissions to be considered for the program. Use the button below to submit your experimental work!

SUBMIT TO MICHIGAN EXPERIMENTAL CINEMA

We can’t wait to see what you all have to submit and look forward to the opening of the show early next year.

In this week’s feature, community member Kirsten Fedorowicz dives in on a question that has haunted cinema for almost 20 years now: whatever happened to the romantic-comedy, and is it making a comeback?

ARE ROMCOMS MAKING A COMEBACK?

[BY: KIRSTEN FEDOROWICZ]

I love romantic comedies — the ridiculous plots, the over-the-top confessions of love, the dance scenes, and, naturally, the happy endings. It’s the one movie genre I know more about than my partner, a certified film nerd (hi, Kyle).

Still, as an elder Gen Z/Zillenial cusp, I wasn’t old enough to enjoy the height of the romcom in theaters. In the 1990s and 2000s, the romantic comedy was a reliable box office staple; with low-to-mid budgets, the genre regularly featured several releases a year, most turning $200-400 million at the box office.

Then, in the 2010s, the romcom disappeared.

That might be dramatic, especially in the light of notable exceptions (2018’s Crazy Rich Asians, after all, grossed an impressive $239 million and was well-liked by critics and viewers alike). Overall, though, studios limited production of these lower-budget projects in favor of the franchise blockbuster. As an adolescent and college student, I went to the movie theater mostly to see superhero or Disney films with my dad.

The decline of romcoms in movie theaters coincided with the overall decrease in film attendance and rise of streaming services. What once would have gotten a theatrical release (you can’t tell me 2024’s Idea of You wouldn’t have gotten a theatrical release in 2009, it stars Anne Hathaway) is now relegated to streaming services.

I was inspired to write this piece after my partner ran over to my desk to show me the trailer for the upcoming film One Night Only, a romcom with a truly ridiculous premise that is getting a theatrical release. This trailer came on the heels of our theatrical viewing of You, Me, and Tuscany and a few months after bawling in the theater watching Eternity. Looking at all these theatrical releases of earnest romantic comedies, I couldn’t help but wonder...is the romcom coming back?

I know these romcoms aren’t making the money the films of the 90s and 2000s did. Internationally, You, Me, and Tuscany grossed $21 million and Eternity grossed $36 million at the box office. But, with the success of contemporary romantic TV shows like Heated Rivalry, Bridgerton, and The Summer I Turned Pretty, (and the mainstreaming of romance books like the ones these series are based on) there’s clearly an appetite among consumers. And it seems like studios are willing not just to make them but to put money into their advertising.

Just like their predecessors, not all of the romcoms of the 2020s are going to be good. Still, many recent releases are fresh and compelling, bringing new life to a genre many of us hold dear. If you’re not a romcom fan, or you’ve only watched the classics, give these three a try: my favorite romcoms of the 2020s...

Rye Lane (2023)

WATCH TRAILER

You probably haven’t seen this off-beat British romcom, but you should. Two twenty-somethings meet at an art gallery and spend the day strolling along the titular Rye Lane, talking about their love lives, coming across strange side characters (there’s an amazing cameo of a British icon I won’t spoil), and, naturally, breaking into one of their ex’s houses.

The cinematography, casting, and script of Rye Lane brings to life a diverse, colorful corner of London. In any walking-and-talking film focused primarily on two characters, the place becomes the third — and Rye Lane is captured just as lovingly as Notting Hill is when Hugh Grant walked through it in 1999.

This movie is also funny. British comedy doesn’t always work for me, but the humor is effectively based on the awkwardness of navigating dating and human relationships of any kind. The two leads (Vivian Oparah and David Jonsson) have great chemistry, and the character development to get to their “happily ever after” is perfectly executed.

It’s also great to see a movie with two Black leads in a genre that is still dominated by whiteness. In the discourse around the recent You, Me, and Tuscany, filmmaker Nina Lee went viral with a tweet that said studios wouldn’t buy her romcom until they saw the box office results of You, Me, and Tuscany. Rye Lane didn’t play in theaters in the U.S.; here, You, Me, and Tuscany was the first Black-led romcom film with a theatrical release in a decade.

My Old Ass (2024)

WATCH TRAILER

It might be a stretch to call My Old Ass a romcom when it’s marketed as a coming-of-age comedy, but I’m going to do it because I love this film. It’s hilarious, romantic, and deeply moving.

In My Old Ass, teenaged Elliot (Maisy Stella) takes shrooms and comes face-to-face with her thirty-nine year old self (the indomitable Aubrey Plaza). Driven by her own regrets, the older Elliot offers advice over the phone to her younger self, including a plea to stay away from the strangely alluring Chad (Percy Hynes White).

It’s hard to talk about how this movie impacted me without revealing the twist that reveals the profoundness under the layers of teenage wildness, a forbidden crush, and getting high on mushrooms. This movie is about choosing to love ourselves, our lives, our family, and our romantic partners...even knowing that it’s all temporary.

Eternity (2025)

WATCH TRAILER

In the opening act of Eternity, an elderly couple passes away; first the man, then his wife following a few weeks later. Upon getting to the afterlife depot station, the woman reconnects with her deceased husband...and discovers that her first husband, who died in their youth, has been waiting more than sixty years for her.

The central love triangle offers strong tension throughout the film: does the woman (Elizabeth Olsen) spend her afterlife with the man she built her life with, or the man she didn’t get to? The characters are the emotional heart of the film; while I’m not sure if I buy Callum Turner as a leading man (he’s attractive and has a great smile, but I found him bland), Miles Teller truly embodies the spirit of an old man baffled by the whole situation.

Eternity is romantic, funny, and an emotional rollercoaster. I left the theater in tears, pondering what it means to build a life with someone after “happily ever after.”

Bonus! My favorite romcoms of the 90s/2000s: When Harry Met Sally (1989), While You Were Sleeping (1995), But I’m a Cheerleader (1999), My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002), 13 Going On 30 (2004), Saving Face (2004), 27 Dresses (2008)

We appreciate you taking the time to read this installment of BEAM and truly hope you’ll continue to do so. Be sure to subscribe to get a new issue in your inbox every week.

Subscribe now

Plus, join us on social media, where the conversation is always happening, and you can get the most immediate updates from GRFS.

Join the GRFS Discord server

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Share BEAM FROM THE BOOTH

And if YOU would like to contribute a piece to an upcoming issue, we highly encourage you to send us an inquiry.

BEAM SUBMISSIONS INQUIRY

Look for ISSUE #147 in your inbox TWO WEEKS!

Until then, friends...

Our Website

The Wealthy Theatre

Submit for OPEN PROJECTOR NIGHT

[EDITED BY: SPENCER EVERHART & GRIFFIN SHERIDAN]

Welcome back to BEAM FROM THE BOOTH, the official newsletter of the GRAND RAPIDS FILM SOCIETY!

TONIGHT (6/17), OPEN PROJECTOR NIGHT is back! Our series highlighting independent short films of all genres with a Michigan connection makes its triumphant return, with an extra bonus: we’ll be hosting our first ever OPN AFTERPARTY! Join us after the screening just a few blocks down on Wealthy Street at THE GREY RABBIT. Not only will you be able to enjoy drinks and the excellent atmosphere that our friends at Grey Rabbit provide, but you’ll also be able to mingle with the filmmakers to hear even more about their work.

But before the event, we’re pleased to share an extended preview of the evenings line-up with these interviews with the featured filmmakers. Enjoy.

OPEN PROJECTOR NIGHT: JUNE 2026 PREVIEW

[BY: SPENCER EVERHART]

OPEN PROJECTOR NIGHT is a series we continue to be absolutely thrilled to present, and we’re back at it again! Please join us on the evening of WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17th, at 7:00pm to support and celebrate local independent filmmaking.

Our very own Spencer Everhart (who also helps in selecting works for the event) interviewed most of the selected filmmakers about their short films as a preview of this edition’s lineup for you all. Check it out...

Heavy Lids (Daniel Wylie-Eggert)

Spencer Everhart: How did you originally get into cinema and what has your journey been as a filmmaker up until now?

Daniel Wylie-Eggert: I have always loved film, but stayed content with stills photography as a hobby for along time. It was working as a sound mixer on small sets that really introduced me to the amazing feeling of being on set. It wasn’t until after starting a production company with my brother and cousin that I began to really get interested in cinematography. My brother Tony went to school for film and was pivotal in showing me everything that was involved, and how much has to go right to make something watchable. I took this and have been trying to keep finding those moments of growth ever since.

What was the primary inspiration behind your film? How did the project come about?

I had just started become a teaching artist at an organization in Ypsilanti called Youth Arts Alliance, and was paired with an improv artist to collaborate together on a syllabus. The concept behind this film was born out of the results of that synergy: how far could we take improv and film before it became impossible? Shooting the first iteration of this idea (a short called “The Recipe”), we really didn’t know if we were going to get anything usable. But the right mixture of pro improv and Steadicam made it into something really enjoyable to watch. This film is the graduated version of that experiment.

What was the biggest challenge you faced while making this movie, and how did you overcome it?

The biggest challenge for me was being trying to get the camera in the right place, with as little error as possible, without being able to rely on strict blocking. The areas where the three main beats of the story were to happen was known, but who would lead, or talk, or start crawling on the floor (which happens more than once!) was very different between each take. Improvising alongside the actors was the only way to shoot it, and getting a good single take was the most rewarding part of the whole thing.

What about this project are you most proud of?

I am most proud of the fact that we were able to succeed at making a film in a way that I have never seen done before. It takes a really good 1st AC to be able to to pull focus on such unpredictable actors for a oner. It takes a very good producer to find the right mixture of seasoned improvers that can work so well together on screen. And it takes the best partner and collaborator to hold all the details (set dec, poster design, prompt writing and design, and many many others) to make any of this possible.

“Sleeping Just Fine” (Dustin Foster)

Spencer Everhart: How did you originally get into cinema and what has your journey been as a filmmaker up until now?

Dustin Foster: I came up as an editor. That was the entry point into everything. I was cutting for large agencies and major brands in Chicago, traveling back and forth to the west coast, working on campaigns for names that most people would recognize. And that background fundamentally shaped how I think as a director. Most directors think in acquisition. I think in assembly. I know what I need before I ever get to set because I already know how it cuts. The transition to directing happened the way most real things happen, sideways and unplanned. I was being a smart ass in an edit bay and somebody gave me a shot. I fell flat on my face. Lost clients. Learned. Earned them back and then some. That cycle taught me more than any formal path would have. I eventually founded Chop & Hue here in Grand Rapids, a commercial production studio working direct with brands, and we have had the privilege of doing significant work, most recently winning a GEM Brand Catalyst Award at the ANA Reggie Awards for our Wahl campaign. But the editorial roots never left. They inform everything. Here is what I keep coming back to, especially now. Location matters less than it ever has, which sounds like freedom but it also means the noise floor has never been higher. Everyone has a camera, everyone has a tutorial, and what gets lost in all of it is theory. Inspiration. The actual craft underneath the effect. I have never once seen a YouTube video about how the real journey of editing is about subtraction, not addition. You are not building something up. You are finding what was always there by removing what does not belong. You do not feel loudness if you have not earned the quiet first. That is not a technique. That is a philosophy. And it took falling on my face a few times before I understood it well enough to teach it.

What was the primary inspiration behind your film? How did the project come about?

Kari and I have known each other for about ten years and this is our third video together. We actually met right around the same time we were both making big transitions in our lives. I had just left Chicago and was finding my footing back in Michigan. She was on the verge of moving to Nashville to pursue music full time. We were both taking real leaps, just in completely different directions. She built something remarkable in Nashville, writing and even managing for Hunter Hayes. We stayed in touch across all of it. Then she sent me this song and said basically: minimal production, what do you think? And I said let’s get the crew back together. Most of the people on this project have worked together since that first video, and a lot of them now work with or for Chop & Hue. It felt like a reunion as much as a production.

What was the biggest challenge you faced while making this movie, and how did you overcome it?

The hardest thing was nailing a feeling that is genuinely difficult to describe, let alone photograph. The song needed to feel aged without feeling antique. Intimate without feeling small. We landed on the Felt Mansion because that specific scale does something to you. When you are going through a hard breakup, rooms feel enormous. Silence feels heavy. The environment itself becomes part of the emotional experience. So we built the visual language around that. Almost every frame has some form of blur or refraction, something slightly unreal, like you are watching a memory that has not fully registered yet. And then as the narrative progresses, Kari starts to reclaim the space. She sheds the darker tones. The frames get cleaner. She is not just surviving the room, she is owning it. We never hit you over the head with that metaphor, but the edit is structured entirely around it. The restraint is what makes it land.

What about this project are you most proud of?

Honestly, the collaboration. Commercial work is extraordinary and I love it, but there is a creative freedom that comes with working alongside an artist who trusts you completely. No brief, no brand safety notes, no rounds of revisions from a client who has never been on a set. Just a song, a crew of people who have grown up together creatively, and a shared instinct for what the story needs. The fact that this crew, many of whom now work at Chop & Hue, came back together for something purely personal and brought that level of craft to it, that is what I am most proud of. The work reflects who we are when nobody is telling us what to make. To some people this is a music video. And that is fine. But what projects like this actually represent, for anyone willing to show up for them, is something harder to manufacture. Camaraderie. Passion. The act of expressing something creative together on set and just doing it. No client approval needed. For me, set has always been a place where differences get put aside and everyone locks in on a common goal and a shared vision. That does not happen because of a budget. It happens because of the people. And we had the right ones.

Fretail (David C. Jones & Isis Diaz)

Spencer Everhart: How did you originally get into cinema and what has your journey been as a filmmaker up until now?

David C. Jones: I wanted to make Star Wars movies since eighth grade. I was fascinated at how all the special effects were done. But I also had an interest in news photography (or videography) at about the same time. When I discovered I liked documentaries, I guess I ended up gravitating towards more reality filmmaking. I’ve been working as a news photographer at various television stations and as a freelance documentary cinematographer now for the past couple of decades.

Isis Diaz: I loved watching movies as a kid. I loved going to the library and checking out as many movies to watch as books to read. But my most favorite part of the experience was finishing the movie and getting to watch the special features. It was so special to me to be able to see the blooper reel, deleted scenes, and actor/director interviews. It was as much fun for me to watch the movie as it was to watch how it got made. As I got older I became very interested in YouTube vlog culture, especially the fact that daily vlogs could be like little films that can be shot and edited all in one day. As I reached college, I was not entirely sure which path to pursue, I was an undeclared major. My freshman year, on top of my elective courses, I decided to take an intro to cinema studies. In that class I first learned the editing software I use to this day. It re-ignited my passion for storytelling which led to my decision to minor in film studies, and then on to major in Digital Storytelling at Michigan State. After I graduated in 2024 I moved to Los Angeles where I reside now, and I continue to pursue my dream of storytelling and working in film!

What was the primary inspiration behind your film? How did the project come about?

Jones: I had worked with Mike Karl, the Fretail Store founder, on other documentary projects surrounding homelessness and knew about this first-of-a-kind retail store he had started in a mall. I wanted to tell about this unique place to shop with a fly-on-the-wall approach.

Diaz: When my colleague and director Dave Jones approached me with the proposition of depicting a day in the life of a store, with such a great purpose to serve the community, I was excited about the fact that I would be a fly on the wall of this observational documentary. I had the chance to quietly observe the interactions between staff and customers, and the many ways it supports the people it serves. Rather than staging moments, every experience was authentic, allowing the story to unfold naturally through observation.

What was the biggest challenge you faced while making this movie, and how did you overcome it?

Jones: The biggest challenge was capturing the conversations that the volunteer employees of the Fretail Store would have with the customers. At first, I wanted to capture all the interactions at the checkout counters, but this proved to be unfruitful as basically none of the customers were wanting to converse with the volunteers as they checked out. So I changed the film’s approach, focusing on two of the store volunteers and the interactions they would have with each other and the shoppers they were helping.

Diaz: My biggest challenge and the most fun part of the editing process was letting the story reveal itself and properly portray that. Throughout the editing process, the shop unexpectedly closed, leaving many questions unanswered. This development added a new layer of meaning to the film, a resource that people relied on, now erased. It brought challenges to the ending of the film in regards to the ongoing changes happening with Fretail. My colleague and I had many discussions as to what direction the story would go, and ultimately decided to include an epilogue to provide a conclusion to this chapter of Fretail’s story, and to suggest that Fretail’s story is not entirely over.

What about this project are you most proud of?

Jones: I think we show the best in humanity. We were able to capture real moments without being too intrusive.

Diaz: I am most proud of the fact that I had the opportunity to help shape this story, and to be able to make a film to highlight all of the good Fretail has brought into a community. I learned from fretail and its staff just how much a small interaction, a small action, can make all the difference in someone’s life. The kindness I saw throughout these hours of footage was incredibly moving. It continues to inspire me, and I hope it will inspire everyone who watches the film to recognize the impact that compassion, generosity, and community can have in people’s lives and in our own.

Ca$h Cow$ (Harley Collar)

Spencer Everhart: How did you originally get into cinema and what has your journey been as a filmmaker up until now?

Harley Collar: I've always loved watching movies, even as a little kid, but I really go into it when I was a zombie extra in a short film. I was in middle school at the time and I just thought myself “well I can totally do that!” From then on I wanted to do be a screenwriter so I tried to write scripts. Later on I went to Careerline Tech Center and learned more about the process and fell in love with it. I eventually went GVSU for Film and Video Production, started working at GRTV, and I've been trying to just make as much as I can, either of my own projects or helping with other people's.

What was the primary inspiration behind your film? How did the project come about?

So I was spiraling a little bit about the world and I thought about the ethics of gameshows. Specifically how they focus on people with very real problems they’re trying to solve with the prize money, student debt, hospital bills, buying a house, kid’s college fund, etc. The style and structure of the film was inspired by the Adult Swim Infomercial series (”Too Many Cooks, “Uninterrupted Footage of a Bear”, “This House Has People in It”, etc) and, with the help of Kailey Barker as my co-writer, we structured out a whole game show.

What was the biggest challenge you faced while making this movie, and how did you overcome it?

Time. We were working with a small budget so we could only afford the actors for 1 day. To make the most of each take, we decided to set up 4 different camera angles and run through each scene all the way through. In the end we only did 3 takes max for each scene.

What about this project are you most proud of?

I’m just proud of the fact that this all came together. It was a blast to make and I’m glad it gets to be shown off to people. Also the prescription drug logo.

“Green Cement” (Alex Perez)

Spencer Everhart: How did you originally get into cinema and what has your journey been as a filmmaker up until now?

Alex Perez: Little by little my interests started to point me in the direction of creating art in the form of video. For the most part, I’ve created stop-motion videos — music videos, dream sequences, commercials, and the occasional one-off animation loop. Throughout my time making videos I’ve come to find I like to work intuitively, and this has found me with a camera in my hand more often than moving objects in front of a tripod. I’m not really sure yet what will come of this change, though it has been revitalizing to move in a new direction.

What was the primary inspiration behind your film? How did the project come about?

Shortly after last year’s OPN: Music Video Edition, Laura and Garett from the band Phabies reached out and asked if I would like to make a music video for a song off their album The Curse Of Caring. We chose the song “Green Cement” and started talking about potential art directions. Sometime the summer before, the band had taken a road trip to play a show in the upper peninsula and brought a camcorder along. I had been inspired by what I’d seen of live action videos being converted into stop-motion, and wanted to try my hand at it and figured this would be the opportunity to try!

What was the biggest challenge you faced while making this movie, and how did you overcome it?

The most difficult situation in the making of the music video was figuring out how to print the individual frames of the camcorder footage in order and in the same size. This process was entirely new to me and progress came slowly. Eventually I found a grid template online that I could drag and drop the photos into (so simple, yet elusive to the non-computer-savvy person).

What about this project are you most proud of?

The collaboration! The final result couldn’t have been possible without it. With the material the band provided, and the song being very tender and direct, it allowed me to form a story with the footage Laura and Garett had taken. The images you see in the video are things they have seen and felt compelled to capture, and I had the chance to put a little extra flavor in there.

Made of Meat (Noah Reno)

Spencer Everhart: How did you originally get into cinema and what has your journey been as a filmmaker up until now?

Noah Reno: I’ve had many interests that have come and gone in my lifetime, some lingering longer than others. However, pursuing cinema has always been my constant “goal” since before I can even remember. Sure, I have a handful of early memories of becoming captivated by films and experiences with the motion-picture medium that I can pull off the top of my head, but those were all post my love for the form. I cannot pinpoint one inciting incident that began my journey into film; it’s something that has always been there. Many of my closest friends have shifted interests concerning their preferred industry to work within, but I have been lucky enough to always know what I have wanted to dedicate my life to. I believe, somehow, film has always been intrinsic to my being — not pursued, but evidently baked in.

What was the primary inspiration behind your film? How did the project come about?

When I was in 8th grade, after a middle school dance, I was grabbing my backpack from my locker when a friend of mine showed me my first “shock video.” This was the first of many instances of viewing graphic gore or shock videos unsolicited, either from people at school or videos circulating on social media platforms. Seeing this content has forever changed who I am: countless sleepless nights, a waxing and waning pessimistic view on humanity, etc. Somehow, what seemed to deeply disturb me even more than the photos and videos I had seen were the comments left underneath them. Viewing the impassive, attempted-humorous comments viewers would make, stuck in my mind for months. These comments and a fascination with the grizzly account of Norwegian black metal’s Mayhem, specifically the treatment of Dead’s body by his former bandmate, gave rise to my aspiration to explore the effects of consuming graphic material.

What was the biggest challenge you faced while making this movie, and how did you overcome it?

I wrote, directed, and edited this film during a very difficult period in my life. Although I was very excited to begin this project at first, I seemed to hit an epoch of life-changing events, culminating in some long-term personal matters surfacing. To be candid, the project formed into something I was fighting to find any inspiration or motivation to move forward with. There were numerous times when I deeply considered dropping the project altogether. But it was the incredible, unwavering support and love from my friends, family, and amazing crew that allowed this film to be made and kept pushing me to keep going. If it wasn’t for them, this movie wouldn’t have been made.

What about this project are you most proud of?

I set out to make a film on which the foundation deals solely with the exploitation of others, but with the intransigent goal not to be exploitative itself. This was a tough balancing act, as a core part of the film consists of a man watching NSFL content. I wanted the film’s shocking elements not to be concerned with the material of the videos being viewed, but rather with the viewer’s response to them. To accomplish this, I opted for much of the screen’s contents to be obscured in various ways, along with bringing in some avant-garde techniques to portray the sensory experience attributed to watching this content rather than sitting with it from an objective viewpoint. Shooting the footage for the website was a pretty gnarly and bizarre experience. We shot with a skeleton crew on miniDV tape for these sequences, prior to principal photography, to minimize the discomfort of the crew and cast and add a fun tactile element to shooting. I also played the victim in the “duct tape funnel” video, as I’d never ask someone else to have to do that. With all this said, all of these elements helped cultivate an enjoyable and creatively engaging set for everyone involved, even though the core content is quite grim.

40 Acres Send-Off

Spencer Everhart: How did you originally get into cinema and what has your journey been as a filmmaker up until now?

Victor Williams (producer & director): I’ve been a creative in the music industry for most of my life, so the progression into film felt natural. At their core, both music and film are about narrative shaping and storytelling. Whether you’re producing a song, directing a video, or creating a documentary, you’re finding ways to connect people to an experience. Filmmaking became another medium through which I could tell meaningful stories and preserve important moments in culture and community.

What was the primary inspiration behind your film? How did the project come about?

The 40 Acres short film came about because there simply aren’t many Black-owned businesses in Grand Rapids. When you have one that was culturally significant, widely celebrated, and able to sustain a seven-year run while impacting the city’s creative and entrepreneurial landscape, we felt it would be a disservice to let its story disappear. This film serves as an archive of that legacy and documents an important chapter in Grand Rapids and Uptown history.

What was the biggest challenge you faced while making this movie, and how did you overcome it?

The biggest challenge was the same challenge many independent filmmakers face: funding. Telling stories requires resources, and securing those resources is often the hardest part of the process. Fortunately, we were able to allocate funding through support from the Wege Foundation for underwriting the GRMiFi Culture Clubs. Which allowed us to move forward and ensure that this story could be told with the care and quality it deserved.

What about this project are you most proud of?

I’m most proud of the vision behind documenting this important moment in Uptown and Grand Rapids history before it was lost. I’m also proud of the relationships and community connections that made the project possible. This film is a reminder that our stories matter, and that preserving local history is a collective effort that requires people who believe in the value of cultural memory.

Superior Piracy (Ian Patrick Crowley)

Spencer Everhart: How did you originally get into cinema and what has your journey been as a filmmaker up until now?

Ian Patrick Crowley: 1. When I was around 7 or 8, my dad got the family a camcorder and he showed me how to use it. I already had a profound interest in films and how they were made. I would pour over the special features of all of my favorite films for “making of” segments. As I continued to display interest in making movies, my dad introduced me to editing softwares his co-workers recommended. From around 3rd grade to senior year of high school I made films with all my spare time. This led to majoring in Media Production at Grand Valley State University, and eventually transferring to University of Michigan - Dearborn, where I majored in Journalism and Screen Studies, with a dual emphasis. I had completed 3 of 4 years of my undergrad when COVID-19 changed college and locked everyone down. When things started to open up, it inspired me and my partner to move from Michigan to northern California for a job of hers, and to experience the west coast. This eventually led us up to Seattle, Washington for my partners grad school program. During this time I took a hiatus from University of Michigan - Dearborn, and it became my focus to find actors and writers who had ideas they needed assistance on, so I could hone my filmmaking style and gain experience. To do this, I started my career in standup comedy, which had been another career aspiration of mine. During this period, l made a ton of sketches and short films, some contracted and some as favors for a scene I really came to love. At this point my primary focus was working as a comedian in the city and on the side I did freelance videography and editing (filming music gigs, comedy shows and editing footage for people). After around 3 years, me and my partner moved back to Michigan. I took it as an opportunity to finish what little I had left to complete for my degree and make some final films in Michigan with the assistance of university resources and staff that I can submit and put in my portfolio.

What was the primary inspiration behind your film? How did the project come about?

The primary inspiration for the film came about when I moved back to Michigan and was taken aback by the beauty and enormity of the Great Lakes. Growing up in Michigan, I had taken a lot of its’ beauty for granted. When I moved west, I was fascinated with the beauty of the country and had the pleasure of driving back and fourth a couple times. On my last drive back, for the move, I felt like I was seeing Michigan in two ways: how I had started to see the rest of the country, as a wild landscape with tons to appreciate - and as a nostalgic reminder of where I came from. Wanting to capture these feelings for up north Michigan in particular came about here. While thinking about the lakes I became fascinated in the history of the pirates on the lakes, and originally wanted to make a true documentary on it. Eventually though, my comedic inspirations which often take from hyperreal documentary, reality slapstick and absurdist, multimedia comedy kinda took over.

What was the biggest challenge you faced while making this movie, and how did you overcome it?

Oddly enough, the hardest to acquire was the underwater shot. I knew I wanted to shoot it in a pool but for various reasons it was difficult to get the hotels to sign off on. Either the manager was never in, or I had to keep getting sent up the latter to the next-in charge. This legitimately ended up with me in an email chain with an “aquatic specialist” for a rec center. More broadly though, it was making the most of the shooting trips up north. I live in Hazel Park, which is right outside Detroit, and the filming locations were in West Branch, Mackinaw City, and all over the UP but particularly Marquette. It is so much easier said than done trying to capture the beauty if what you are seeing up there adequately, and that’s what the movie was really about to me. So using time efficiently, making good decisions quickly and finding the right locations was paramount.

What about this project are you most proud of?

I went in with a mindset of discovery, where I had a simple story and a place in mind, but I really wanted to be open to letting the experience of making the film change the outcome of story itself. So some of the more emergent decisions come to mind when I think of the things I am most proud of. The incorporation of the Call of the Wild Museum into the film is probably the biggest example here. It happened because I was explaining the museum to my cousin on one of our trips up north to shoot. Later on that day he was asleep in the car and I decided to just go and ask what their filming policy was. They allowed me shoot right before closing, I explained the project and the workers were so excited to let me shoot and kind. This shoot became a key part of the film and reshaped the way I was viewing the story ending.

Bear Trap (Cam Layson)

Spencer Everhart: How did you originally get into cinema and what has your journey been as a filmmaker up until now?

Cam Layson: My first experiences with filmmaking came from making YouTube videos with my friends in high school. I would say that I really started to love movies and moviemaking when I was about 14. But I don’t actually watch a ton of movies (I’m trying to get better I swear). My favorite aspect of filmmaking has always been the process itself, just the most fundamental basics: setting up the shot, rehearsing lines, blocking things out, all of it. My journey as a filmmaker up until now has been happily consistent for me. I started out by making shorts with my friends, and I’m still making shorts with my friends while we all develop our craft, I’m incredibly grateful for that. Bear Trap is my third short film that I’ve made at GVSU and the last one I’ve directed before graduating. I’ve now graduated from GV but am still happily making movies with really amazing people.

What was the primary inspiration behind your film? How did the project come about?

Bear Trap had three main inspirations: the Local58 channel on YouTube, the flash game Exmortis 2 by Ben Leffler, and the short film Ataraxia by Joe Meredith. They’re some of my favorite pieces of media of all time and they really shaped the style I wanted to go for in Bear Trap. I would say that Ataraxia is my main inspiration for this project, it’s probably my favorite short film ever. In my opinion, it does an incredible job at setting up maybe the coolest apocalypse I’ve ever seen in a movie with absolutely no budget. Throughout Bear Trap, I was really striving to get that same kind of feel. Bear Trap is my senior thesis project at GVSU and only happened because of my incredibly talented friends who all dedicated their time to helping me bring it to life.

What was the biggest challenge you faced while making this movie, and how did you overcome it?

From my original pitch deck, I always wanted in this movie for it to be raining blood. That was definitely a hurdle to figure out when we had no budget...so we got creative. I won’t spoil how, but we did get a practical exterior shot of blood rain that I’m super happy with, and it gave me a lot of experience in the art department!

What about this project are you most proud of?

I am the most proud of the crew on Bear Trap. It will never cease to amaze me how talented and skilled my film friends from GV are, and none of my movies would exist without them.

We appreciate you taking the time to read this installment of BEAM and truly hope you’ll continue to do so. Be sure to subscribe to get a new issue in your inbox every week.

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[EDITED BY: SPENCER EVERHART & GRIFFIN SHERIDAN]

Welcome back to BEAM FROM THE BOOTH, the official newsletter of the GRAND RAPIDS FILM SOCIETY!

A reminder that TOMORROW EVENING (6/9) at 7:00pm, we’re hosting another free installment of our INDUSTRY PANEL SERIES, which features a panel-style discussion on various aspects of working as an independent artist, hosted in Wealthy Theater’s Koning Micro-Cinema. This event’s topic is INTRODUCTION TO ART DEPARTMENT so if you or someone you know is a budding art director, we highly encourage you to join us.

Likewise, NEXT MONDAY (6/15), we are thrilled to be partnering with the GRAND RAPIDS PRIDE CENTER to bring you all a screening of Jennie Livingston’s PARIS IS BURNING. This is sure to be both a lively and introspective evening, which we will layout further in an event preview later this week...so keep your eyes peeled.

It has been a historic couple of weeks at the box office with regards to the runaway success of low-budget horror hits Obsession and Backrooms. While there are many different facets of this that we could all chat about, our friend Anna Davis put together a very interesting piece regarding Backrooms’ costume design and how it compares to other horror icons. Check it out!

FINAL GIRL FASHION: BREAKING DOWN THE ELEMENTS OF A GREAT HORROR HEROINE OUTFIT

[BY: ANNA DAVIS]

While watching Backrooms (2026), I noted the delightfully dated outfits, particularly those worn by Renate Reinsve’s Mary. It got me thinking: what makes a good horror movie costume? In particular, I thought of Final Girl outfits — the ones worn by heroines during a film’s final act as she tries to defeat or evade whatever demon, serial killer, or monster that has been tormenting her.

I have a working theory that the best Final Girl looks nail five key elements, which are as follows...

Element 1: There should be a layer of clothing that can be shed. A headband, a jacket, a scarf — something that can easily be lost or, at the very least, torn as the Final Girl makes her way to safety. This helps to emphasize how much peril she is in. Preceding the climax of Backrooms, Mary removes her shoulder-padded blazer and lets her hair down, as we see it in a ponytail just moments before. The updated ‘do is also much better for getting bloody (see Element 2).

See also: Hunter Schafer, as Gretchen, before losing her jacket in the finale of Cuckoo (2024)

Element 2: It’s gotta look good covered in blood, duh. A leather jacket wouldn’t stain well, whereas silk would stain far too much. In Backrooms, the blood on Mary’s blouse stands out vibrantly on the light colored shirt — the gore surrounded by sweet pink flowers. Clearly, costume designer Mica Kayde (Longlegs [2024], The Monkey [2025]) put great care into finding the right fabrics for the climactic sequence.

See also: Sophie Thatcher, as Iris, in Companion (2025)

Element 3: Though plenty of Final Girls have donned mini-skirts and halter tops, wearability is critical. The actor has to be able to move. Mary’s perfectly-tailored slacks are a comfortable choice for scenes that require a fair bit of running, ducking, and falling. Her loafers both make sense for her character (see Element 5) and would be supportive for long days on set.

See also: Jamie Lee Curtis wearing Laurie Strode’s classic blouse + jeans combo in Halloween (1978)

Element 4: It has to be replicable. For scenes with lots of gore, costume departments will create multiples of outfits in various states of disarray. In many low-budget flicks, you’ll note the Final Girl often dons a very simple look of a white tank top and jeans because it’s cheap and easy to stock up on copies. Outfits with many frills or ties can be tough for continuity, especially once the blood starts flowing (see Element 2). Though Mary’s blouse is unique, with a budget of $10 million on Backrooms Kayde could afford a few dupes.

See also: Sophie Wilde, as Mia, wearing a white tank top and black trousers in Talk to Me (2022); also notable is the yellow motif running in her wardrobe throughout the film.

Element 5: It needs to be iconic, a visual representation of the character herself. It’s also the outfit that is generally most remembered from the movie, tossed on promo materials, and seen most in trailers. And, for a studio looking to profit in perpetuity, it’s ideally a costume that is wearable on Halloween forevermore.

Mary is a therapist, and her well-tailored outfits are fashionable for the movie’s time period, reflective of her professional stature, and a bit humorous when seen in the liminal underworld of the Backrooms. It’s also easy to find similar clothes at your local thrift store — perfect for a Mary & Clark couples costume (or perhaps Mary & Phil?).

See also: Mia Goth in Pearl (2022)

So that’s my pitch for achieving a perfect Final Girl horror look. If you think of Final Girl outfits that align with this, or perhaps totally violate it, I always welcome you sending me a mention on Letterboxd.

If you’d like to nominate someone else in the community for a future spotlight, please fill out this form. If you’d like to explore the archive of past Community Spotlights, click this link.

We appreciate you taking the time to read this installment of BEAM and truly hope you’ll continue to do so. Be sure to subscribe to get a new issue in your inbox every week.

Subscribe now

Plus, join us on social media, where the conversation is always happening, and you can get the most immediate updates from GRFS.

Join the GRFS Discord server

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GRFS on Instagram

GRFS on Facebook

Know someone you think will dig BEAM FROM THE BOOTH? Send them our way!

Share BEAM FROM THE BOOTH

And if YOU would like to contribute a piece to an upcoming issue, we highly encourage you to send us an inquiry.

BEAM SUBMISSIONS INQUIRY

Look for ISSUE #145 in your inbox NEXT WEEK!

Until then, friends...

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Submit for OPEN PROJECTOR NIGHT

We’re kicking off our June programming with a celebration of Marilyn Monroe’s 100th birthday! Join us TONIGHT (6/1) at 8:00pm for GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES (1953).

On MONDAY, JUNE 15th, we are thrilled to be partnering with the GRAND RAPIDS PRIDE CENTER for a presentation of Jennie Livingston’s seminal documentary exploring the drag scene in 1980s Harlem, PARIS IS BURNING (1990)!

Plus, this month sees the return of some of our favorite community focused events with OPEN PROJECTOR NIGHT (6/17) and MOVIE TRIVIA IN A MOVIE THEATER (6/29)!

Now, check out the full line-up for the month…

MONDAY, JUNE 1st

GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES (1953)

[MARILYN MONROE’S 100th BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION]

Lorelei Lee (Marilyn Monroe) is a beautiful showgirl engaged to be married to the wealthy Gus Esmond (Tommy Noonan), much to the disapproval of Gus' rich father, Esmond Sr., who thinks that Lorelei is just after his money. When Lorelei goes on a cruise accompanied only by her best friend, Dorothy Shaw (Jane Russell), Esmond Sr. hires Ernie Malone (Elliott Reid), a private detective, to follow her and report any questionable behavior that would disqualify her from the marriage.

MORE INFO

TICKETS

TUESDAY, JUNE 9th

FREELANCING IN FILM: INTRO TO ART DEPARTMENT

[INDUSTRY PANEL SERIES]

This series intends to open a dialog between professionals in a variety of departments and filmmakers looking to break into the industry. The Industry Panel Series will follow a question and answer format, allowing audience members to seek advice and panelists to share experiences from their careers.

Topic: Intro to Art Department
Roles within the department, finding gigs, commercial versus independent projects.

Featured Panelists: Hannah Scout Dunaway, Isabella Werschky, Zach Thomas, and Jordan Han.

Admission is free and open to all, but space is limited. Please RSVP in advance.

MORE INFO

RSVP

MONDAY, JUNE 15th

PARIS IS BURNING (1990)

[IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE GRAND RAPIDS PRIDE CENTER]

Where does voguing come from, and what, exactly, is throwing shade? This landmark documentary provides a vibrant snapshot of the 1980s through the eyes of New York City’s African American and Latinx Harlem drag ball scene. Made over seven years, Paris Is Burning offers an intimate portrait of rival fashion “houses,” from fierce contests for trophies, to house mothers offering sustenance in a world rampant with homophobia and transphobia, racism, AIDS, and poverty. Featuring legendary voguers, drag queens, and trans women—including Willi Ninja, Pepper LaBeija, Dorian Corey, and Venus Xtravaganza—Paris Is Burning brings it, celebrating the joy of movement, the force of eloquence, and the draw of community.

MORE INFO

TICKETS

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17th

OPEN PROJECTOR NIGHT

[SUPPORT MICHIGAN INDEPENDENT FILM]

Celebrate short films with Open Projector Night! A recurring event that presents the work of local, regional, and national filmmakers with a connection to Michigan, in either content, location, or crew. Enjoy a diverse range of screenings from narrative work, animation, music videos, documentary to experimental pieces. After the event, participate in a question and answer panel with the filmmakers and vote for your favorite short film.

MORE INFO

TICKETS

MONDAY, JUNE 29th

MOVIE TRIVIA IN A MOVIE THEATER

[THE CORRECT PLACE TO PLAY MOVIE TRIVIA]

You and your team (minimum 1, maximum 6 people) will spread out among the classic theater seats while questions light up the big screen! Expect a mix of classic trivia rounds and creative film-themed activities featuring special guests, props, and a few surprises along the way.

Concessions will be open for all your snack and drink needs as you compete throughout the night. Prizes will be given out frequently, but only our top team will take the grand prize: your team name engraved on our custom winners plaque!

Gather your film-buff friends, your parents, or anyone who loves a good challenge, and come connect with fellow movie lovers in our community! We just ask that you please reserve tickets in advance, and make sure that ALL your teammates buy a ticket before it sells out.

It’s movie trivia, in a movie theater… obviously.

MORE INFO

TICKETS

Tickets for all events— and more— are available now at GRFILM.ORG.

(Tickets cost $2 more at the door; save time and money by buying online!)

Tell your friends. We hope to see you there!

Our Website

The Wealthy Theatre

Submit for OPEN PROJECTOR NIGHT

TOMORROW, FRIDAY (5/29), you are cordially invited to our 20th Anniversary soirée screening of SOFIA COPPOLA’S MARIE ANTOINETTE (2006).

We ask that you arrive early to not only get your preferred seats and concessions, but also so you can enjoy our PRE-SHOW PARTY and VENDOR’S MARKET! Likewise, you’ll want to make sure you have enough time to see everyone’s costumes, as they are highly encouraged.

We will be on our usual schedule which means doors will open promptly at 7:00pm before the film begins at 8:00pm.

Check out the full breakdown of the event below...

FRIDAY, MAY 29th: MARIE ANTOINETTE

DOORS & PRE-SHOW PARTY: 7:00pm | MOVIE: 8:00 PM

COSTUMES ENCOURAGED

While there will not be a formal costume contest, we would still love to see as many folks dressed up as possible. Period garb is not required — only whatever makes you feel fancy.

It is a soirée after all!

VENDOR’S MARKET:

CHARTREUSE SISTERS

Our friends at Chartreuse Sisters will be offering perfect pastry companions to the film with a selection of special cupcakes and macarons.

FOX NATURALS

Fox Naturals, known for their botanical perfumes and other creations that make you go ‘oh wow, that smells incredible,’ have crafted THREE (3) exclusive fragrances just for the event. Their “Marie Antoinette” is both floral and complex, “Let Them Eat Cake” fittingly features notes of toasted almond, buttercream, and more...and, finally, “Versailles” is a breath of fresh, regal air with peach, peony, and violet. But don’t take our word for it — come smell ‘em yourself!

HYSSOP FLORAL

The film is overflowing with flowers and floral patterns, so it’s a must that the folks at Hyssop Floral be on-hand with an offering of their gorgeous floral hair fasteners and bouquets.

RITUAL WINES

And finally, a partnership long in the making! Some of the team from Ritual Wines will be in attendance to pour glasses of a sparkling wine they specially selected for this screening that comes straight from Marie Antoinette’s Austrian homeland.

We cannot wait to host you all tomorrow evening in celebration of this iconic work, a landmark in Sofia Coppola’s career.

Tickets are available now on our website (and they’re $2 cheaper than at the door)!

TICKETS

MORE INFO

See you tomorrow night! Tell your friends!

Our Website

The Wealthy Theatre

Submit for OPEN PROJECTOR NIGHT

[EDITED BY: SPENCER EVERHART & GRIFFIN SHERIDAN]

Welcome back to BEAM FROM THE BOOTH, the official newsletter of the GRAND RAPIDS FILM SOCIETY!

We hope you all had a great holiday weekend and now find yourselves rested and ready for the events we have planned for you this week!

First, TOMORROW (5/27) at 7:00pm, we’re pleased to host another one of our signature free social events, the FILM SOCIETY ROUNDTABLE! This time of year always sees a slew of new releases in theaters and new productions getting off the ground at all levels of filmmaking. Whether you’re just a film fan or a filmmaker, there is room for you to share in conversation with likeminded individuals at this gathering. Join us!

Then, THIS FRIDAY (5/29) at 8:00pm, we’re pleased to host a 20th ANNIVERSARY SOIRÉE SCREENING of SOFIA COPPOLA’S MARIE ANTOINETTE! Check out our promo below, and be on the look out for an event preview in just a couple days for a full breakdown of what to expect come Friday evening. The most important thing to know? Costumes are highly encouraged — period garb not required, only whatever makes you feel fancy!

The aforementioned spring/summer movie season is officially upon us, and few people embody this phenomenon better than Tom Cruise. Kipp De Man has provided us with an excellent look at one of Cruise’s most defining roles in Maverick from Top Gun, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. Check it out...

CRUISE AS MAVERICK, MAVERICK AS CRUISE: TOP GUN AT 40

[BY: KIPP DE MAN]

If Tom Cruise is — as a swathe of popular discourse suggests — our last genuine Hollywood movie star, it leads one to wonder what exactly grants him the distinction. Perhaps it is his decades-long career and recent efforts to promote theatre-going and big screen moviemaking despite its challenges (for better or worse). Or perhaps media outlets are simply reaching for something thoughtful to say about him, yielding occasional insight.

While each of these explanations are notable, I do not find them to be sufficient justification for a distinction that I think Tom Cruise probably deserves. This is because they only explain the spectacle of Cruise, the impressiveness of his filmography, talent, and body. What is missing is a notion of the emotional resonance of Cruise’s stardom — the essence or persona his roles cohere into. I would suggest that the best place to parse Cruise’s resonance is the Top Gun franchise, the proleptic trilogy that also uniquely narrativizes Cruise’s own experience.

Top Gun (1986) released in the early stages of Cruise’s career, one that was then aimed at prestige stardom — the kind of celebrity founded on recognition of talent (primarily awards) and box office success, both of which he received repeatedly. Cruise’s character in Top Gun, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, is typical of his roles and seemingly his ethos at that time, a navy pilot so talented that greatness is inevitable and thoughtfulness is merely an inconvenience to fulfilling one’s potential. Volatile but also contagiously energetic, relentlessly committed, and ultimately successful.

But then, 2005: Scientology, media missteps, backlash. As critic Amy Nicholson summarizes, Cruise’s “image-upending 2005” led to him transforming into the action star we now know him as, leaving behind his hopes of prestige stardom in favor of public appeasement. “[It was] Cruise doing what he never wanted to do, and giving up on earning credibility with his talent in favor of earning it with painful stunts. To win back the people’s favor, he had to forsake the career he wanted—but at least if he sold out, he was doing it on his own terms.”

Thus, the next twenty or so years of Cruise, best represented by the Mission: Impossible franchise (1996-2025) — at least, until 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick, where his stunt work and talent are grounded by the retelling of his career embedded in the narrative. If the first Top Gun presents what seems to be a strangely close resemblance in personality between Cruise and Maverick, its sequel doubles down on the comparison by mirroring Cruise’s career with Maverick’s.

One of the best examples of this is in Top Gun: Maverick’s opening minutes, wherein Admiral Chester Cain (Ed Harris) chastises Maverick for insubordination: “Thirty-plus years of service. Combat medals. Citations. Only man to shoot down three enemy plans in the last forty years. ‘Distinguished.’ ‘Distinguished.’ ‘Distinguished.’ Yet you can’t get a promotion, you won’t retire, and despite your best efforts you refuse to die.You should be at least a two-star admiral by now, if not a senator.” This line alone effectively summarizes both Cruise and Maverick’s careers. Despite his early promise and subsequent success, Maverick has more or less stagnated. Similarly, Cruise has accrued accolades, box office success, public popularity, and a distinguished filmography, but rather than stepping into his next award-winning role, he is making a legacy sequel to an action blockbuster from better times. Cruise/Maverick’s sheer talent is seemingly the only thing keeping him afloat in a world that has failed to properly recognize him.

As Maverick walks out, Cain throws one last jeer: “The end is inevitable, Maverick. Your kind is headed for extinction.” To which Maverick replies: “But not today, sir.” The rest of the film goes on to uphold that defiant confidence, not only demonstrating that Maverick is still the best pilot but also portraying the development and healing of key relationships for Maverick. It is not only that his talent is finally recognized and brought to fruition, but that the process of doing so leads to intimacy, and in this way suggesting that — given time — even a renegade like Cruise/Maverick can find belonging and forgiveness in a place (an industry) he thought was no longer his home.

Therein, I think, lies the emotional appeal of Tom Cruise, the reason for his continued success and resonance beyond his spectacle. Throughout his career, Cruise has played strivers with equal shares of talent and ambition, ones who take big risks, suffer some consequences, but find a way to win out with a life lesson or two. Since his breakthrough with 1983’s Risky Business, Cruise’s characters have often embodied this maturation earned through assertion and effort. But, as shown in the Top Gun franchise, this persistence can result in something beyond tidy, feel-good endings; instead, persistence can become a form of redemption, striving a way of life that eventually, inevitably results in fulfillment.

In this way, Cruise is a kind of American fantasy, the personification of the hope that, through effort, maybe we will not grow old, maybe we will always be enough for the task at hand, that maybe these setbacks are temporary, and that maybe time will recognize us for pressing forward. It is a dangerous idealism, as Cruise and many of his characters make clear. But I am not sure that it is incorrect — it might even be necessary. Fantastical as our hopes may be, or as misdirected and solipsistic as our efforts frequently are, there are, ultimately, few alternatives to trying. At his worst, Cruise personifies a reckless, immature live wire (like in the first Top Gun); but at his best (and best represented in Top Gun: Maverick), he is an icon of steady persistence, of not just carrying on but running, running, running ahead.

“The end is inevitable, Maverick. Your kind is headed for extinction.”

“But not today, sir.”

If you’d like to nominate someone else in the community for a future spotlight, please fill out this form. If you’d like to explore the archive of past Community Spotlights, click this link.

We appreciate you taking the time to read this installment of BEAM and truly hope you’ll continue to do so. Be sure to subscribe to get a new issue in your inbox every week.

Subscribe now

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Submit for OPEN PROJECTOR NIGHT

[EDITED BY: SPENCER EVERHART & GRIFFIN SHERIDAN]

Welcome back to BEAM FROM THE BOOTH, the official newsletter of the GRAND RAPIDS FILM SOCIETY!

We’ve got an exciting week ahead of us! It kicks off TONIGHT (5/18) at 7:30pm with our COMMUNITY PICK SCREENING of VIDEODROME (1983). You all will not want to miss this, especially those of you who participated in our Movie March Madness bracket earlier this spring. As is always the case with Cronenberg, it’s going to be an evening that is equal parts fun and disgusting. We outlined what you can expect in that event preview we sent you all this weekend. Go check that out for all the details regarding the run of show tonight if you haven’t already!

TOMORROW (5/19) at 7:00pm, we’re hosting another event in our INDUSTRY PANEL SERIES. Tomorrow’s event will still be focused on freelancing in film, specifically G&E and camera assistant roles. Like our last Industry Panel, this event will be hosted in the Koning Micro-Cinema (in Wealthy Theater) and is free to attend, though RSVPs are encouraged.

And finally, on THURSDAY (5/21) at 7:00pm, we are pleased to present the last event in this year’s season of MOVIES AT THE MUSEUM, our partnership with the GRAND RAPIDS ART MUSEUM. Together we have been bringing you free monthly screenings hosted at the GRAM, and this year, we highlighted the films of Terrence Malick. We have now reached his latest work, A HIDDEN LIFE (2019). Be sure to join us for this emotional film in a beloved local venue.

While we’re still just about a month away from our next Open Projector Night event, we are pleased to feature an interview with our most recent OPN Audience Vote winner, independent filmmaker Darius Quinn, in this issue. Enjoy — and be sure to follow Darius in all the important places!

FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT

DARIUS QUINN

OPEN PROJECTOR NIGHT - FEBRUARY 2026 AUDIENCE VOTE WINNER

[BY: NICHOLAS HARTMAN]

First and foremost, to our readers who don’t know who you are, who is Darius Quinn? Please tell us about yourself.

I am a writer/director from Kalamazoo, MI. My background is in poetry and visual arts, and in my early twenties I discovered how to intertwine those interests with cinema work.

I want to make this loud and clear: the Open Projector Night jury selected You Don’t Know What You’re Talking About as the Jury Award (congratulations!) before the Audience Vote even took place. Knowing that you won BOTH awards, how are you feeling about it all?

Honestly, crazy. Audience choice awards can be very tough because of entourages. And there were filmmakers from Grand Rapids there. I’m from out-of-town and didn’t have anyone with me except for my partner. So I didn’t expect to win that at all. It genuinely surprised me in the best of ways that the audience really kept an open mind.

I’m really happy about the jury award. You Don’t Know had a tough festival run, which confused and upset me because I was very proud of this film. And a lot of feedback I received was on how well it was produced, but nothing really noting why it didn’t make some festivals (which, I understand, that’s just how festivals work!). So for a jury of other filmmakers and film lovers to recognize our work was just really incredible. I was very happy for my cast/crew.

For those who haven’t seen You Don’t Know What You’re Talking About, please tell us about it.

You Don’t Know What You’re Talking About is about a poet set to perform at an open mic night and is surprised to learn that a lady friend will be in attendance. It was grant-funded under another idea with the same name, but the original script was a bit too much to take on without making too many compromises. So I re-wrote it and kept the title so I didn’t piss off the grant people, haha.

What was the inspiration behind your film, and why did you want to tell this particular story?

It’s sort of a true story; an experience I had in my early twenties when I still performed at poetry events. This film is highly embellished, but I really just wanted to do a short that centered on primarily one location with one central storyline.

As a filmmaker myself, I understand how difficult, stressful, and exciting making a film can be. Can you share some ups and downs you experienced through the process? When it comes to obstacles, can you share how you overcame them (if any)?

The primary location, the poetry hall, was actually a garage unit for a local coffee shop. We did a great set dec to jazz it up, and the location owners were incredibly kind. We shot the poetry hall scenes on the first day. Our other location takes place in a house, and the original location bailed on us DURING the shooting on the first day. So I had to think about alternatives while also finishing the day. The person who owned the first original house we were going to film in had concerns about the electric bill, concerns my camera team debunked, and I think ultimately they just didn’t want anyone in the apartment. Luckily my producer, Jasmine Childress, was on set and incredible at troubleshooting for me, so I didn’t have to worry about it at that very moment. I think the location we ended up using made for a great shot, I just changed the blocking.

I wish I had had maybe two more hours and a few more extras for the poetry hall scenes. I would have liked more coverage of the audience. The other obstacle was that we shot with a big vintage lens, which made the camera difficult to be mobile. And a lot of my blocking called for an extremely active camera. So I had to re-imagine the vision; I think it worked out.

To the filmmakers that are reading this interview and are setting out to make their first or next film, what advice would you give?

Oh, man. I’m not sure what to tell people. I guess the biggest thing I’ve learned is I stand up for myself/my vision better than I used to. I’m more confident to say “it’s not right,” or “it could be better” than I used to be. One compliment I got at OPN was that I had the confidence to leave my character out of focus, pacing in the background. Those decisions are easy for me now. If it feels good, I try not to question it. Trust your vision.

Open Projector Night is a Michigan based film series that highlights the talent we have in this state. Can you share with us how being in Michigan has helped shape you as a filmmaker?

I think my stories come from who I am as a resident. I’m not influenced by, say, New York, Chicago, or LA. I couldn’t tell you exactly how, but it’s just that making art where you grew up has its own subtle impact on you. If you listen to Nas’ Illmatic, you get a very vivid image of growing up in Queensbridge, NY. You don’t have to be from there to understand the imagery. And I like to think about being from Michigan — the weather, the small arts communities, local music, craft beer — I’d like to think those things have an impact on me. Even if I don’t consciously think about them.

Very generic question, but I must know: what’s your favorite film and why? If you don’t have a favorite, give me three that stand out to you and how/if they played a role in your creative process.

My all-time favorite is No Country for Old Men. I don’t think it shaped me as a filmmaker; I don’t make anything in that vein. But it did teach me that those abrupt endings are incredibly satisfying. It’s been my favorite film since 2009. Films that inspire the way I approach filmmaking would probably be Boogie Nights for its blocking and camera movement, Cold War (2018) for its pacing and photography, and maybe Moonlight for its blend of sensitivity and hard tones.

I feel like every filmmaker has that “spark” — that moment where they say to themselves, “Yes, this is what I want to do, I want to make films.” Did you have that moment, and if so, could you share it with us? If you didn’t have that moment, what made you want to make movies?

I was the supervisor at a movie theater, and I made a little video on how to properly do some tasks to show at a staff meeting. It was supposed to be a Powerpoint presentation, but that seemed boring. I think that’s when I said maybe I can direct. Before that, my background was in music and poetry. So I just found a way to blend that into my dialogue writing; I think I write easier than I direct.

What/who inspires Darius? What excites you to get out of bed in the morning?

I mostly get up because I have to, haha, I don’t know. I think I try not to put too much interest in other people because I think they’d disappoint me. I’m inspired by mostly non-filmmakers: fashion designers, athletic coaches, musicians...I get very inspired by creative minds as a whole.

This is a question I like to ask all our award-winning filmmakers. If you were able to make your dream film and had an unlimited budget, what would you make?

I have a feature I’ve written that I’d like to do. It’s about a relationship. It’s pretty contained, except there is a scene that involves a rocketship. I also have an idea for a musical (randomly enough) about a musician whose music begins to suffer when he falls in love.

What’s next for Darius? Anything exciting in the works?

I am in post-production for a short we wrapped mid-April. It’s a single shot for nine minutes. I get lucky to work with stage actors because they’re used to not having “cut” called. Still, it is anxiety inducing because you don’t get to cut. And one mess up eight minutes into the ninth minute means you have to redo the entire thing.

How do we stay up to date with you and your work? Any socials you want to share?

I’m trying to get better at posting. But people can follow me on Instagram @dariusmarquinn

Any words on your experience at Open Projector Night?

Grand Rapids shows me so much love. I got rejected from the first OPN I applied to, and I think it made me want to become a better filmmaker (I do love the film that didn’t make it though! Haha). There’s always a large variety of high quality work, and the community really invests in filmmaking. It’s genuinely always an honor to be part of these programs.

If you’d like to nominate someone else in the community for a future spotlight, please fill out this form. If you’d like to explore the archive of past Community Spotlights, click this link.

We appreciate you taking the time to read this installment of BEAM and truly hope you’ll continue to do so. Be sure to subscribe to get a new issue in your inbox every week.

Subscribe now

Plus, join us on social media, where the conversation is always happening, and you can get the most immediate updates from GRFS.

Join the GRFS Discord server

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GRFS on Facebook

Know someone you think will dig BEAM FROM THE BOOTH? Send them our way!

Share BEAM FROM THE BOOTH

And if YOU would like to contribute a piece to an upcoming issue, we highly encourage you to send us an inquiry.

BEAM SUBMISSIONS INQUIRY

Look for ISSUE #143 in your inbox NEXT WEEK!

Until then, friends...

Our Website

The Wealthy Theatre

Submit for OPEN PROJECTOR NIGHT

THIS MONDAY (5/18) we are pleased to host our highly anticipated COMMUNITY PICK SCREENING of DAVID CRONENBERG’S VIDEODROME (1983).

While the film will begin at our usual time, we highly encourage you to arrive early for our special PRE-SHOW EXPERIENCE!

Doors will open promptly at 6:30pm where you can peruse our fundraising silent auction and get your commemorative Videodrome cocktail cup. The pre-show kicks off at 7:30pm with special guests, prizes, and a special introduction from film critic and Cronenberg enthusiast ADAM NAYMAN (The Ringer, The Big Picture). The movie starts at 8:00pm.

Check out the full breakdown below...

MONDAY, MAY 18th: VIDEODROME

DOORS: 6:30pm | PRE-SHOW: 7:30pm | MOVIE: 8:00 PM

SILENT AUCTION

Bid on some incredible Videodrome and film-related items for our Wealthy Theatre Fundraiser including:

• Videodrome 35mm Film Slide

• Videodrome VHS

• Ghanaian Videodrome Poster

• Wealthy Theater Framed Prints

AND MORE!

Anyone who donates at least $25 will also be given the opportunity to sign our full sized Videodrome poster which will hang in the Wealthy Theatre lobby.

SPECIAL INTRODUCTION

Adam Nayman, famed Canadian film critic, will introduce the film via a pre-recorded message just for us.

CUSTOM VIDEODROME COCKTAIL

A Videodrome-themed cocktail served in a special commemorative cup.

Long Live The New Flesh!

PRIZES & SURPRISES

There will be additional prizes and rewards on the night, so you’ll want to be sure to be there right when doors open.

This is more than a movie night. It’s a celebration of the Movie March Madness bracket that led us here, our community, and the joys of watching films together. Thirty-two films entered. One emerged victorious. Now we watch it together!

Tickets are available now on our website (and they’re $2 cheaper than at the door)!

BUY TICKETS

MORE INFO

See you Monday! Tell your friends!

Our Website

The Wealthy Theatre

Submit for OPEN PROJECTOR NIGHT

[EDITED BY: SPENCER EVERHART & GRIFFIN SHERIDAN]

Welcome back to BEAM FROM THE BOOTH, the official newsletter of the GRAND RAPIDS FILM SOCIETY!

While we may be taking this week off from programming, we will be back with a vengeance next week with three events! We are kicking it all off NEXT MONDAY (5/18) at 8:00pm with our COMMUNITY PICK SCREENING of DAVID CRONENBERG’S VIDEODROME (1983).

As the winner of our Movie March Madness bracket, we couldn’t let this be our average screening. We’re pulling out all the stops to bring you an extensive PRE-SHOW EXPERIENCE featuring behind-the-scenes of the film itself, as well as a peek behind the curtain on the results of the bracket. The pre-show will begin promptly at 7:30pm, so be sure to arrive close to when doors open at 6:30pm so you may say hi, grab your snacks, and get your seats before the fun begins.

Likewise, this screening will serve as the kick-off to a week long fundraiser for Wealthy Theater. So, even if you were really pushing for The Hunger Games to take the top spot, we highly encourage you to join us for what will be a memorable evening in support of this cherished church of cinema!

Once again, a big thank you to all of you helped sell out all three screenings in our Star Wars original trilogy series. What a tremendous time at the movies! While those films are bedrock classics for many, some experienced these iconic films for the first time at these screenings — including our very own Breana Malloy. Now, she has composed some thoughts on her first viewing to share with all of us...

STAR WARS: A FIRST TIMER’S REVIEW

[BY: BREANA MALLOY]

Foreword (of sorts)

It took me almost three decades, but I finally did it: I watched the original Star Wars trilogy.

I attribute a significant portion of this excessive wait to the influence the story and characters have had on the cultural zeitgeist. This level of significance adds a feeling of pressure for a new viewer to immediately understand and appreciate its importance. I have put off something for far less, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity for my first viewing to be in a theater that I love.

Episode IV – A New Hope (1977)

I often hear people say they were “blown away” by Star Wars, so of course as I hear those first few starting notes of the score, I prepare myself to be amazed to see something I never have before; however, at the end of the film, I was left wanting more. I attribute this partially to not having much understanding of the galaxy and worlds the characters occupy but also with the characters.

Throughout the movie I had this feeling of deja vu, not because I had seen it before and simply forgotten, but because of the movie’s cultural significance and multi-generational impact on filmmaking. I realized that I had seen many elements of this film scattered throughout the years: between TV shows, movies, clips in my film classes, and other media sources. I had been exposed to Star Wars hundreds — maybe even thousands — of times, ultimately causing me to lose that sense of amazement during my first viewing that others may have felt. However, I still felt the sheer grandeur and magnitude of a movie made in the 1970s with such a high concept and (relatively) low budget.

I wish I could go back in time to watch it without the impact of outside factors, either at the time of its original release or when I was still a kid.

Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

This movie gave me more of the aforementioned amazement I was looking for. It felt bigger, has more world-building, and of course, action. My favorite part of this film had to be Luke’s training with Yoda. The way that the film doesn’t stage a loud, intense, and action-packed montage but instead shows his struggle and learning through focus, trust, and patience was impressive. I feel like this film is where we see Luke grow and change as a person, whereas in the first movie he was just beginning this process and coming into his true self.

Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (1983)

So much happens in this movie. SO. MUCH. Lucas and his team took no time before throwing us right into the action, which I actually enjoyed. However, there were so many characters and new landscapes introduced that, by the end of the film, I couldn’t keep it all straight. Yet, I am unsure if I would take any of it out. Each element served it’s purpose.

The only element of this film that bothered me was the clearly-altered CGI characters, specifically in Jabba the Hut’s palace. I love the PFX puppets and animatronic characters they created, so seeing CGI in a 1980s film that built out such a beautiful and practical world was disappointing. I know that the first two had some CGI alterations, but this was the most noticeable and the change that took away some of the film’s eclectic charm.

Final Thoughts

Although Lucas’ writing is at times a little clunky, he makes up for it with his ability to dream, imagine, and innovate as a filmmaker. The massive and ever-expanding world he created is remarkable. Lucas’ ability to see past one or even three films to create an expansive tale instead of attempting to pack everything into two hours is a significant contributor to his success. Immediately following the final screening, I found myself feeling like I needed more in the movies, unsure if I liked them...but after a few hours I found myself thinking more and more about it all: Luke and his training, Han and Leia’s budding romance, and my favorite duo, R2-D2 and C-3PO. This is when I understood the true impact and adoration for the series.

Now I feel like I must give you all a definitive answer to the question, “Did you like Star Wars?” and the answer is absolutely, yes, I loved it.

Bonus Thoughts:

• They would be screwed without R2-D2. He deserves far more praise.

• Luke NEEDS to start letting his friends know when he is planning to disappear after a huge battle.

• Are Han and Leia going to acknowledge the whole, “she kissed her brother” thing or...?

• We need to put C-3PO on wheels or something, because he runs so freaking slow. It stresses me out.

• I loved that the movie was action-packed without being filled with excessive gore.

• Do we ever get a translator for Chewbacca?

If you’d like to nominate someone else in the community for a future spotlight, please fill out this form. If you’d like to explore the archive of past Community Spotlights, click this link.

We appreciate you taking the time to read this installment of BEAM and truly hope you’ll continue to do so. Be sure to subscribe to get a new issue in your inbox every week.

Subscribe now

Plus, join us on social media, where the conversation is always happening, and you can get the most immediate updates from GRFS.

Join the GRFS Discord server

GRFS on Letterboxd

GRFS on Instagram

GRFS on Facebook

Know someone you think will dig BEAM FROM THE BOOTH? Send them our way!

Share BEAM FROM THE BOOTH

And if YOU would like to contribute a piece to an upcoming issue, we highly encourage you to send us an inquiry.

BEAM SUBMISSIONS INQUIRY

Look for ISSUE #142 in your inbox NEXT WEEK!

Until then, friends...

Our Website

The Wealthy Theatre

Submit for OPEN PROJECTOR NIGHT

[EDITED BY: SPENCER EVERHART & GRIFFIN SHERIDAN]

Welcome back to BEAM FROM THE BOOTH, the official newsletter of the GRAND RAPIDS FILM SOCIETY!

May the Fourth be with you, friends. A reminder to all those who will be celebrating with us later TONIGHT: our SOLD OUT screening of STAR WARS: RETURN OF THE JEDI starts at 8:00pm, with doors opening at 7:00pm. We encourage you to arrive early, not just to ensure you and your party get the snacks and seats you want, but also so you don’t miss out on the COSTUME CONTEST we’ll be hosting before the film starts as well! It’s going to be a fun evening as we reach the thrilling conclusion of our journey through the Star Wars original trilogy, and we can’t wait to see you all there.

And now, we’re excited to showcase the return of our ongoing “Production Parables” column — focusing on the processes of filmmaking and cinematic art-making (stories, experiences, advice, insights, and everything in-between) — with this week’s incredible piece by new contributor Ellery Bryan. Please enjoy their feature essay below.

PRODUCTION PARABLES

ON CURIOSITY

[BY: ELLERY BRYAN]

Your curiosity is a function of your spirit that can sustain the entire cycle of your life if you let it. Curiosity is a skill you can build. You can learn how to look and begin to notice everywhere. This is the defining feature of people who think like artists — activating the operation of sight and inventing a logic of significance that applies to every mundane scene of one’s life. It can come alive on your daily commute or on a bad date. Curiosity has no investment in providing ultimate closure and has the capacity to synthesize all of the moving parts that came before it. It is democratic and dynamic. Most importantly, it is yours — a conversation you are in with yourself and your environment.

There is a hegemonic push for legibility that waters down vital intimate dialectics. A demand for a story to make sense to a broad consumer base in order to justify the resources it takes to make it necessarily dissolves some exactitude in its applications for a given ingroup. You are not for everybody and neither should be your artwork. This would be a bad sign. A single political party cannot possibly represent both the interests of the working and the owning classes. Artwork that transgresses and speaks from its own voice will lose something in translation to people who cannot identify its contents. This may acquaint you with what seems at first blush like failure or obscurity. It is unspeakably worthwhile to spend your life sinking effort into your insular world, populated as it may be by one or two or three friends. Maybe your friends have friends who also need them. This is how a network becomes buoyed through global crisis to engage with broader collective meaning and allows us to be brave. The innate value of your singular connections is not too small to legitimize your every effort. It is crucial for the survival of all marginalized people to see their experiences validated by enriching representation, provided that is not where our labor ends. My experience is not your experience. We might need different or overlapping voices to sustain us. We both deserve to be here.

Here is how I would describe my creative practice: I consume as much fine art and written theory about human experience as I have the time for. Frequently, people in my life provide some direction through suggestions or their own artworks that I find inspiring. If I am stuck, I am not looking at enough work. I gravitate toward themes that I find significant and related to autobiographical phenomena: language, memory, loss, desire. I join those concepts with physical objects that act as symbols, and I surround myself with them in all of the common spaces that I inhabit. I fill rooms with materials that compose easily into footage of still lives and recorded interactions, and I let time and light and inspiration work over weeks and months. I hang lenses in windows and buy color slides of volcanoes and use projectors as lamps. If I look at these passively all the time, eventually an idea will strike. I have to incorporate beauty into the texture of my life because it inspires me. I keep cameras on hand so that there is no excuse to put things off due to fatigue or discouragement. I remember that I will have no idea whether an image is good or usable until it is developed. This gives me some freedom to try things. I structure my life so that I can act upon realizations quickly which arise through a larger project of inspecting my own interests and reactions on a daily basis. Eventually I am able to synthesize these images and their underlying concepts into a film that has likely evolved entirely from whatever intention I initially possessed. A film about love becomes a film about how I perceive my relation to my life.

You should not be afraid to take your time to figure things out. When I make my films, I am often working in specified landscapes that I discover and return to over time and domestic spaces that are constantly shifting. Sometimes it takes looking at something for three seasons or three years to understand how objects, spaces, and my own body can gesture toward something that I have felt, considered, or experienced. I have been trying to record a compelling performance with an icicle since 2019, and I’m not sure I’ve done it yet. I might need a couple more years. I try to let it have its way with me.

Our lives take place in the theater of sensing and feeling. This is why it is swells of emotion that tie us to our defining moments. Artwork’s affective nature is what makes it indispensable to human experience. Emotion encodes memory, which constructs meaning that becomes narrativized through language. All reason is hyper-personal, even if it calls upon others’ with the instrumentalization of ambiguity. You can only run your hands across the inside of your corner of the universe for as long as you are living. No matter how close we become, we will never see the inside of any other. Your conscious pursuit is worthwhile whether people remember what you made or whether you finish anything at all. Learning to think and feel with curiosity for the duration of your existence is the point, indifferent to outcome. You should regard the world around you with receptivity. You should have interests that drive you to figure things out using creative and critical means. Open-ended assignments should lead you to your internal compass. When you are not provided with prompts, your curiosity should guide your process for you. You should build a language only you know so that you never run out of things to discuss with the earth. You can think of this as research.

We appreciate you taking the time to read this installment of BEAM and truly hope you’ll continue to do so. Be sure to subscribe to get a new issue in your inbox every week.

Subscribe now

Plus, join us on social media, where the conversation is always happening, and you can get the most immediate updates from GRFS.

Join the GRFS Discord server

GRFS on Letterboxd

GRFS on Instagram

GRFS on Facebook

Know someone you think will dig BEAM FROM THE BOOTH? Send them our way!

Share BEAM FROM THE BOOTH

And if YOU would like to contribute a piece to an upcoming issue, we highly encourage you to send us an inquiry.

BEAM SUBMISSIONS INQUIRY

Look for ISSUE #141 in your inbox NEXT WEEK!

Until then, friends...

Our Website

The Wealthy Theatre

Submit for OPEN PROJECTOR NIGHT

32 films entered, only one emerged victorious. DAVID CRONENBERG’S VIDEODROME conquered all in our Movie March Madness bracket, as voted on by YOU! Join us at The Wealthy Theater on MONDAY, MAY 18th for this special event. Come early for our pre-show fundraiser to celebrate the film, the bracket, and the amazing community that we are all a part of.

Later this month, on FRIDAY, MAY 29th, we are pleased to host a 20th ANNIVERSARY celebration of writer/director SOFIA COPPOLA’S MARIE ANTOINETTE with a special soirée screening! We're hosting a pre-show party, and costumes are HIGHLY encouraged, so don't forget to arrive early to enjoy tunes from the film's iconic soundtrack while perusing goodies from a variety of local vendors in Wealthy Theater's lobby.

Now, check out the full line-up for the month!

MONDAY, MAY 4th

STAR WARS: EPISODE VI - RETURN OF THE JEDI (1983)

[MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU COSTUME PARTY]

Join Grand Rapids Film Society for a celebration of the original Star Wars Trilogy on the BIG SCREEN! This special May the Fourth screening will feature a costume contest before the film — so come dressed in your finest robes, Trooper armor, and/or Chanel boots.

In the epic climax of the original trilogy, Luke Skywalker faces Darth Vader in a final duel.

The first two events in our journey through the Star Wars trilogy SOLD OUT completely, so if you’re hoping to join us, we highly encourage purchasing tickets in advance.

MORE INFO

TICKETS

MONDAY, MAY 18th

VIDEODROME (1983)

[COMMUNITY PICK - MOVIE MARCH MADNESS WINNER]

First it controls your mind. Then it destroys your body.

As the president of a trashy TV channel, Max Renn is desperate for new programming to attract viewers. When he happens upon “Videodrome,” a TV show dedicated to gratuitous torture and punishment, Max sees a potential hit and broadcasts the show on his channel. However, after his girlfriend auditions for the show and never returns, Max investigates the truth behind Videodrome and discovers that the graphic violence may not be as fake as he thought.

MORE INFO

TICKETS

TUESDAY, MAY 19th

FREELANCING IN FILM: G&E AND CAMERA ASSISTANT PANEL

[INDUSTRY PANEL SERIES]

Introducing the Industry Panel Series.

This series intends to open a dialog between professionals in a variety of departments and filmmakers looking to break into the industry. The Industry Panel Series will follow a question and answer format, allowing audience members to seek advice and panelists to share experiences from their careers.

May 19th - G&E and Camera Assistant Panel: Finding gigs, setting day rates, when and how to build a kit.

Featuring Panelists: Jordan Skutar | Connor Hawkins

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THURSDAY, MAY 21st

A HIDDEN LIFE (2019)

[MOVIES AT THE MUSEUM, PRESENTED WITH GRAND RAPIDS ART MUSEUM]

On the occasion of the exhibition The Matter of Awe: Landscapes in Art, the Grand Rapids Art Museum and the Grand Rapids Film Society are collaborating to celebrate the work of filmmaker Terrence Malick, with a film retrospective honoring his lifelong devotion and attention toward nature and the landscape — available to our community for free (with prior registration requested).

In A Hidden Life, Austrian farmer Franz Jägerstätter faces the threat of execution for refusing to fight for the Nazis during World War II.

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WEDNESDAY, MAY 27th

FILM SOCIETY ROUNDTABLE

[FREE SOCIAL EVENT]

What is a Film Society Roundtable?
At a Roundtable event, you split up into groups of around 10 people. A moderator will help facilitate conversation and take notes. In your group, you will all be offered equal opportunities to talk. It is a networking event as well as a support group. Groups will have around an hour and a half to meet your fellow group members, talk about issues you are having, ideas for the community, or just share a fun story or opinion on a movie. An opportunity to connect, learn, and share - for anyone in the GR film community.

Must Register!
For the upcoming Film Society Roundtable, we will be having you register by field of interest (ie. filmmaking, cinephiles, and screenwriting). This is for our team to gauge the audience’s interest and set up the groups accordingly. If you just want to come and don’t have a particular interest - just choose general admission. You are welcome to change groups the night-of or for future events.

Space is limited, please RSVP in advance.

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FRIDAY, MAY 29th

MARIE ANTOINETTE (2006)

[20th ANNIVERSARY SOIREE]

The retelling of France's iconic but ill-fated queen, Marie Antoinette. From her betrothal and marriage to Louis XVI at 14 to her reign as queen at 19 and to the end of her reign as queen, and ultimately the fall of Versailles.

*Costumes highly encouraged.

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TICKETS

Tickets for all events— and more— are available now at GRFILM.ORG.

(Tickets cost $2 more at the door; save time and money by buying online!)

Tell your friends. We hope to see you there!

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The Wealthy Theatre

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