With movie theaters across the country temporarily closed due to the ongoing pandemic, film distributors face the difficult task of finding a middle ground between moving directly to rentals or streaming and the big-screen hopes they’d had for their projects. In some cases, this has led distributors to partner with indie theaters — New York’s BAM has several partnerships at present, for example. What this comes down to is enabling film buffs to watch movies at home and still have part of the price of a ticket benefit their local theater — a good way to keep those theaters functioning during a difficult time.
Distributor Focus Features recently announced a slightly different spin on the idea of home screenings benefitting an industry that’s temporarily paused. They’ll be screening films for free on their Facebook page each Monday in the month of April. Dubbed “Focus Movie Mondays,” the initiative is designed as a way to raise money for the Entertainment Industry Foundation’s COVID 19 Response Fund.
As for the 4 films chosen, Focus has opted for a quartet of beloved films from their library: Robert Altman’s Gosford Park (airing April 6), Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom (airing April 13), Kevin Smith’s Mallrats (airing April 20) and Paweł Pawlikowski’s My Summer of Love (airing April 27). Each screening will begin at 8 PM EST.
In addition to the whole “watch a good movie for free” factor, several of the films will be joined by the filmmakers for a Q & A. Both Anderson and Gosford Park screenwriter Julian Fellowes will respond to questions about their films in advance, while Smith will host the screening of Mallrats live.
All told, it looks like a pretty solid way to spend a Monday night — and raise some money for a good cause in the process.
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