Genre: Documentary

Directors. Dorks. Deviants. This ain’t no Multiplex.

It’s the 10th anniversary of Out of Print, so we’re bringing it back to The Frida Cinema! And make sure to stick around after the film, as we’ll be joined by the director of the film, Julia Marchese, for a very special in-person Q&A!

Out of Print is catnip for anyone who has ever fallen in love with a movie theater. Director Julia Marchese’s affectionate documentary celebrates the dying, and now thankfully enduring, art of repertory cinema and 35mm film exhibition through the legendary New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles. Featuring interviews with filmmakers and cinephiles including Edgar Wright, Rian Johnson, Joe Dante, Patton Oswalt, Kevin Smith, and more, it’s both a time capsule of a pivotal moment in film history and a passionate defense of seeing movies the way they were meant to be seen.

Ten states. 10,825 miles. 123 theaters.

In his latest feature The Last Picture Shows, filmmaker Rustin Thompson (who will be joining us for an in-person Q&A after the movie!) journeys into the American West on a search for traces of what was once a center of small-town life: the movie theater.

On the trip, he finds long abandoned and forgotten cinemas; movie houses that have fallen into disrepair; theaters recently closed, theaters struggling to hold on, and theaters that—thanks to their thoughtful caretakers—are not only surviving but thriving.

Between the stops along the way, Rustin poetically intersperses excerpts from Peter Bogdanovich’s 1971 classic film The Last Picture Show, as well as reflections on past and present hardships facing the film exhibition industry. The Last Picture Shows reminds viewers that even in vast cinema deserts, there are oases of community and gathering that remain, where the movie house continues to be a place of wonder.

The Frida Cinema is teaming up with our friends at VAALA to screen the critically acclaimed documentary Jimmy in Saigon! And stick around after the screening for a special conversation with the director of the film, Peter McDowell!

Jimmy in Saigon begins as a personal exploration into the mysterious death and radical life of Jimmy McDowell, an American 24-year-old Vietnam veteran who died as a civilian in Saigon in 1972, when filmmaker Peter McDowell was only five. While investigating Jimmy’s drug use and sexuality, Peter takes us from the US Midwest to Vietnam, France and back home again. In his quest to get to know his brother, he uncovers a hidden romance, new family ties and a remarkable global love story.

Coroner to the Stars, the new documentary about the life and controversial career of Dr. Thomas Noguchi, is coming to The Frida Cinema for a special one night only event! And make sure to stick around after the screening, as director Ben Hethcoat and producer Billy Ray Brewton join us for a Q&A!

The doc chronicles Noguchi, whose celebrity autopsies forever shaped American culture. From Marilyn Monroe and Robert Kennedy to Sharon Tate and Natalie Wood, Dr. Noguchi’s death investigations pushed forensic science into the spotlight, even as Hollywood elites and political adversaries sought to silence him. A Japanese American who unwittingly rose to fame in a city driven by stardom, Noguchi’s commitment to “tell it like it is” often put him within the crosshairs of controversy.