My latest documentary, The Last Reel, is now available to watch online (below).
The film documents the Plaza Maplewood Theater’s final days prior to handing its keys over to a neighboring megachurch. It’s at times a sad film; it’s Minnesotan; it’s an ode; it’s got some 35mm, an old projection booth, some animation, some religion, some Sam Raimi and Evil Dead — it’s about community. It feels like it could be any town with a small movie theater going through change.
Before editing, I sat on the footage for a few years (it was filmed in 2013), because I was freelancing on other projects, but the distance provided some perspective in regards to our current place of digital cinema, streaming, and the plethora of screens available, etc. This documentary is special to me, too, because it’s about a theater I went to as a kid. Theaters and movies have been a part of my life (leisure, work, and creative); they’re very important to me. The movie theater, a communal experience of the darkened room and light on the screen and the act of watching cinema, have also had a profound influence on my current project, Goblin (which I’m currently trying to crowdfund).
Today is the first day that The Last Reel is available publicly. I hope you enjoy it! And please remember our crowdfunding campaign; we need your support –>