For the first time in nearly 40 years, the Alhambra Theatre is screening new movies.
(Photo by Jennifer P. Brown)
This week local audiences can see two films that are up for Academy Awards on Sunday.
The first is “Harriet,” starring Cynthia Erivo as Harriet Tubman, the American slave who escaped and became known as the conductor of the Underground Railroad. It will show at 4 p.m. Thursday and noon Friday. The movie is rated PG-13.
The Friday showing of “Harriet” will have about 400 local students in the audience; the film is a lesson that fits with the observance of Black History Month and this year’s centennial celebration of women’s suffrage. Tubman was a leader in the suffrage movement. The general public is also welcome for the noon Friday showing. The theater seats 650 people.
The second movie is “Judy,” starring Renee Zellweger as Judy Garland. It shows at 7 p.m. Thursday, and it’s also rated PG-13
Admission to the Alhambra movies is $5.
“I think this is the way we need to move — to show some more independent films that might not come to Hopkinsville otherwise,” said Margaret Prim, executive director of the Pennyroyal Arts Council.
Zellweger has already received a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role.
Both Erivo and Zellweger are nominated the Academy Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role.
The Alhambra ended its run as a commercial movie house in 1983 and transitioned to a performing arts center managed by the arts council. (The county has owned the theater property since the Alhambra was constructed in 1928.)
Movies were not shown in the downtown theater again until 2013, when the arts council obtained grants to purchase equipment that projects movies from a digital format. For the past seven years, the arts council has shown a range of classic films, from the popular “It’s a Wonderful Life” each year at Christmas to “Toy Story 4” for elementary school students.
The main goal in showing first-run movies is to attract larger audiences, said Prim.
It’s feasible to offer new movies because the cost to the arts council is not much greater than it is for classics. A classic film costs the arts council about $325 and a new release runs about $350 to $375, said Prim.
Some patrons are planning to see both movies on Thursday and will make a evening of it by having a dinner break in between the two showings. Anyone who wants to bring their dinner is welcome to sit and eat in the Alhambra’s Hall between the shows, said Prim. Concessions will also be available.
The arts council’s movie committee is open to hearing suggestions for other movies this year, said Prim. Suggestions can be sent to Prim by email.
(Jennifer P. Brown is the editor and founder of Hoptown Chronicle. Reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org.)
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. She spent 30 years as a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition.
