#Sxsw gaming indie corner 2017 game list movie#
Linklater, who was born in Houston and got his film education watching movie marathons at the River Oaks, said the arts are a “community campfire where we all share experiences, interpretations of the world. Vaughan, who’s also part of a group, the Royal Mystic Order of Chaos, that every month had acted out the cult classic “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” at midnight showings, said what also motivated him was that the theater was a “safe space for queer youth” who got to be themselves at those midnight screenings. “Sometimes … we weren’t sure if it could be saved,” said Sarah Gish, who along with Vaughan was part of the group Friends of River Oaks Theatre.
They met every week by Zoom, inundated the mayor’s office with emails and calls and held a charity benefit show and other events.
In Houston, after the theater closed in March 2021, “a little army” of supporters banded together. The cultural and creative sectors were among the hardest hit by the pandemic, with over 10 million jobs lost worldwide in 2020, according to UNESCO’s report. While the River Oaks Theatre got a reprieve, other places and groups throughout the world that showcase the arts and culture - a contemporary dance company in Toronto, a popular acting troupe in Madrid - weren’t as fortunate. But the new operator is expected to preserve its Art Deco architecture and what made it offbeat, including midnight movies. The theater, which might reopen by the end of the year, will get various upgrades. Last month, Star Cinema Grill, a Houston-area theater chain, announced it would reopen the River Oaks and keep it “true to its soul.” It opened in 1939 and for the last 45 years had been an art house theater showcasing independent and foreign cinema. “What the COVID-19 pandemic teaches societies is that, in times of crisis, culture is a major resource for resilience, connection and recovery … It is a global public good that needs to be fully protected and promoted for the benefit of humanity,” said a report released last month by UNESCO, the U.N.’s culture agency. The closure of movie theaters, museums, concert halls - places of creating and sharing - throughout the world during the pandemic has highlighted the important role arts and culture play as a public good that supports people’s well-being during struggle. “I just don’t think it’s worth it when you come out the other side, there isn’t art, there isn’t something to look forward to.” It becomes really easy on your little hierarchy of needs to say no right now, we just need to survive,” Vaughan said.
Kyle Vaughan, one of those behind the effort to save the River Oaks Theatre, said with everything that was happening in the world, it would have been easy to say no to this endeavor.īut for Vaughan and those trying to save the theater, the pandemic wasn’t just about basic survival centered around food and shelter and good health, but also about trying to prevent another loss, one of a treasured place that was an artistic and cultural touchstone as well as a place of community for many in Houston. HOUSTON (AP) - After a historic Houston theater seemingly closed for good last year due to economic challenges from the coronavirus pandemic, its supporters - including film lovers, preservationists and directors Richard Linklater and Wes Anderson - got to work to try and revive it.īut they also grappled with whether they should be doing this amid a worldwide crisis in which people were dying or suffering economically.
0 kommentar(er)
