Wednesday, April 14, 2004

Library offers film screenings

Peachtree City residents watched with sadness as Westpark Walk Cinemas was torn down last week. Gone the hope that someone would come save it as a cultural arts center, gone the hope that an "angel" would turn it into an entertainment complex with foreign films and stages for live performances.

While the movie theater had been closed for the last few years, it has not been the only hope in this town for film enthusiasts. The Peachtree City Library has been attempting to provide the "and a movie" part of "dinner and a movie" to the community for over a year now.

It's a quiet little secret, as are many treasures in the public library. But since obtaining an umbrella license in 2003 (renewed in 2004), the library has been able to provide public showings of a variety of films. The only catch with the license is that the library is not allowed to publish the movie schedules. So the only advertisement has been in-house flyers and the front lobby's bulletin board. In addition to the in-house promotion, the library has developed an e-mailing list that sends out brief descriptions of scheduled films along with reminders for date and time.

What kinds of movies get shown at the public library? The 2003 lineup included such films as Roberto Begnini's Life is Beautiful; a nice little Australian flick starring Sam Neill called The Dish; the heart-warming Iranian film, The Children of Heaven; and the off-beat favorite Muriel's Wedding.

The films are shown on the second and fourth Saturdays of the month at 7 p.m. Admission is free. Bring your own popcorn! For more information, contact film coordinator Rebecca Watts at the Peachtree City Library 770-631-2520.