Here’s a great holiday gift suggestion for Silicon Valley movie lovers: membership in the the Camera Cinema Club. I’ve been enjoying the Cinema Camera Club for fourteen years now – and it all started with a gift from The Wife!
It’s your chance to see ten as yet unreleased films for $160 per year (and it’s less than $160 right now because the Club’s 21st season has already started). There’s usually an post-screening Q&A with a filmmaker, either live or via Skype. It’s like seeing ten movies at a film festival – except it’s a manageable one per month instead of all at once.
The movies range from indie gems to Oscar Bait and are selected by Tim Sika, recently President of the San Francisco Film Critics Circle. Sika is the host and producer of the movie magazine radio show Celluloid Dreams and also reviews movies for KGO radio.
Here’s how it works. The club meets monthly on Sundays at Campbell’s Camera 7 in the morning and again in the afternoon (you pick which session to attend). After a movie trivia contest (winners get movie schwag), the house lights go off and a movie appears on the screen. Until this moment, we don’t know which movie it is. The mystery is part of the club’s appeal, and, as a result, I’ve seen some wonderful films that I otherwise never would have chosen to see. Afterward, Sika leads a discussion about the film – almost always with at least one of the filmmakers.
You can can sign up here. It’s 10 events for $160 – a film festival on the installment plan. You can also buy a four-movie punch card or pay for an individual screening. The Camera Cinema Club is one of my Best Movie Deals in Silicon Valley.
I first saw my pick for the top movie of 2010, Winter’s Bone (four Oscar nominations, including for Jennifer Lawrence’s breakthrough performance), at the Camera Cinema Club. Here are some other Cinema Club films that have made my Best of the Year lists:
45 Years, Take Me to the River, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, I’ll See You in My Dreams, Two Days One Night, Alive Inside, Bernie, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Rabbit Hole, Project Nim, The Messenger, The Tillman Story, Wendy and Lucy, Goodbye Solo, Taxi to the Dark Side, Shotgun Stories, American Splendor, Maria Full of Grace.
As you can see, Tim Sika has exquisite taste. Thanks to him, Camera Cinema Club members get to see (before their release):
- Crowd pleasers like Meet the Patels, Cloudburst, Once and Mad Hot Ballroom;
- Challenging cinematic ground breakers like Shane Carruth’s Upstream Color and Gus Van Zant’s Last Days;
- Unknown gems like The Grief of Others and In the Family by the as yet undiscovered genius Patrick Wang, the hitherto forgotten neo-noir The Woman Chaser and the delightful Bay Area indie Colma: The Musical.
And I have to admit that, otherwise, I never would have seen The September Issue (I have no interest in the fashion world) or The Tillman Story (I thought I already knew the whole story). Both were rewarding movie experiences.
Cinema Club members also get invited to special previews and events. Recently, I attended a 99 Homes preview with star Andrew Garfield. Another highlight for me was a preview of Killer Joe with director William Friedkin (The French Connection, The Exorcist). In a rare revival showing, the Cinema Club also screened an almost lost film, the 1981 They All Laughed – and I found myself sitting next to director Peter Bogdanovich!
I’ve been a Club member since its 2003-04 season. If you know someone who loves movies and lives in Silicon Valley, buy them the Camera Cinema Club here.
