UPCOMING SCREENINGS
Algonquin Theatre, Main Street Huntsville
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ONCE UPON A TIME IN A CINEMA
Monday, September 14, 2026 - 7pm
A beleaguered cinema owner's worst Friday night becomes his crowning moment of glory when a packed show descends into chaos and unites the community.
ONCE UPON A TIME IN A CINEMA is set in a small-town cinema in Ireland during the '80s. Over the course of one evening, the film follows cinema owner Earl Clancy (Colin Morgan) as he faces a myriad of disasters, any one of which could sink him. Drawing from writer/director David Gleeson's own experience growing up in a family of cinema owners where his father's 78-year career marked the longest in the cinema business in Ireland, if not the world, this film is a love letter to a peculiarly Irish cinema experience, which was as much about connecting with people as it was about the movie.
Told in real time over the course of one evening, this delightful dramedy is witty and heartfelt — a love letter to the magic of cinema.
Ireland, Germany, Belgium | 2026 | 93 minutesDirector: David GleesonFeaturing: Colin Morgan, Calam Lynch, Clara CrichtonDistributor: Photon FilmsIreland, Germany, Belgium | 2026 | 93 minutesDirector: David GleesonFeaturing: Colin Morgan, Calam Lynch, Clara CrichtonDistributor: Photon Films
CINEMA PARADISO
Wednesday, September 23, 2026 - 7pm
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Part of the new FILMMAKER FAVOURITES series hosted by filmmaker, Geordie Sabbagh
The perfect follow-up to our first film, Once Upon A Time In A Cinema, this masterful Italian film also celebrates the magic of cinema and its timeless inspiration but from a different generation and culture. How do the two compare? You tell us!
Filmmaker’s Intro — Why Geordie Selected It
"Cinema Paradiso is an ode to why we fall in love with movies in the first place. It understands that cinema isn’t just what happens on a screen — it’s where we saw it, who we saw it with, and the memories that become attached to those films.
Giuseppe Tornatore’s film won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and became one of the films that helped bring Italian cinema back to international audiences. But more than the awards, it’s the emotion that lasts.
And then there’s that ending — widely regarded as one of the most beautiful and unforgettable endings in cinema history. For a series about the movies that make us want to make movies, I can’t think of a better place to begin."
Successful filmmaker Salvatore returns to his Sicilian hometown after learning of the death of Alfredo, the projectionist who first introduced him to the magic of movies. Through his memories, Cinema Paradiso becomes a funny, bittersweet and deeply affectionate story about friendship, first love, growing up and the communal experience of going to the movies.
1988 | Italy/France | 124 min. | Italian with English subtitles
Director: Giuseppe Tornatore
Featuring: Philippe Noiret, Salvatore Cascio, Marco Leonardi, Jacques Perrin Distributor: Miramax
Content Advisory: Mature themes, some sexual content/references, brief nudity and scenes of peril
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THE CHRISTOPHERS
Monday, September 28, 2026 - 7pm
The great Ian McKellen and I May Destroy You’s Michaela Coel make a brilliant pairing in Oscar winner Steven Soderbergh’s incisively witty chamber comedy about art, commerce, and avarice.
Lori, a struggling art restorer (Michaela Coel), is recruited by the estranged heirs of famed painter Julian Sklar (Ian McKellen) to recover and secretly complete his unfinished works for profit after his death. Posing as Sklar’s assistant, Lori becomes entangled in a scheme marked by deception and shifting loyalties.
McKellen’s embodiment of the crotchety, self-absorbed, has-been art star is a masterclass in go-for-broke brilliance, but it’s Coel as the reluctant forger who steals the show. Together, they drive a clever, character-focused story about ambition, authenticity, and the murky ethics of artistic legacy.
Director: Steven Soderbergh
United Kingdom | English | 2025 | 100 minutes
Featuring: Michaela Coel, Ian McKellen, Jessica Gunning, James Corden
Distributor: Elevation Pictures