library
Robert Roten
"Kathy Marquis, Librarian for Adult Services at the Albany County
Public
Library, would be interested in talking with you about having the
Laramie Film Society series at the library.
"I told her the Laramie Film
Society was currently reviewing options for keeping/showing the
Laramie
Film Society series since Wyo Theatre was no longer an option as a
venue. She is very interested in talking with you about the particulars."
My response:
I don't know where you heard that "Wyo Theatre was no longer an
option as a venue" but it wasn't from me. We might be interested in
showing a film series at the library if anyone knows where we can get
a 35 millimeter projector and the $3,000 to $5,000 or so for the public
performance rights to show the films and the $1,000 to $1,400 extra
for shipping costs. We could maybe recoup some of these costs from
ticket sales, but isn't there some kind of library policy against charging
for admission to events like this?
Of course, you can show video projections from VHS tape or DVDs,
but the projection and sound quality are low, particularly at the library.
You have to wait a long time after the initial release of the movie until
DVD's become available, and you still have to pay those same costly
public performance rights (even if you don't charge admission) as if
you were showing the film in a movie theater with a high-quality
projector and sound system.
The library is an option, but it is not as cheap or as easy or as
satisfactory an option as you might think it is. It will take money, and
lots of it, and regulatory hoops to jump through to make it work.
There is a road from the eye to the heart that does not go through the
intellect.
-- G.K. Chesterton, essayist and novelist (1874-1936)
Robert Roten, President
Laramie Film Society
film.laramie.wy.us
ro...@lariat.org