Cinespia
| Founded | 2002 |
|---|---|
| Founder | John Wyatt |
| Type | Film |
| Location | |
| Website | cinespia |
Cinespia is an organization that hosts on-site screenings of classic films in and around Los Angeles, California. Launched in 2002, Cinespia shows films from the 1930s through the 1990s mostly in open-air settings at historic locations. Its most popular series runs weekly from May through September on Saturday (and occasionally Sunday) nights at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. In addition, it screens films, both contemporary and canonical, at other locations throughout the year.
The al fresco Hollywood Forever screenings take place on the Fairbanks Lawn, so named for the adjacent crypt housing both Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. and Jr., and films are digitally projected against the west wall of the Cathedral Mausoleum, which houses the crypt of Rudolph Valentino among many others. Up to 3,500 patrons per screening bring blankets, pillows, picnic dinners, alcoholic beverages and candles and enjoy screenings under the stars, while a staff of 35 keep things running smoothly. DJs play music before and after the screenings over a portable sound system, and guest DJs have included Carlos Niño, Andy Votel, Cut Chemist, the Gaslamp Killer, Dam-Funk, Peanut Butter Wolf and members of the Numero Group and Dublab collectives.
Cinespia has appeared in the 2008 Best of L.A. issue of the LA Weekly and was named on the “16 Best Things in L.A.” by Los Angeles magazine. According to Vanity Fair: “Cinespia captures the excitement of a drive-in movie date night of the 1950s but with a decidedly campy twist.”
The series was the brainchild of John Wyatt, a set designer then in his mid-twenties. A student of influential film lecturer Jim Hosney at the Crossroads School in Santa Monica, California, Wyatt initially formed an Italian cinema club with friend Richard Petit, of which Cinespia is a natural evolution. Both Wyatt and Petit were working for designer Brad Dunning at the time who was helping with the restoration of the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
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Wikipedia