Reel Reflections

The lights go down and a hush falls over the crowd. You sink back into your chair. You inhale the aroma of that hot salty popcorn drizzled with melted butter. The outside world? Gone. It's just you and the giant screen. A thrill runs down your spine as you embark on the beginning of a brand-new adventure! It’s showtime!

There’s nothing like going to the movies! My parents took me all throughout my childhood. During those formative years, I got to meet an alien with Drew Barrymore, time travel in a DeLorean with Marty McFly, search for buried treasure with the Goonies, and get lost in Neverending Stories! I even learned how to cut school from Ferris Bueller! (Oh wait, are my parents reading this? Just kidding Mom and Dad)! That love affair with movies only got stronger during my teen years whenever my friend Michelle and I would talk about where we wanted to hang out and she’d always say “Let’s go to the movies!”

I’d always found movies to be entertaining. But, by the time I hit college, my relationship with movies really shifted. I took a class called Film and Society which focused on the reciprocal relationship between the two - how what happens in society is reflected in the movies and how the movies influence what happens in society. I was absolutely fascinated and my perception of the power of movies completely transformed.

The power of film transcends entertainment. Cinema offers a profound lens on human existence. Movies are vital instruments of cultural communication - a literal lens to see our world more intimately. They provide the time and space needed for reflection and elevation of thought, bringing us closer to an understanding of our shared experiences. Moreover, films are a significant vehicle to contribute to the discourses of society and in some cases, serve as a call for social action.

With all that the world is currently enduring – systemic racism, gender discrimination, divisive politics, threats of warfare, climate change and global pandemics, to name just a few - people are beginning to lose hope that the world will ever get better. And a good number of films that are presented to audiences contain content and images that are focused on the seemingly insurmountable differences that divide us. What we need now more than ever are those films that seek to offer positive and uplifting solutions to how the world’s problems can not only be solved but be solved together.

Wayfarer Theaters is committed to serving the community by providing screenings of films that offer counter narratives that inspire unity and promote hope and healing as opposed to hopelessness and despair. Films that demonstrate our capacity as one human family to work together to meet the enormous challenges that face us. At Wayfarer, we don’t just believe that movies matter, we show movies that matter!

Our theaters serve as community centers for all ages to explore the themes of these films through our Q&A’s, panel discussions, activities and special events. And we are SO thrilled to now bring to our community a blog highlighting selected films that will be shown across our screens!

Subscribe to our blog and come behind the scenes with me each week! Let's explore how these films uncover the powerful stories that offer glimmers of hope and the inspiration we long to find.

To quote The Hobbit: “Alone, it's just a journey. Now adventures, they must be shared." Let’s be Wayfarers and go on this grand adventure together!

See you at the movies!

Christina Wright is a Film Review and Curation Consultant for Wayfarer Theaters. She also freelances as a Screenwriter and teaches Film Studies at De Anza College and San Jose State University in Silicon Valley, CA