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Thursday, March 28
The Indiana Daily Student

arts

New digital projector expands Union Board film options

When the Union Board Films committee tried to rent a copy of “Dallas Buyers Club” this semester, they encountered a problem.

The film wasn’t available in a 35mm format.

Union Board Director of Films Greta Smith said the out-of-date projector at the Whittenberger Auditorium previously limited the options of films they can screen.

“You can relate it to a record player,” Smith said. “They’re around, but people don’t use them anymore. It’s really hard to find films available in 35mm.”

A new digital projector, to be installed March 17, will give Union Board the largest selection of movies to show in the 50-year history of the weekend film series.

Brandon Walsh, Union Board’s previous film director, proposed the purchase of a new projector. He worked with IU Cinema Director Jon Vickers and developed a six-year financing plan to pay for the upgrade.

Union Board works with two different companies, Swank and Criterion, in order to show newly-released films to students without charging.

These companies market toward college campuses and offer movies to be rented by college groups, Smith said.

Each company has a long list of movies available to be rented. When the group decides which films they want to show, they request them to be sent, spending about $1,000 for each weekend rental.

The new digital projector provides an updated filming format, which means more films are available for screening.

“Students want to see new movies,” Smith said. “We showed a double feature of ‘Saw’ and ‘The Notebook,’ and no one came out. We are going to be showing new films from now on.”

A good weekend for Union Board films attracts about 800 people to the film screenings, but that double feature only brought out about 150 people.

About 1,200 students attended last weekend’s Union Board showing of “Gravity,” an Academy Award-winning film that has not yet been released on DVD.

It was the most popular of the semester and second most popular of the year, only behind “The Great Gatsby.”

The showing, like all showings organized by Union Board’s film committee, was free of charge for students. Non-students are charged $2.

Students file into the Whittenberger Auditorium at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night to watch some of the most recently-released films.

The committee will show “Frozen” this coming weekend and “12 Years a Slave” the weekend after students return from spring break.

In addition to showing films on weekends, the group is planning two different events in April, though both are still tentative.

There is a plan to have a sneak peek showing on April 29 of the movie “Neighbors,” which will be released in theaters May 9.

The following evening, Union Board planned a double feature to commemorate the 10-year anniversary of “Mean Girls.” The film will show after “Finding Kind,” a 2011 documentary which tells the story of two friends traveling across the country to expose bullying between girls. 

By showing the different films, Union Board offers students an alternative activity option on the weekend, Smith said.

“Union Board is such an awesome organization because it allows students to do something on the weekend if they don’t want to go out to the parties,” Smith said. “Also, because movies are so expensive now, I think it’s so cool that we’re showing them free for students.”

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