I wish Tom Cruise would stop starring in action films because his comeback is never going to happen or that Adam Sandler would realize he isn’t funny anymore and quit making really bad comedy movies. Sometimes I want to see an educational documentary before my brain turns to goo because of films like “Rock of Ages” or “That’s My Boy.” There have been countless times when an independent or foreign film has created significant buzz but is not showing at my local commercial theater. Like many film fanatics, I get sick of the constant Hollywood blockbusters getting turned out every month.
One of the gems of Gainesville entertainment that is often overlooked is the Hippodrome Cinema, a small, single-screen art house that has been bringing the Gainesville community independent and foreign films for almost 31 years. The cinema director, Shirley Lasseter, offered me personal insight into her process for selecting films to show at the Hippodrome.
Lasseter has a broad process for selecting films to show at the Hippodrome, starting with checking websites like metacritic and subscribing to newsletters in order to research which independent films are garnering the most attention. She combs through critical reviews until a particular film catches her attention. Once she sets her sights on a film she requests a screener from distributor.
Lasseter only screens a single film at a time, rather than sifting through several films at once. Most of what she reads about a film before she orders a screener gives her a good idea of what she wants in a film. When viewing a film there is not an exact recipe. Lasseter relies on her instincts in order to determine its potential.
She views a film for at least a half hour before she gets a sense of whether it will be a good fit for the cinema. “I’ve been doing this for a really long time, so in the back of my mind I have an idea of what has worked well in the past,” Lasseter said.
Lasseter is the only screener for the Hippodrome Cinema, but she will occasionally call on her fellow staff members to help her make a decision. She is sometimes partial to documentaries when selecting a film but has found them to be a hard sell for the Gainesville community. Some of the most successful films at the Hippodrome have been French and foreign films, such as the Oscar-nominated film “Royal Affair” showing now.
The Hippodrome still competes with the local Regal and must sometimes struggle to convince a company to hand over a film because a Regal is expected to gain more commercial success. On the contrary, Lasseter has found that a lot of time special art films end up doing less business at the Regal than at the Hippodrome.
If you are looking to see a film that is enriching and unique, check out what might be playing the Hippodrome Cinema located in downtown Gainesville, 25 SE 2nd Place.
