Alamo Drafthouse Cinema is initial recipient of Packard Campus partnership contract
By James Olsen, Daily Human WASHINGTON, DC -- After the passing of the Promotion of Film Studies Act, authorizing that the Library of Congress “National Audiovisual Conservation Center [Packard Campus] shall be permitted to contract with private partners for the purposes of holding events to promote the Center and its contents,” a spokesman for the National Film Preservation Foundation announced Tuesday afternoon that the first recipient to receive a non-exclusive partnership contract is Alamo Drafthouse Cinema. The Austin, Texas-based movie theater-chain, with 35 locations and growing across the country, is well-known to cinephiles around the world for their dedication in presenting experiences for movie-fans, by movie-fans.
The contract terms, which are still in the process of being finalized, would primarily be to partner with Alamo in order to promote Packard Campus holdings, particularly those in the public domain, which Alamo hopes to incorporate into their popular “pre-show entertainment” segments before movie screenings, as well as other films and shorts in the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry. Starting late this year, Alamo will screen certain films already included on the Registry in the lead up to the annual announcement of new Registry selections in December, and then screen some of the recently-announced entries the following month. Alamo will also have a voice in selecting the movies to screen for free inside the Packard Campus theater. Additionally, Alamo resources will be allocated to fund the Packard Campus’ 2020 “Mostly Lost” workshop event. This event hopes to identify and catalog unidentified, under-identified or misidentified silent and early sound films stored onsite at the Packard Campus.
“As a movie fan, it always strikes me that [National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws founder] Keith Stroup rediscovered Reefer Madness, the iconic cult film, through the Library of Congress,” says James Mollenkamp, a Richmond native and longtime advocate of the Packard Campus. “The Packard Campus didn’t exist back then, and no other equivalent of it exists anywhere else on Earth. Who knows the sorts of possibilities that await now that this contract, the first of what I assume will be many, has been awarded? I am convinced there’s plenty of things still in there just waiting to be rediscovered, and Alamo Drafthouse has a unique opportunity to truly be pioneers in this field.”
As part of this arrangement, a new Alamo Drafthouse will be built in Culpeper, VA that will develop film programs in close collaboration with Packard Campus resources that will be then be used by Alamo locations nationwide. The Culpeper location will also play contemporary movie releases as does any other Alamo Drafthouse location, and will end up having between 4 and 6 screens.
This contract also extends to Alamo subsidies Mondo (which sells licensed posters, apparel, toys, VHS tapes, and vinyls), Birth.Movies.Death magazine, and Fantastic Fest film festival. Government officials had particularly noted and emphasized the preservations efforts of Alamo’s 501(c)3, the American Genre Film Archive. Additionally, they are said to think of the AGFA’s annual showcase, a Halloween-themed film festival called “Dismember the Alamo,” as a template for future success.
“I always tell people that the Packard Campus is a spiritual place, but also an academic place,” says local actor and film-blogger George Dippold. “Alamo Drafthouse provides a movie-going experience, from their incredible food to their strict no-talking, no-texting policies, that is second-to-none. From their film distribution wing that brings long-lost cult classics to the masses to their dedication to art of movie-going and frequently screening classic films for a new generation, I could not possibly think of a better company to be awarded this initial contract under the new law.”
Independently, Alamo Drafthouse Cinema recently announced expansion locations in nearby Fairfax County, VA; Henrico County, VA; the City of Richmond, VA; the City of Greensboro, NC; and the City of Baltimore, MD, as the company doubles down on its commitment to the Capitol area in light of this contract. These are in addition to existing locations in Winchester, VA; Woodbridge, VA; Ashburn, VA; Charlottesville, VA; and Raleigh, NC (which has a Video Vortex video store, something Alamo management have expressed interest in bringing into at least some of the new Drafthouse locations). There are already planned locations in Crystal City, VA and Washington, DC currently under construction.
Other candidates for similar nonexclusive partnership contracts with the Packard Campus include The Criterion Collection/Janus Films, The Film Foundation, The American Film Institute (which would include a massive increase in collaboration with the AFI Silver Theater in Silver Spring, MD), The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Shout Factory and Scarecrow Video. It is hoped that funding from additional partners would enable the Campus to give daily tours, open a gift shop, and cover other needed renovations.
