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A/perture cinema brings Back to the Future back to the big screen
A
/perture cinema, WinstonSalem’s premier independent art-house theater, brings a much-loved bit of nostalgic summer fun back to the Mark Burger big screen with its special drive-in screening of the Contributor 1985 blockbuster Back to the Future this Friday. In case of rain, the film will be screened Saturday. The drive-in screening will take place in the parking lot of the First Presbyterian Church, 300 N. Cherry St., WinstonSalem. Gates will open at 7 p.m. and the screening will begin around 8 p.m. Tickets are $25, and concessions can also be pre-ordered. Tickets must be ordered in advance
YES! WEEKLY
AUGUST 19-25, 2020
and are available here: https://www. aperturecinema. com/portfolio_ page/a-ptr-drivein-back-to-thefuture/. “I can’t think of a better film for a parking lot,” said Desai, executive director and curator of a/perture cinema. “We are so appreciative to have a sponsor – FaderRE – to help cover our equipment rental and set-up so that a/perture will be able to keep all of the tickets sold. We are just excited to be able to gather for the first time with some of our patrons in a safe and fun way. These last five months have been rather lonely without them.” Like so many entertainment outlets, a/perture cinemas has had to adapt to
new platforms to present its screenings during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus far, it’s been successful, but Desai admits it’s not quite the same. “Virtual cinema is plugging along,” she said. “We’ve screened over 100 films at this point, including several series’ and mini-festivals. It’s definitely not the same – either financially or physically – as coming together in one of our theaters at a/perture, but it’s a way for us to continue to program our films and to connect with audiences. We are excited about all of the films we’ve booked so far for the coming weeks.” A/perture had scheduled Back to the Future as a drive-in screening in early June, but it was (understandably) postponed in light of local protests taking place in response to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in late May. Originally released the week of July 4, 1985, Back to the Future became an immediate box-office and pop-culture sensation. It went on to become the highest-grossing film of the year, catapulted Family Ties co-star Michael J. Fox to big-screen stardom, won the People’s Choice Award for Favorite Motion Picture, and earned four Oscar nominations: Best Original Screenplay, Best Song (“The Power of Love”), Best Sound, and Best Visual Effects (which it won). Fox plays Marty McFly, an all-American high-school student whose friend and mentor, the local eccentric Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd), claims to have developed a time-travel machine – which looks remarkably like a 1985 DeLorean. To fuel the device, Doc has (ahem) “borrowed” some plutonium from Libyan terrorists, and when they unexpectedly arrive – guns blazing – during the test run, Marty beats a hasty retreat in the DeLorean …
… and promptly finds himself in 1955. Joining forces with the younger Doc, Marty tries to find a way to return to his time, a task complicated when he encounters a timid teenager named George McFly (the inimitable Crispin Glover), the younger version of his own father. What’s more, he also encounters young Lorraine Baines (Lea Thompson), who is destined to become George’s wife and his own mother. Trouble is, Lorraine develops a crush on Marty, which could inexorably alter the future. Unless George and Lorraine get together, Marty will cease to exist – because he will have never existed at all. The screenwriting duo of Robert Zemeckis (who also directed) and Bob Gale had originally written Back to the Future in the early 1980s, following the release of their first two big-screen collaborations – I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978) and Used Cars (1980) – both produced under the auspices of Steven Spielberg and neither particularly successful. Studio after studio turned the project down, in part because it wasn’t as salacious or raunchy as the popular sex comedies of the era. Back to the Future was simply “too nice.” The project languished until Zemeckis and Gale hit paydirt with Romancing the Stone (1984), at which point studios were far more receptive. (That’s Hollywood, folks!) With a budget of under $15 million and Spielberg presenting, Back to the Future revved into production – but there was an almost immediate snag. Eric Stoltz had been signed to play Marty McFly when Fox proved unavailable due to his series commitment. It soon became evident that Stoltz’s concept of the character was much more serious than the filmmakers intended. Out came Stoltz, in came Fox – despite the fact that he was shooting Family Ties during the day and Back to the Future at night. As he noted in the NBC television special The Making of Back to the Future: “It was my dream to be in the film and television business, although I didn’t know I’d be in them simultaneously.” The rest, as they say, is history. No pun intended. The official a/perture cinema website is: www.aperturecinema.com/. ! See MARK BURGER’s reviews of current movies on Burgervideo.com. © 2020, Mark Burger.
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