Reel Mama: The New Beverly Cinema: LA's best-kept secret

EXCITING UPDATE 5/27/12: Julia Marchese's documentary about the New Beverly Cinema reached its fundraising goal on Kickstarter! The film has been fully funded. I look forward to keeping Reel Mama readers posted on the developments as it goes into production. Congratulations, Julia!

An old-fashioned movie marquee advertising a double feature on a single screen. Not something you see every day.

The lure of an old-fashioned marquee. The friendly greeting and beautiful smile of a young woman with a rainbow-colored bouffant manning the ticket booth. A double feature for $8. Inside, the smell of freshly popped popcorn, and a step back in time to a place where a bucket of that same popcorn can be had for only $2. Uma Thurman smiling knowingly from a Pulp Fiction poster at movie lovers of all stripes mingling as they wait for the show to begin. Once seated, they will be watching the great masterpieces of cinema from the likes of Fellini, David Lynch, or Scorsese projected on 35mm film.

This is the New Beverly Cinema, a single-screen revival movie theater in Los Angeles offering film goers the rare chance to see classic films the way their makers intended: on the big screen. It's an experience that is rare and special, because the New Beverly Cinema is one of a kind. In fact, it's a cultural gem.

The young lady with the bouffant is Julia Marchese, actress, filmmaker, and film buff extraordinaire.

New Beverly Cinema programmer and manager Julia Marchese

She plans to document the New Beverly -- its secrets, struggles, and triumphs -- in a new documentary. She will also explore film history and film preservation.

However, fundraising for an independent film is no easy task. In fact, she has a fundraising deadline of tomorrow May 24 on Kickstarter here.

If Jeopardy were only about film, she'd be sure to walk away with the million-dollar prize. A novel idea, but not likely.

Instead, she is counting on every day people like me and you, people who love movies and care about the future of film. People who treasure the experience of sitting in a movie theater with like-minded cinema enthusiasts whose anticipation grows as the lights dim and the first images of a movie flicker on the screen. People who love to be moved, thrilled, terrified or delighted by what they see, unspooling larger than life, above them.

If you love movies, then you need to support Julia's film, which promises to be a cultural gem just like her documentary's subject. Don't wait--this is going to be a marvelous project. Please do it here! I'd like to express my sincere appreciation to my readers who have donated in support of Julia's project or plan to. Thank you -- you're cinema-tastic!

Here are a few snapshots from my recent visit to the New Beverly. Enjoy!