Chris Hamby

The flickering image on the silver screen. Being immersed in breathtaking surround sound. “Let’s all go to the lobby to get ourselves a treat.”
Nothing beats going to the movies and watching the latest feature films on the big screen.
At Hood College, students and faculty will take a break from the ongoing chaos of schoolwork to attend the college’s “Blockbuster Movie Showcase” series; which will mark its eighth year on campus.
Every semester, members of the Campus Activities Board screen a monthly series of popular second-run major feature films, along with select cult favorites.
Films are screened at Hodson Auditorium, located inside Rosenstock Hall on campus. Select movies are also projected on an inflatable, oversized screen at the softball field during the spring and fall seasons.
Recent screenings have included the fourth film in the Jurassic Park franchise, “Jurassic World,” the 1993 Disney comedy “Hocus Pocus,” and the 1975 cult favorite, “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” to mark the 40th anniversary of the film. These movies have been popular with most Hood students.
“I definitely liked ‘Hocus Pocus,’ but I didn’t get to see ‘Rocky Horror’,” said Alex Elliott, a freshman student majoring in economics at Hood.
Axelle Blaise, a sophomore student majoring in psychology at Hood, enjoyed the goody bags that were passed out during the screening of “Rocky Horror.”
“It’s cute,” Blaise said.
Christiana Morris, a sophomore student majoring in secondary education at Hood, only attends if the film holds high entertainment value.
“It depends on the movie,” Morris said. “I haven’t been to any of them this semester.”
Gretchen Nonemaker, director of student engagement at Hood College, is one of the people responsible for the campus movie series. She explained how the campus acquired the nontheatrical rights to screen popular motion pictures for the monthly series on campus from two different distributors.

Swank Motion Pictures is one of the nation’s oldest family-owned nontheatrical motion picture distribution companies. The firm represents the nontheatrical accounts for major studios, including The Walt Disney Co., Lionsgate, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Warner Bros. and affiliated companies.
Criterion Pictures U.S.A., a competitor to Swan, represents the accounts of Paramount Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox and affiliated subsidiaries. This company is not related to “The Criterion Collection,” a high-profile home entertainment label.
“We license movies from both distributors,” Nonemaker said.
She said that the cost of licensing films from Swank and Criterion are determined by the title of the film from the distributors, including the length of the movie rental.
The average cost for a typical nontheatrical film release from Swank or Criterion range from $600 to $1,200. The costs are paid by the campus organizations directly involved in supporting films that are shown on campus.
Today, going to the movies at the first-run cinema can be expensive. The college’s “blockbuster” movie screenings are entirely free to all attendees.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the motion picture industry discontinued sending physical film prints to theaters in recent years. Films are now delivered via an encrypted file on hard drive-based storage, or via satellite. Nontheatrical features are delivered to Hood for screening on a specialized DVD-Video disc.
The discs that arrive from Swank and Criterion are not ordinary DVD discs; the projectionist in charge has to access a specialized PIN code provided by the distributor, in order for the disc to play.
Along with the cost of licensing films from Swank and Criterion, the sponsoring organizations have also paid for the cost of snacks, soft drinks and goody bags served at the campus movie screenings.
Nonemaker said that the organization is open to other suggested films from campus groups, including classic and independent features.
Katherine Orloff, an assistant professor of journalism at Hood, said that students should not miss out on seeing free screenings of movies on campus.
“I think it’s a great thing for everybody to watch movies on a big screen,” Orloff said.
Donna Bertazzoni, professor of journalism at Hood, said that the movie series is a great way for students to relax from the daily grind.
“At the end of a long week, it’s a great opportunity to relax,” Bertazzoni said.