Local group has one month to save historic Film Row theater

OKLAHOMA CITY — A group of local film fanatics is pulling out all the stops in an attempt to keep the “film” in Film Row.

Throughout August, the newly named Oklahoma Film Exchange will host daily events combining movie screenings, live performances, comedy, and community block parties to raise the massive $100,000 needed to take over the historic screening room theater in the Paramount Building on Sheridan.

You see, Film Row got its name because a full century ago, Oklahoma City was seen as a perfectly centralized hub for the big movie studios’ film development and distribution labs. All of the big studios had buildings here, and many of those buildings had small, purpose-built micro-theater screening rooms for distributors and theater managers to view prints and new films.

Now, after a hundred years of industry evolution, the Paramount Building is the only of those buildings left, and its screening room is the only theater of its kind still in existence, having been repeatedly saved, then shuttered, then saved over and over throughout the decades.

But this time could be the final act, as the most recent occupants, Rodeo Cinema, officially pulled out late last year, and the current building owners have expressed plans to finally gut the space and allow it to become something potentially more lucrative among the chic West Village development.

Enter the new Oklahoma Film Exchange, a ragtag band of a dozen or so local performers, filmmakers, podcasters, and above all, movie fans that are pooling all their talents and cinephile passions to appeal to the community, secure the lease for the next two years, and save the theater.

All they need is $100,000 and a miracle or two.

If it all sounds very “Little Rascals” or like some wacky 80s comedy where a bunch of teens rally to save their favorite ski resort or something, you can bet that it’s not lost on this group.

“Yeah, we’re just doing a fun, breakneck, twenty-five-day fundraiser to try to raise 100k, you know, simple goals,” Sean Peel told me inside the theater during a come-and-go event to raise awareness of the crusade during the West Village’s monthly Fourth Friday block party on July 25th.

Peel isn’t quite sure if he considers himself a full-fledged member of the Film Exchange, as he already maintains his own pop-up screening persona as VHS & Chill. But he desperately wants to save the theater, and he knows how to turn on the lights and operate the projector, so he’s a pretty important part of their operation.

Like many of the Film Exchange members, Peel is a former employee of Rodeo Cinema and was once the head of programming at both the Stockyards and Film Row locations.

Despite having a two-year lease in place, Rodeo decided to shutter the Film Row theater following some serious management and staffing shakeups in November of last year, but asked Peel back last month to help run the space for some deadCenter Film Festival screenings.

Following the festival, Peel partnered with the Oklahoma Film Exchange – a group that originally joined forces for their own pop-up film screenings and live events – to try to save this unique bit of OKC history.

“The goal is just to keep it going and keep this place rocking,” Peel said. “If we don’t raise what we need, then at the end of the month, all this gets torn down. The screen, the curtains, the seats, the speakers, everything just gets ripped out.”

With Oklahoma City’s filmmaking community recently beginning to buzz, and a number of performers, film societies, and screening groups always looking for a screen or stage, the Film Exchange members hope to save the theater and turn it into a creatively welcoming micro-venue based heavily on Austin’s Hyperreal Film Club.

But to pull it off, they’ll need to raise that staggering $100,000 amount in just one month, and that means new events, screenings, and performances every day, seven days a week, between August 1st and 25th, with any money raised through donations going to their cause.

The month-long slate kicks off on Friday, August 1st, with a live comedy and commentary screening of David Lynch’s “Eraserhead,” led by podcaster, comedian, and Oklahoma Film Exchange leader Dalton Stuart.

“If I’m the leader, it’s only because I’m the one that knows all these people and can coordinate them,” Stuart told me at the Fouth Friday event. “They just handed me a scepter and I’m using it.”

All of the group’s members acknowledge the difficulty of what they’re trying to pull off and the hefty, monumental price tag that’s attached to it. But at the very least, they’re all excited for the opportunity to bring a month’s worth of life, art, film, and creative energy to this last remnant of Film Row history.

“All of us just really care about this room and don’t want to see it not be a movie theater,” Stuart said. “It’s just that simple.”

To keep up with the Oklahoma Film Exchange’s August slate of daily screenings and events, and to find links to their fundraiser to save the Film Row theater, visit oklahomafilmexchange.com and follow @oklahomafilmexchange on Instagram.

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