Plaza Branch and Central Library will open late at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 17 due to the Kansas City Marathon.
Patrons can always check out a DVD from the Library or stream a movie on Kanopy or Bibliotele. But watching films with others provides an opportunity to enjoy a shared experience, to bond, and to socialize.
While everything at the Library is free, luckily that includes lots of in-person movie options, such as a new series called the Plaza Movie Club.
“It’s just a nice little afternoon escape,” says Senior Library Assistant Jude Holt, who’s working on a Master of Library Science degree from Emporia State University with a concentration in archives studies.
“And if I could choose any career, it would be film archiving. But it’s a very small niche in an already very niche field,” Holt says. “So, I’ve been trying to think: How do I incorporate film into my current job?”
The answer: the Plaza Movie Club. The first screening takes place at 1 p.m. on May 15 with Minari, followed by Problemista on June 26 and Bend It Like Beckham on July 17.
The series ties into the Library’s monthly celebrations, including AANHPI month in May.
The idea for the monthly afternoon series every third Friday, says Holt, was not only sparked by a love of film, but by patron requests at the conclusion of the annual Searching the Psyche film series in March.
“We had a lot of people who loved that we were playing movies,” they say. “When that ended, I just heard a lot of people saying, ‘I wish you guys would play movies.’ ‘When is the next one going to be?’”
The Library has several other monthly film screening options.
The Plaza Branch is hosting a series of documentaries about the immigrant experience. On the 4th Saturday of the month at the Westport Branch, staff screens monthly musical biopics accompanied by discussions about the featured artists. The Southeast Branch offers monthly screenings on Thursdays at 1 p.m.
And for free rooftop movies, in July the Off The Wall Film Series returns to Central’s rooftop terrace.
But if you’re looking for a daily fix, don’t miss 2 p.m. screenings at the Central Library, including Saturday morning cartoons for children and their families in the Film Vault, a 28-seat theater in an old bank vault.
“Usually, I want to go to a theater (to watch a movie), because it feels like I get two hours of silence. I just get to invest my time into a movie,” Holt says, “and that’s something I took for granted because not everyone can go buy a movie ticket or drive to a movie.”
Holt hopes that free screenings at the Library will provide an opportunity for interaction, connection, and reflection as patrons watch movies (or cartoons) together.