Event Notebook
February 2009
The Big Screen
We were sitting in the auditorium at a little past noon today. We had just finished watching the film A River Runs Through It when Debbie, my boss, says:
“It’s wonderful to see a movie on the big screen. At home it’s…” and she finished the sentence by holding her index finger near her thumb to indicate so small.
She said a mouthful with that gesture. In expanding their collections to include film, libraries offer patrons a whole other form of narrative and storytelling, but they’re not always able to give the full experience of the medium. Seeing a movie at home is a lot like looking at a painting in an art book. You get the general idea, but it’s nothing like being in front of the real thing.
Barrington Library is terribly lucky to have a full-size theater where it can project films, and the auditorium has gotten even better with the recent addition of a surround sound system. The water in A River Runs Through It was rushing all around our heads today which made it even more like being in the Montana wilderness.
We’ll be showing more films now than we used to. Debbie and Doug both have an interest in film and keep coming to me with ideas for more showings. Debbie screened Young Mr. Lincoln on the day before his 200th birthday this month. Doug will be showing The Sound of Music in March and A Raisin in the Sun in April, and in May, his Film Discussion Series will present five film noir movies. I even have an idea to show a couple of French films this summer as part of a series on France.
If you see that we’ve got a film lined up, I highly recommend making time to come and join us. Movies at Barrington Library are always free and always the way that movies are meant to be seen.
I hope to see you there.
Wil Gregersen
Community Services Librarian
