September 19, 2025 • 19 mins
On this week’s episode of The Sounds of Film, host Tom Needham speaks with Annie Roney, founder of the In Real Life (IRL) Movie Club. Roney’s national nonprofit is dedicated to strengthening communities and bridging America’s political divides through the simple act of gathering together for films and conversations.
The club’s upcoming nationwide screening of My Omaha will take place on October 12 in over 100 theaters across the country, including Hudson, Huntington, New Paltz, and Bronxville in New York.
The chosen film, My Omaha, follows filmmaker Nick Beaulieu as he documents his hometown’s activism and his difficult relationship with his father, Randy, a devoted Trump supporter battling terminal cancer. Guided by activist Leo Louis II, Beaulieu searches for common ground with his father while confronting the racial and political divides that define Omaha—and the nation.
By selecting this film, IRL Movie Club hopes to encourage audiences from different backgrounds to sit down, watch together, and then engage in meaningful, face-to-face dialogue.
Instead of a traditional Q&A format, IRL encourages members to strike up conversations with seatmates and carry those discussions into local coffee shops and restaurants afterward. With subsidized tickets costing only $5 and free membership, Roney’s vision is deliberately grassroots, accessible, and community-driven—an effort to rebuild connection one screening at a time.
The Sounds of Film is the nation’s longest-running film and music themed radio show. For decades, host Tom Needham has interviewed a diverse roster of influential guests, including Laurie Anderson, Billy Joel, Cornel West, Alec Baldwin, Nile Rodgers, Dionne Warwick, Rob Reiner, and Ric Burns. The program has earned a reputation for spotlighting socially conscious filmmakers, musicians, and cultural leaders while offering in-depth discussions on the intersection of art, politics, and society.
The Sounds of Film can be heard on radio and is also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music.
For more information, visit soundsoffilm.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hi, this is Tom Needham and you are listening to the sounds of
film. Today we're joined by Annie
Rooney, the founder of In Real Life Movie Club, a national non
profit dedicated to using in person film screenings and
conversations to bridge America's political divide.
With the club's upcoming nationwide screening of My
(00:21):
Omaha, a deeply personal documentary about family,
politics, race and reconciliation, Roni shares her
vision for how cinema can bring people back together again, one
conversation at a time. Annie, thank you so much for
joining us today on The Sounds of Film.
Thanks for having me. I love this concept.
(00:43):
Can you tell our listeners a little bit more?
About what in? Real Life Movie Club is all
about. Yeah, thanks.
Thanks for the opportunity. We started this documentary
movie club in response to a desire that we think people have
to gather together in real spaces and in real life, and no
(01:07):
better way than to do that in a local art house, movie theater,
watch a really compelling film that's been curated that sort of
fits the moment. And most importantly, our
concept is all about the opportunity for people in the
audience to talk to each other. So rather than having AQ and A
(01:28):
at the end of a film where we feel people are just talked at
and they've already watched a film and have lots of thoughts
and feelings, we're giving the space and time for the audience
to turn around, meet their seatmates and have a brief
conversation with each other. And the point is just to make
connection. It's not prescriptive in any
(01:48):
way. We're not trying to tell people
what to think, we're just creating the space and place and
low ticket price for people to come together, watch a good
movie, come in as strangers and perhaps leave as a community.
So what makes you think that watching a movie and having the
(02:09):
chance to speak to one another will actually bring people
together? Is this something that you've
witnessed in real life? Yeah, I actually have in real
life. I've, I've, I've noticed it and
our our last two screenings. That's exactly what I got the
pleasure to witness is people coming in as strangers and then
watching a theater full of people just having some small
(02:32):
talk. It's it's no longer than 10
minutes. And it's, it's, it's really a
matter of just acknowledging that there's other people in the
room and, and you might want to have a smile or a handshake.
And you've just watched a, a movie.
So chances are you actually havesomething in common to talk
about because you've just seen the same film.
(02:53):
Well, the one that's coming up is called My Omaha.
Why did you choose this one? You know, it's it's truly the
right film for this moment. We did choose it a couple of
months ago. It's a film called My Omaha.
And it's a deeply personal documentary made by the
(03:13):
filmmaker who uses the movie as an opportunity to try to have
courageous conversations with his dad.
And they're, they're on different sides of the political
division in our country. And the film really exemplifies
what it looks like to really tryto listen to each other and to
(03:34):
understand each other's positionfrom a place of love and
acceptance and a real desire to understand and to not belittle
or, or judge. One of the things that struck me
as I was watching this movie is that the father and the son, as
you mentioned, had very different political views.
(03:54):
But they both acknowledged that there probably wasn't much that
the other one could say, the other one could say because they
just had different facts. And that seems to be something
that you hear a lot of today, that people just claim that they
just see things differently. And I think a lot of people feel
(04:17):
like they're coming from the right side of things, the
correct side of things, and thatthey have the facts to back up
whatever their view is. This film really explores that
in great detail. Yeah, it's really interesting.
I think we all get at a viscerallevel that we were getting
siloed information and algorithms that speak to our
(04:40):
biases. But to to, to watch it play out
between a father son relationship, I think is an
opportunity for us to kind of open up to that being the case.
And again, the idea is not to convince anyone.
And, and you really don't see the the father son trying to
convince the other person that they're right.
(05:01):
The the messages. The film is sort of a life worth
living as one that is always seeking to understand.
It's not that you will have the right answer at the end of the
film, nor will we in this moment.
But what we can strive for is, is the seeking the seeking to
find common ground. And that's what we think this
(05:22):
club does and, and has done in the past and will do in the
future with with more films. But it's a it's really a chance
to have an experience together and and be able to connect with
people you might not otherwise connect with.
Yeah, I I love that. I think it's expressed sort of
near the end of the film. Maybe you could tell us who who
(05:42):
said it, But but there was an idea stated in the film that the
best in life that you can do is seek the truth.
You're never going to find the truth, but there is happiness
that comes from seeking the truth or something along those
lines. Is that right?
Yeah, you got it right. And I don't want to give away
too much of the plot, but it's kind of a very special moment
(06:04):
between the filmmaker and one ofhis mentors.
And, and it really hit me when Iwhen I saw that part of the
film, because it gives you permission to not have to be
right, but to want to understand, which I think is a
natural state of of human existence.
(06:24):
And it encourages us, encouragesus to do that.
And look, Thanksgiving is just around the corner after our
October 12th event. And you know, we know that
families come together and politics, politics right now are
tearing them apart. And if this can have any effect
and helping heal those divisionsaround the dinner table, we as a
(06:50):
nonprofit will be thrilled. I love this idea and I and I
really love this movie. It seems though, that many
documentaries, just by the nature of what one does when one
makes a documentary, is that it often takes a point of view and
one can't help it seems but likeif you're making a strong
(07:12):
documentary to just fill it withinformation that is going to be
arguing your point of view. Providing the facts.
To argue your point of view, I love documentaries, but do you
think a lot of movies are in some ways maybe doing a
(07:34):
disservice and that? They're only preaching.
To 1 side of the argument, should they be more balanced?
Like I think this one was prettybalanced, but I always liked a
strong. Documentary.
That took a point of view, so now it has me thinking I don't
know what the right thing is anymore.
What what? What are your?
Thoughts on that? Yeah, I think a lot of people
(07:57):
have that reaction to documentaries, and that's fair.
I think it's also important to understand that any filmmaker
who makes a documentary does have a point of view, the kind
of selflessness and tenaciousness that it takes to
make a documentary, the the sacrifices it takes.
(08:18):
It's because someone really wants to show you something that
they think is important. And so if you if you watch it
through that lens, maybe it won't be disturbing, but it'd be
like, yeah, this is this person's point of view and they
have something to offer here. I think that documentaries that
try too hard to have a balance are kind of ineffective as, as
(08:38):
narrative stories, they don't they, they're not very
entertaining. And you know, we do seek to have
an entertaining film for people to watch.
Now, you've given a nice compliment to this film.
I think it, it really is it, it strikes a balance, but that
balance is personal. It's because the filmmaker, the
son wants that balance in his life.
(09:00):
And so, you know, we can see hispoint of view is more to the
left of his dad. So it's very clear that's his
point of view. But what makes this film feel
balanced is it is in his effort to truly understand and not
demonize his father. That must have been hard because
(09:21):
it seemed like he had material that he could have used.
He shows a bunch of social mediaposts that his dad had done.
I don't know if he held back anddidn't show all of them, but it
seemed like he was being restrained in terms of really
(09:41):
maybe showing some points of view of his dad that were maybe
really I, I probably to him veryupsetting.
Yeah, I but great. What what a great nuance to
filmmaker achieve that You noticed that, but you also just
kind of thought, hey, I thought there there's more.
But in a film, you only have so much time.
(10:02):
And I think that Nick wanted hisfocus to be on trying to
understand his dad while there was still time left in his dad's
life. So I think he did make that is a
point of view decision that he made to not focus on sort of the
gotcha moments, but to go back to like the human connection
(10:24):
that that he wanted to keep alive.
Yeah. And that is what people need
right now. So this film is also about
Omaha. Yeah.
So Nick and his father are from Omaha, which is the reason it's
called My Omaha. What I didn't know and I love
about documentaries is things I I learn along the way.
And and that is I didn't know that Omaha was an incredibly
(10:48):
divided, segregated city. So there's, there's kind of a, a
line, there's the one side of the tracks and the other side of
the tracks, and one is white andone is black.
So they're quite racially divided.
So part of Nick's trying to understand this moment is
realizing he's never really reached across to the other side
(11:09):
of town to understand, you know,their experience of Omaha.
So the film, not only is Nick trying to really listen and
understand his father, but at the same time feeling
responsible to them. He should be reaching out and
understanding the other half of his own hometown.
(11:31):
And through that, I think there's some really valuable
experiences that those Omahans, I don't know if that's what you
say those Nebraskans experience.So tell me, what are some of the
challenges in bringing differentgroups of people together to
watch a movie? You know what the, the, the
(11:53):
biggest challenge is, this is a post COVID time, which is
getting people to come out and watch a movie, which is, you
know, one of the reasons that this nonprofit is dedicated to
free membership and tickets are only $5.
And you become part of the community.
You get a, you get a button. You'll hear about the next
films. And you might want to invite
(12:14):
people the next time you come, knowing that they might feel
differently on a lot of issues that are important to you.
But maybe you're just going to go watch a film about, let's
say, like our last film was about artificial intelligence.
So there's lots of subjects thatwe can talk to each other about.
And you know, the hardest part is getting people to stay aware
(12:36):
that it's happening. So we, we thank you so much for
this interview. And I would encourage people to
go to our website, which is IRL for in real life, IRL movie
club.org and they can see which theater is showing the film on
October 12th in their city. And if you don't see your city,
(12:56):
then please sign up right there on the website and send us a
note letting you know, letting us know that you'd like us to
find a theater in there in your city.
Can you tell me in just a littlebit about the AI film that you
recently showed? Absolutely.
It's called the Thinking Game. You can now rent it, I believe,
(13:17):
on most of the major platforms. And it was a documentary
focusing on a man named Demasisabas, who is quite the
pioneer and rock star of artificial intelligence.
He has been working at Google DeepMind in London for a decade
or more, and we get to watch over the course of five years,
(13:40):
him and his team trying to crackthe protein folding problem.
They call it like, if we can, wecan solve this problem, we can
solve many, many, many diseases and biological threats to our
existence using AI. So you get an insider's look at
the drama behind actually, in the end succeeding, which
(14:04):
probably the biggest breakthrough in all of science.
And then Demis gifting this information to every laboratory
who who wants to have it and to start working on finding cures
for diseases. So it's a really inspirational.
It's a sort of the let's understand the good side of AI.
(14:27):
While still within the film, Demis addresses the the
potential dark sides. So it's a film that, you know,
it's like another one of our films.
It's very much of the moment andgives people just sort of that
campfire experience where they can sit around and watch the
same thing and then have a chance to integrate it by
talking with each other. That sounds great.
(14:48):
And and what are some of the other subjects that you hope to
explore with this movie club? You know, one of the things that
we pride ourselves on is curating kind of the newest docs
that are being that are in the pipeline.
We can't announce any of our next films at this moment, but
(15:08):
we can assure you that they willbe subjects that are timely and
important to all of us and, and oftentimes are films that you're
not going to see on a streamer. And why is that the, the, the,
the, the streaming and broadcastmarket, as we have noticed
yesterday, have become increasingly risk averse when it
(15:31):
comes to documentaries. So they're acquiring and making
a lot less of them. So it's another piece of why we
feel our movie club is so special is because we're giving
them an opportunity to, to existand thrive in this space.
And can you tell me just any, anything else about your
(15:52):
organization besides the fact that you're doing the Movie
Club? Are you, like, how many film
makers are you working with? And, and, and what other ways do
you help them? Yeah.
So the film makers that are chosen, when their films are
chosen for this event, they're getting a grant from us because
we want to support them. By the way, each independent art
(16:14):
house theater is also getting a grant.
We want to support them. We know how hard it was for them
to survive through the pandemic and, and they all did so
frankly, because they were already good at connecting with
our local community. So we want to be in position to
lift them up. We want to lift up the film
makers. And we want audience to have,
you know, $5 ticket prices and free membership.
(16:37):
Our board is made-up of people who are sort of in the
documentary film industry. So together we we get to track
and choose our films going forward.
So in in my Omaha, it's a it's about a son and a father who are
opposed politically. I suppose that's not always the
(16:59):
topic of the films, but are you always trying to bring people
from all different backgrounds together to see films?
Is that one of the goals of the organization?
Absolutely, yes, it is. We we want to curate films that
we think are good for Civic Society.
And so we're trying to bring topics that I think are
(17:24):
important for us all to have some information about and have
conversations around. Do you have any suggestions for
art house theaters? I don't know that it's always
true, but very often I think they do attract audiences more
from one side of the political spectrum than the other.
Are there ways that they can reach out to a wider audience to
(17:47):
try and bring people together? Yeah.
I mean, I think that's each art house is different, but I know
that some of the art houses thatI'm familiar with, they just
have a real variety of programming and you know,
hopefully they have programming that is, is for all their
community. And I think that's really that's
(18:08):
that's where it has to be. It has to be content driven.
It has to be content that peoplewant to see, and that's really
programming decisions. Yeah.
Well, I love this idea. I love the film.
Again, you gave the information earlier, but can you tell
people, once again if they want to learn more about your
organization in this film and the screening that's upcoming?
Where do they go online? Thank you.
(18:29):
Yeah, it's IRL movie club.org. And there you will be able to
become a member for free. You'll be able to see the
trailer from my Omaha. Read a bit about it, read about
our organization, and you can also easily see if the film will
be playing in your city on October 12th.
(18:52):
Nationally, we're just at about 70 cities right now and we we
hope to keep adding more. So if you don't see a screening
in your city, sign up and and inthe notes, let us know you'd
like us to try to book a theaterin your town.
(19:12):
Well, as I said, Andy, I love this idea.
If there's anything I can do to help support it, I'd love to
have you back on as well as someof the film makers and help
spread the word about this movieclub.
Thank you so much.
Hi, this is Tom Needham and you are listening to the sounds of
film. Today we're joined by Annie
Rooney, the founder of In Real Life Movie Club, a national non
profit dedicated to using in person film screenings and
conversations to bridge America's political divide.
With the club's upcoming nationwide screening of My
(00:21):
Omaha, a deeply personal documentary about family,
politics, race and reconciliation, Roni shares her
vision for how cinema can bring people back together again, one
conversation at a time. Annie, thank you so much for
joining us today on The Sounds of Film.
Thanks for having me. I love this concept.
(00:43):
Can you tell our listeners a little bit more?
About what in? Real Life Movie Club is all
about. Yeah, thanks.
Thanks for the opportunity. We started this documentary
movie club in response to a desire that we think people have
to gather together in real spaces and in real life, and no
(01:07):
better way than to do that in a local art house, movie theater,
watch a really compelling film that's been curated that sort of
fits the moment. And most importantly, our
concept is all about the opportunity for people in the
audience to talk to each other. So rather than having AQ and A
(01:28):
at the end of a film where we feel people are just talked at
and they've already watched a film and have lots of thoughts
and feelings, we're giving the space and time for the audience
to turn around, meet their seatmates and have a brief
conversation with each other. And the point is just to make
connection. It's not prescriptive in any
(01:48):
way. We're not trying to tell people
what to think, we're just creating the space and place and
low ticket price for people to come together, watch a good
movie, come in as strangers and perhaps leave as a community.
So what makes you think that watching a movie and having the
(02:09):
chance to speak to one another will actually bring people
together? Is this something that you've
witnessed in real life? Yeah, I actually have in real
life. I've, I've, I've noticed it and
our our last two screenings. That's exactly what I got the
pleasure to witness is people coming in as strangers and then
watching a theater full of people just having some small
(02:32):
talk. It's it's no longer than 10
minutes. And it's, it's, it's really a
matter of just acknowledging that there's other people in the
room and, and you might want to have a smile or a handshake.
And you've just watched a, a movie.
So chances are you actually havesomething in common to talk
about because you've just seen the same film.
(02:53):
Well, the one that's coming up is called My Omaha.
Why did you choose this one? You know, it's it's truly the
right film for this moment. We did choose it a couple of
months ago. It's a film called My Omaha.
And it's a deeply personal documentary made by the
(03:13):
filmmaker who uses the movie as an opportunity to try to have
courageous conversations with his dad.
And they're, they're on different sides of the political
division in our country. And the film really exemplifies
what it looks like to really tryto listen to each other and to
(03:34):
understand each other's positionfrom a place of love and
acceptance and a real desire to understand and to not belittle
or, or judge. One of the things that struck me
as I was watching this movie is that the father and the son, as
you mentioned, had very different political views.
(03:54):
But they both acknowledged that there probably wasn't much that
the other one could say, the other one could say because they
just had different facts. And that seems to be something
that you hear a lot of today, that people just claim that they
just see things differently. And I think a lot of people feel
(04:17):
like they're coming from the right side of things, the
correct side of things, and thatthey have the facts to back up
whatever their view is. This film really explores that
in great detail. Yeah, it's really interesting.
I think we all get at a viscerallevel that we were getting
siloed information and algorithms that speak to our
(04:40):
biases. But to to, to watch it play out
between a father son relationship, I think is an
opportunity for us to kind of open up to that being the case.
And again, the idea is not to convince anyone.
And, and you really don't see the the father son trying to
convince the other person that they're right.
(05:01):
The the messages. The film is sort of a life worth
living as one that is always seeking to understand.
It's not that you will have the right answer at the end of the
film, nor will we in this moment.
But what we can strive for is, is the seeking the seeking to
find common ground. And that's what we think this
(05:22):
club does and, and has done in the past and will do in the
future with with more films. But it's a it's really a chance
to have an experience together and and be able to connect with
people you might not otherwise connect with.
Yeah, I I love that. I think it's expressed sort of
near the end of the film. Maybe you could tell us who who
(05:42):
said it, But but there was an idea stated in the film that the
best in life that you can do is seek the truth.
You're never going to find the truth, but there is happiness
that comes from seeking the truth or something along those
lines. Is that right?
Yeah, you got it right. And I don't want to give away
too much of the plot, but it's kind of a very special moment
(06:04):
between the filmmaker and one ofhis mentors.
And, and it really hit me when Iwhen I saw that part of the
film, because it gives you permission to not have to be
right, but to want to understand, which I think is a
natural state of of human existence.
(06:24):
And it encourages us, encouragesus to do that.
And look, Thanksgiving is just around the corner after our
October 12th event. And you know, we know that
families come together and politics, politics right now are
tearing them apart. And if this can have any effect
and helping heal those divisionsaround the dinner table, we as a
(06:50):
nonprofit will be thrilled. I love this idea and I and I
really love this movie. It seems though, that many
documentaries, just by the nature of what one does when one
makes a documentary, is that it often takes a point of view and
one can't help it seems but likeif you're making a strong
(07:12):
documentary to just fill it withinformation that is going to be
arguing your point of view. Providing the facts.
To argue your point of view, I love documentaries, but do you
think a lot of movies are in some ways maybe doing a
(07:34):
disservice and that? They're only preaching.
To 1 side of the argument, should they be more balanced?
Like I think this one was prettybalanced, but I always liked a
strong. Documentary.
That took a point of view, so now it has me thinking I don't
know what the right thing is anymore.
What what? What are your?
Thoughts on that? Yeah, I think a lot of people
(07:57):
have that reaction to documentaries, and that's fair.
I think it's also important to understand that any filmmaker
who makes a documentary does have a point of view, the kind
of selflessness and tenaciousness that it takes to
make a documentary, the the sacrifices it takes.
(08:18):
It's because someone really wants to show you something that
they think is important. And so if you if you watch it
through that lens, maybe it won't be disturbing, but it'd be
like, yeah, this is this person's point of view and they
have something to offer here. I think that documentaries that
try too hard to have a balance are kind of ineffective as, as
(08:38):
narrative stories, they don't they, they're not very
entertaining. And you know, we do seek to have
an entertaining film for people to watch.
Now, you've given a nice compliment to this film.
I think it, it really is it, it strikes a balance, but that
balance is personal. It's because the filmmaker, the
son wants that balance in his life.
(09:00):
And so, you know, we can see hispoint of view is more to the
left of his dad. So it's very clear that's his
point of view. But what makes this film feel
balanced is it is in his effort to truly understand and not
demonize his father. That must have been hard because
(09:21):
it seemed like he had material that he could have used.
He shows a bunch of social mediaposts that his dad had done.
I don't know if he held back anddidn't show all of them, but it
seemed like he was being restrained in terms of really
(09:41):
maybe showing some points of view of his dad that were maybe
really I, I probably to him veryupsetting.
Yeah, I but great. What what a great nuance to
filmmaker achieve that You noticed that, but you also just
kind of thought, hey, I thought there there's more.
But in a film, you only have so much time.
(10:02):
And I think that Nick wanted hisfocus to be on trying to
understand his dad while there was still time left in his dad's
life. So I think he did make that is a
point of view decision that he made to not focus on sort of the
gotcha moments, but to go back to like the human connection
(10:24):
that that he wanted to keep alive.
Yeah. And that is what people need
right now. So this film is also about
Omaha. Yeah.
So Nick and his father are from Omaha, which is the reason it's
called My Omaha. What I didn't know and I love
about documentaries is things I I learn along the way.
And and that is I didn't know that Omaha was an incredibly
(10:48):
divided, segregated city. So there's, there's kind of a, a
line, there's the one side of the tracks and the other side of
the tracks, and one is white andone is black.
So they're quite racially divided.
So part of Nick's trying to understand this moment is
realizing he's never really reached across to the other side
(11:09):
of town to understand, you know,their experience of Omaha.
So the film, not only is Nick trying to really listen and
understand his father, but at the same time feeling
responsible to them. He should be reaching out and
understanding the other half of his own hometown.
(11:31):
And through that, I think there's some really valuable
experiences that those Omahans, I don't know if that's what you
say those Nebraskans experience.So tell me, what are some of the
challenges in bringing differentgroups of people together to
watch a movie? You know what the, the, the
(11:53):
biggest challenge is, this is a post COVID time, which is
getting people to come out and watch a movie, which is, you
know, one of the reasons that this nonprofit is dedicated to
free membership and tickets are only $5.
And you become part of the community.
You get a, you get a button. You'll hear about the next
films. And you might want to invite
(12:14):
people the next time you come, knowing that they might feel
differently on a lot of issues that are important to you.
But maybe you're just going to go watch a film about, let's
say, like our last film was about artificial intelligence.
So there's lots of subjects thatwe can talk to each other about.
And you know, the hardest part is getting people to stay aware
(12:36):
that it's happening. So we, we thank you so much for
this interview. And I would encourage people to
go to our website, which is IRL for in real life, IRL movie
club.org and they can see which theater is showing the film on
October 12th in their city. And if you don't see your city,
(12:56):
then please sign up right there on the website and send us a
note letting you know, letting us know that you'd like us to
find a theater in there in your city.
Can you tell me in just a littlebit about the AI film that you
recently showed? Absolutely.
It's called the Thinking Game. You can now rent it, I believe,
(13:17):
on most of the major platforms. And it was a documentary
focusing on a man named Demasisabas, who is quite the
pioneer and rock star of artificial intelligence.
He has been working at Google DeepMind in London for a decade
or more, and we get to watch over the course of five years,
(13:40):
him and his team trying to crackthe protein folding problem.
They call it like, if we can, wecan solve this problem, we can
solve many, many, many diseases and biological threats to our
existence using AI. So you get an insider's look at
the drama behind actually, in the end succeeding, which
(14:04):
probably the biggest breakthrough in all of science.
And then Demis gifting this information to every laboratory
who who wants to have it and to start working on finding cures
for diseases. So it's a really inspirational.
It's a sort of the let's understand the good side of AI.
(14:27):
While still within the film, Demis addresses the the
potential dark sides. So it's a film that, you know,
it's like another one of our films.
It's very much of the moment andgives people just sort of that
campfire experience where they can sit around and watch the
same thing and then have a chance to integrate it by
talking with each other. That sounds great.
(14:48):
And and what are some of the other subjects that you hope to
explore with this movie club? You know, one of the things that
we pride ourselves on is curating kind of the newest docs
that are being that are in the pipeline.
We can't announce any of our next films at this moment, but
(15:08):
we can assure you that they willbe subjects that are timely and
important to all of us and, and oftentimes are films that you're
not going to see on a streamer. And why is that the, the, the,
the, the streaming and broadcastmarket, as we have noticed
yesterday, have become increasingly risk averse when it
(15:31):
comes to documentaries. So they're acquiring and making
a lot less of them. So it's another piece of why we
feel our movie club is so special is because we're giving
them an opportunity to, to existand thrive in this space.
And can you tell me just any, anything else about your
(15:52):
organization besides the fact that you're doing the Movie
Club? Are you, like, how many film
makers are you working with? And, and, and what other ways do
you help them? Yeah.
So the film makers that are chosen, when their films are
chosen for this event, they're getting a grant from us because
we want to support them. By the way, each independent art
(16:14):
house theater is also getting a grant.
We want to support them. We know how hard it was for them
to survive through the pandemic and, and they all did so
frankly, because they were already good at connecting with
our local community. So we want to be in position to
lift them up. We want to lift up the film
makers. And we want audience to have,
you know, $5 ticket prices and free membership.
(16:37):
Our board is made-up of people who are sort of in the
documentary film industry. So together we we get to track
and choose our films going forward.
So in in my Omaha, it's a it's about a son and a father who are
opposed politically. I suppose that's not always the
(16:59):
topic of the films, but are you always trying to bring people
from all different backgrounds together to see films?
Is that one of the goals of the organization?
Absolutely, yes, it is. We we want to curate films that
we think are good for Civic Society.
And so we're trying to bring topics that I think are
(17:24):
important for us all to have some information about and have
conversations around. Do you have any suggestions for
art house theaters? I don't know that it's always
true, but very often I think they do attract audiences more
from one side of the political spectrum than the other.
Are there ways that they can reach out to a wider audience to
(17:47):
try and bring people together? Yeah.
I mean, I think that's each art house is different, but I know
that some of the art houses thatI'm familiar with, they just
have a real variety of programming and you know,
hopefully they have programming that is, is for all their
community. And I think that's really that's
(18:08):
that's where it has to be. It has to be content driven.
It has to be content that peoplewant to see, and that's really
programming decisions. Yeah.
Well, I love this idea. I love the film.
Again, you gave the information earlier, but can you tell
people, once again if they want to learn more about your
organization in this film and the screening that's upcoming?
Where do they go online? Thank you.
(18:29):
Yeah, it's IRL movie club.org. And there you will be able to
become a member for free. You'll be able to see the
trailer from my Omaha. Read a bit about it, read about
our organization, and you can also easily see if the film will
be playing in your city on October 12th.
(18:52):
Nationally, we're just at about 70 cities right now and we we
hope to keep adding more. So if you don't see a screening
in your city, sign up and and inthe notes, let us know you'd
like us to try to book a theaterin your town.
(19:12):
Well, as I said, Andy, I love this idea.
If there's anything I can do to help support it, I'd love to
have you back on as well as someof the film makers and help
spread the word about this movieclub.
Thank you so much.
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