Name: Marcy McCall
Location: DTLA
Occupation: Advocate for Students with Disabilities, Filmmaker
Links: Marcy’s Website

1. What’s your favorite day & time to go to the movies?

For commercial releases, Friday or Saturday nights, preferably opening weekend for films getting some buzz or hype. I love a packed house, and it’s a must for a musical like Dreamgirls.

Non-commercial, artist-driven films tend to screen in the evening on Sundays and during the week. I love a good 8 o’clock underground screening during the week, with time to have dinner at home first and then head over.

2. What’s your favorite movie theater?

This is a tough one. Los Angeles offers countless gems with unique strengths and vibes. For commercial films, both Academies have flawless theaters. The Motion Picture Academy offers public screenings all year with modest ticket pricing. And now it’s easily accessed with the new Metro stop at Wilshire and Fairfax. Their mainstage, the David Geffen Theater, may be the world’s greatest standard projection, including 70mm. The scale of the space is a wonder. The Television Academy in the valley has a members-only policy. If you know someone who is a member, go with them to a film screening at the Saban Media Center. The projection is excellent there too, but the sound is a revelation. The interior is contemporary and glam with red carpeting and red seat upholstery. Both academy theaters have a no food or drink policy. And I totally respect that. It’s like church.

For artist-driven non-commercial films, documentary or experimental, new underground cinemas have thrived in LA after Covid. My favorite is 2220 Arts + Archives on Beverly near Alvarado. The programmers at Los Angeles Film Forum, Mezzanine, and Lightstruck all screen there with LA Film Forum offering multiple screenings weekly including 16mm projection. Film Forum always hands you a set of “liner notes” about that night’s screening when you walk in. I am heartened to see these screenings consistently sell-out when the commercial theaters in town struggle with studio films.

3. What’s your go-to movie theater snack & drink combo?

Small buttered popcorn and a small regular Coke. For something sweet, Junior Mints.

4. What’s your dream movie theater snack & drink combo (if noise and sound weren’t an issue)?

I have this Pavlov’s Dog association of popcorn with a movie. Happy with that. Look forward to it even.

5. First movie you remember seeing in a theater?

Hello Dolly. My hometown, Aurora, Illinois, had three single-screen theaters blocks from each other downtown. Hello Dolly would have shown at the Isle, the Tivoli, or the Paramount. Only the Paramount survives as a restored performing arts theater. My first movie sparked a lifelong love of the musical genre and soundtrack albums.

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6. Last movie you saw in a theater?

Rebel Without a Cause at the Orpheum across the street from my building in DTLA. Every June the historic theaters on Broadway open their doors to the public. It was a packed house, and a daughter of Natalie Wood spoke before the screening.

For new releases, I saw Michael at the Crenshaw outpost of Cinemark. And for non-commercial films, Kevin Jerome Everson came from Virginia to speak at a screening of his recent work at 2220 Arts + Archives. That’s a typical moviegoing week for me.

7. Is there a movie you wish you could have seen in a theater?

Tokyo Story directed by Yasujiro Ozu.

8. Have you ever seen a movie more than once in theaters?

Many movies. Twice and three times.

9. Do you stay through the credits or leave as soon as the film ends?

I am that nerd who stays until the end of the credits and for one reason. Part of the language of cinema I enjoy is the creation of place. It’s fun to guess a film’s actual location, but it’s a buried secret at the bottom. I’m seeing a trend of state and national film office branding now near the top of the credits. This will help me leave sooner, for my husband’s sake.

10. What’s one thing you would change to make movie theaters better?

I want to buy a ticket from a human being at the box office. I can still do that in LA, but it’s a dying art. Usually I’m on an app, at a computer kiosk in the theater lobby, or at the concessions counter where the employee must juggle popcorn sales, too.

11. Tell me about an especially memorable moviegoing experience that stands out in your mind.

Shoah at the Biograph Theater (now Victory Gardens Theater) in Chicago in 1986. At nine and a half hours, it’s certainly the longest film I’ve seen. And its spare beauty shook me.

12. What’s a movie you’re looking forward to seeing?

The Odyssey.

13. What’s your dream combination of director and lead(s)?

I’ll leave that to them. I like the surprise of a movie, especially its casting. That’s why I don’t read reviews until I’ve seen the film. I’m an artist, a filmmaker, and trust directors with their own casting dreams.

14. If you could live in a movie, which one would it be?

Any one of the many shot in the state of Georgia. I lived there for 15 years and miss it: the trees, the rivers, and the kindness of strangers.

15. Why do you think people should continue seeing movies at the movie theater?

For the love of it like I do. I haven’t watched a film on my laptop or phone and won’t. All in, I attend about 100 screenings a year. It’s my thing. I don’t stream, and I don’t watch much TV. Even on airplanes I’m reading. No judgment here. I’m a movie lover, but watching a film outside of a cinema puts me to sleep. It always has, including the videocassette era.

Name: Ben Proudfoot
Location: Los Angeles, California
Occupation: Filmmaker & Entrepreneur
Links: Breakwaterstudios, Ben’s IG

Ben’s latest film The Baddest Speechwriter of All, about Martin Luther King Jr.’s lawyer and speechwriter, Clarence B. Jones, just premiered at Tribeca Film Festival and will be on Netflix later in 2026.

1. What’s your favorite day & time to go to the movies?

Honestly, I love a Saturday matinee. Time and energy to discuss the movie after!

2. What’s your favorite movie theater?

I’m partial to Norris Cinema Theatre on USC’s campus. I had so many transcendent experiences there as a student. I saw Singin’ In The Rain there for the first time as a freshman. Got to ask Steven Spielberg a question as a junior. Heard many lectures from Drew Casper. And even got to screen some of my movies there for students more recently. It’s a beautiful theater.

3. What’s your go-to movie theater snack & drink combo?

Diet Coke by the gallon and buttered popcorn. Important that it be the butterfly, not mushroom, variety.

4. What’s your dream movie theater snack & drink combo (if noise and sound weren’t an issue)?

Crackers and cheese.

5. First movie you remember seeing in a theater?

Mrs. Doubtfire at the Oxford Theatre in Halifax Nova Scotia. Sadly, it is now a climbing gym.

6. Last movie you saw in a theater?

I saw Marty Supreme with my family over the holidays!

7. Is there a movie you wish you could have seen in a theater?

Lawrence of Arabia when it came out.

8. Have you ever seen a movie more than once in theaters?

I think I saw The Dark Knight 3 or 4 times in high school.

9. Do you stay through the credits or leave as soon as the film ends?

Yes, Always. Religiously.

10. What’s one thing you would change to make movie theaters better?

Replace pre-roll ads with live music.

11. Tell me about an especially memorable moviegoing experience that stands out in your mind.

I remember seeing an FYC screening of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and David Fincher and the cast came for a Q&A. I loved (and still love) that movie so much and I just remember every cell in my body vibrating watching that film. For whatever reason it just hit my resonant frequency.

12. What’s a movie you’re looking forward to seeing?

Spielberg’s Disclosure Day. He is the master.

13. What’s your dream combination of director and lead(s)?

I’d love to see Spielberg x Jim Carrey.

14. If you could live in a movie, which one would it be?

I love old Hollywood so maybe Singin’ In The Rain or The Bad and The Beautiful.

15. Why do you think people should continue seeing movies at the movie theater?

Join your community. Be reminded of our shared humanity. Connect with your neighbors.

Name: Rosebud Baker
Location: On tour!
Occupation: Comedian, actor, Emmy-nominated writer
Links: Rosebud’s memoir Fully Baked, Instagram

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Name: Sofia Black-D'Elia
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Occupation: Actress, mom, Knicks fan
Links: Sofia’s IG

See Sofia’s latest project Never Change at Village East Theater tonight as part of Tribeca Film Fest…

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Last week I attended an advance screening for Disclosure Day (brag) (thanks Emily) and about ten minutes into the movie someone started scrolling on their phone, brightness setting on max. Before I could even get upset though, someone from the studio team came over to warn them and made them put their phone away for the rest of the movie. See how easy it all can be! So why is this level of care reserved for special screenings or exclusive to smaller, independent theaters?

One thing about me is I love a multiplex. I’m a patron of many independent theaters but also frequent several AMCs and find their predictability comforting. However, I feel increasingly like once we enter a theater, we’re left in there alone to fend for ourselves. People talking? Ask them to shut up and pray they comply and not start a fight. People on their phones? Switch seats so the brightness doesn’t distract you. Someone brought their crying baby in (yes this happened)? Tough luck, book another showing and pray that one is quiet. Yeah people have definitely gotten weirder and less considerate of others in the past decade, but do the establishments not bear any responsibility in all this?

Last month, AMC recorded its highest May attendance in 7 years, with Obsession and Backrooms being the two unlikely crowd pleasers that drew in a younger demographic. This is great! What’s not great was the amount of people who encountered horrible audience behavior and had their experience of the films ruined. And listen, teenagers are teenagers. Their frontal lobes are still developing and they may not yet have learned how to behave in a theater, but this is why we have establishments setting and enforcing rules: Do not talk, turn your phone off, don’t do anything that ruins other people’s experience. The rules are indeed set, but the enforcing at the moment seems to be up to the other patrons who are also there to watch a movie, not play kindergarten teacher. For the life of me I don’t understand how the cafe down my street can enforce a strict “no laptops after 5pm” rule, and huge, established movie theater chains can not figure this out.

I swear I have vivid memories of movie theater ushers growing up who popped in periodically to make sure no one’s talking or misbehaving. I KNOW I have recent memories of a Broadway usher who kicked someone out for briefly glancing at their phone. So why do major movie theaters still exclusively employ young people who are definitely not getting paid enough to confront an unruly patron? Is it really so hard to hire one (1) trained professional who can pop in and out of rooms, to at least give the illusion of deterrence?

6 years after the shutdown, people are clearly doing their part to “save movies” and “bring moviegoing back” and all the other slogans these gigantic companies use when it benefits them. We are out here spending our hard-earned money to patronize these theaters and help them thrive. It’s time for them to meet us halfway and regulate these glaring issues before a whole new generation of people define moviegoing as “watching movie on big screen while I scroll on small screen”.

PS. shoutout to Phoebe Bridgers for locking up phones at her concerts. And to her disgruntled fan below for rage-bait attempt of the year.

PPS. AMC I still (and will always) love you. My only intention is for you to be rich and successful.

Name:
Location: LA
Occupation: Editor, freelance writer, photographer
Latest work by Shona: Folk Tattoos for Modern Living, That Cool Girl from India

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Name: Tatti Ribeiro and Noelle Forougi
Location: LA
Occupation: , director and producers of Valentina
Links: franknews on Instagram and Substack, Valentina on Instagram

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Name: Aitch Alberto
Occupation: Writer/Director
Links: Instagram

Watch Aitch’s latest short film The Long Con as part of LALIFF tonight @ TCL Chinese Theater or at Frameline San Francisco on June 19th

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Name: Diana Cadavid
Occupation: Director of Industry Programs at the Latino Film Institute
Links: Get tickets to Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival, starting 5/27 (tomorrow!)

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Name: Maggie Hill
Location: New York
Occupation: Writer & Digital Essayist
Links: Maggie’s Instagram

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Name: Cara Cusumano
Location: New York
Occupation: Tribeca Festival Director and SVP of Programming
Links: Tribeca Film Festival 2026 Lineup, Individual Tickets, Passes

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Name: Tasbeeh Herwees
Location: Los Angeles
Occupation: Author of

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Name: Rachel Wallace
Location: Brooklyn
Occupation: Writer/Senior Entertainment Editor at Architectural Digest
Links: Rachel’s Substack, Instagram

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Name: Lena Dunham
Location: North London/Northwest Connecticut
Occupation: Writer/Director/Producer
Links: Lena’s Substack

Pre-order Lena’s memoir Famesick, available on April 14.

1. What’s your favorite day & time to go to the movies?

Saturday at 3pm!!! When I was younger my greatest passion was the first Thursday preview show, but mama’s gettin’ old.

2. What’s your favorite movie theater?

There are so many wonderful, brand spanking new theaters — chicly designed, elevated snacks — that are doing it right. In London, Everyman Cinema near our house has reclining chairs and fancy sodas and you feel like you’re at a spa that happens to be playing PTA.

But I’ll always love the theaters that have a connection to the period in which I was falling in love with movies. Like Cobble Hill Cinemas, the independent faux-art deco (Feco??) theater where I went on my first ever date with a group of like twenty 7th graders, to see What Dreams May Come, and my “boyfriend” sat two rows back.

Or the Angelika, around the corner from my childhood home, where I would make my parents slow down so I could study every poster on the way to the supermarket.

The Moviehouse in Millerton, NY is the most fun Christmas you can have. For some reason, my clearest Moviehouse memory is thinking there was a massive, terrible thunderstorm brewing and then realizing that Saving Private Ryan was playing in the other theater while we watched There’s Something About Mary.

I miss Sunshine Cinema, Regal Court Street and so many other spots around the city where my cinematic self determination occurred. Thank God we still have Cinema Village, Anthology Film Archives and Film Forum.

3. What’s your go-to movie theater snack & drink combo?

Large Diet Coke and small plain popcorn. It’s never not perfect.

I really want to forget my childhood nachos phase — the way that cheese stayed soft even as it got cold was very wrong.

4. What’s your dream movie theater snack & drink combo (if noise and sound weren’t an issue)?

I’d love to have a ginger beer with a slice of lime in a cold beer glass, and a giant, salty soft pretzel. Or maybe that’s just what I want right now?

5. First movie you remember seeing in a theater?

A screening of The Little Mermaid that a bunch of my preschool friends attended on a planned weekend outing. All of us little girls were in our Sunday best. I was rapt, in awe, right until the end when my mother had to carry me out screaming because I found the fact that Ariel has to leave her father at the end so upsetting. My mother kept saying “It’s a happy story! It’s a happy story!” as all of the other kids left in delight, but I can still remember how tragic and painful I found it (and my friends wonder why I still spend half my time living with my parents…)

6. Last movie you saw in a theater?

One Battle After Another — which is too long ago! Like many cinephiles who are also homebodies, my love of movies and my love of being on the couch with our dogs are always at war. This is a good time to resolve to shift the balance.

7. Is there a movie you wish you could have seen in a theater?

Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice. I wish I’d been alive to watch a film print of it in West Hollywood in 1969.

8. Have you ever seen a movie more than once in theaters?

So many times — especially as a teenager. I think I went back to see Center Stage, 10 Things I Hate About You and The Royal Tenenbaums three times each. My parents weren’t overly generous with allowance, but they let me go to the movies and buy books with impunity, which were foundational gifts.

9. Do you stay through the credits or leave once the film ends?

If I love it, I’ll usually sit through the credits to collect my thoughts and feel the final song play out (and I always cheer if I see the name of someone I’ve worked with, even if they’re not there to hear me.)

10. What’s one thing you would change to make movie theaters better?

I feel like some genius engineer/architect could find a way to stagger seats so you are never blocked by a very tall man’s head or directly behind two girls whispering, and in the process stop countless incidents of hostility between strangers.

11. Tell me about an especially memorable moviegoing experience that stands out in your mind.

Just recently, I was lucky enough to host a screening of The Voice of Hind Rajab at the Roxy. The credits are silent, and as they rolled, all you heard was collective sobbing. While beautifully made, it’s a deeply painful film to watch, but also deeply necessary to see — and that moment of collective grief was powerful and rare.

12. What’s a movie you’re looking forward to seeing?

Disclosure Day — a huge alien epic is always thrilling to me (I’d watch Signs any time, any day) and Josh O’Connor in a Spielberg blockbuster feels like a compelling pairing.

13. What’s your dream combination of director and lead(s)?

Celine Song and Tilda Swinton.

14. If you could live in a movie, which one would it be?

Clueless! Always Clueless. I want to drive in Dionne’s Jeep wearing a plaid co-ord! I want to use Cher’s computerized closet system! I even want to hang out at that party in the Valley!

15. Why do you think people should continue seeing movies at the movie theater?

Of course there are all the business reasons, and the many ways going to the theater directly impacts the ability of artists to continue to make this work. But I’m gonna go more touchy-feely: Movie theaters are about more than just film — they’re about experiencing emotion in a group, about listening to other people laugh and gasp. They’re about learning to accept, tolerate and even enjoy a room full of people who may see the world differently than you do, but who are revealing their humanity and leaving themselves open to profound and vulnerable experiences in the safety of the collective. To me, a movie theater is a lot like church or temple or a mosque in that way: It can remind people that they’re not alone, that they’re held by something much bigger than we are.

Name: Tyler Coates
Location: Los Angeles
Occupation: Film Journalist
Links: Tyler’s Substack, IG

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Name: Iris Lin
Location: New York
Occupation: Film Event Professional
Links: Iris’ Instagram, Twitter

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