Refuge of the Persecuted Moviegoer: Independent Film Comes to the Panhandle
By Breanne Boland October 21, 2004 Issue

When I came back here after going to school in Boston, one of the things I missed most was being able to see independent movies on a screen, rather than having to wait (and wait, and wait) for them to appear on video. Fortunately the Gulf Breeze Cinema 4, an independent theater, opened in July, and indie doesn’t only describe the films they offer.

Neale Winker manages the theater (he’s often the man in the box office and behind the concession stand), and Jim Norton owns it. Both are from Wisconsin, and Norton still lives there, although he’s looking at Gulf Breeze for when he retires, now that he’s assured of good movies if he moves here.

Something has struck me as out of the ordinary about the theater each time I’ve been there, but I wasn’t able to put my finger on it until I talked to the men behind it. “We’re aiming at adults who are over the age of 40—baby boomers—who want to go to a movie theater and see a movie with quality and story,” Norton says. And it was then that it crystallized – in a world filled with marketing aimed at people between 15 and 35 years old, with advertisements in every corner and on every surface, the Gulf Breeze Cinema 4 does stick out.

Such is what happens when you don’t underestimate your audience. “I think most of them know pretty well what they’re coming to see,” says Winker.

Norton agrees. “Many of the film studios have always told me that Fort Walton Beach and Pensacola won’t support art films. I’ve found that not to be true. You have to provide the movies for them. If you don’t provide them, they won’t come,” he observes.

Smaller movies get left out of traditional theaters because of money and convenience. “Theaters like the Rave [which has locations in both Pensacola and Destin] won’t show a small movie,” explains Norton, “because they can make more money showing four copies of Shark Tale than showing one small movie.” Furthermore, it’s difficult to acquire prints of smaller films. “Instead of 3000 prints of Shark Tale, there’ll be maybe 100 for Maria Full of Grace. There were only 126 prints in the whole country.” As for how Gulf Breeze obtains these hard-to-get films at all, Norton explains, “We [small theaters] share a little bit.”

However, it’s more than the titles on the marquee that differentiates the Cinema 4 from your local mega-multiplex. Where larger theaters tend to have a drive-thru aspect to them – get your tickets, get your soda, sit down, watch, get out – this theater wants people to come early and stay late. “We encourage people to come early to the movie to sit on the sofa, read a paper, read a book, make some friends,” says Norton. “We’re trying to present more of a book store atmosphere, stay around and talk and socialize.” There are sofas in the lobby, flanked by end tables covered in movie and entertainment magazines. The staff is willing to talk movies too. Winker, who once owned both a video store and a movie theater in Wisconsin, works with a young man who used to drive to New Orleans every weekend with his girlfriend to see the movies he couldn’t find around here.

Fittingly, one of the things discussed is what movies will be shown in the theater. I’ve seen theaters that were devoted only to rerunning old or less-than-recent films, but I’ve never seen a theater soliciting requests from its patrons. Recently, the theater played Intimate Strangers, a film which was programmed because so many people requested it. At one end of the concession stand is a clipboard asking what moviegoers would like to see, and when last I was there the list was varied and interesting.

On October 22 and 29th… [well,yes, we’ll see], although scheduling is fluid, so it’s best to call ahead and check. Show times are always 2 p.m., 4:30 p.m., and 7 p.m., and on weekends there is an additional showing at 9:30 p.m. and all tickets for all shows are $5. They expect to have a website up for the theater by the end of October, but in the meantime you can call 850-916-9402 (to speak to an actual human, no less) for more information. The theater is located in Live Oak Plaza in Gulf Breeze, and if you like variety in your cinematic diet, the trip is well worth it, regardless of where you’re coming from.

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