Library Offers Free Movies on Big Screen

Besides its books, resources and summer programming, the Montville library offers the public something that they can't get anywhere else in town: free movies on a big screen.

"It's a full theatre experience," library public relations specialist Alexa Metrick said. "These are recent movies we're showing, they aren't all old classics. We can get it pretty dark in [the auditorium]. It's a pretty cool experience to come see a movie for nothing."

The library began its first ever summer movie program this year, as a means of utilizing its wall-sized multi-media screen in the Pio Costa auditorium during a season when many educational programs are not as heavily attended, according to Metrick.

"In the summer, people don't seem all that interested in educational programs," she said. Once the fall starts up, we'll have everything from pure educational programs to educational entertainment to information for parents and computer training. We want to get as much use of it as possible.

The movies are the first program to utilize the library's big screen in a continuous form, but resources director Jeanne Ivy looks forward to its educational applications.

"We want to use it for instructional programs," she said. "We have had county library meetings here, we could use the screen for that. We could use it for training sessions, symposiums, the sky is the limit."

Metrick, who says that many libraries do not offer education programs in the summer months, thinks the screen will be a good teaching asset for the library.

"For most kinds of educational programs, it'll really be fantastic," she said. "In the mean time, we want to get the most use of the screen that we can."

The library began its summer movie program on June 30, with a showing of Finding Nemo. The event made an impression on Ivy, and not just because of the screen size or the turnout, which was considerable.

I had never seen that movie before," she said. "It was really beautiful looking."

Currently, the library offers three different movie programs. Its "Movie 4 Kids" program takes place on Wednesdays and features a showing at 1:30 and 6:30 p.m. and features popular g-rated titles like WALL-E and Monsters, Inc. The library shows family movies every Sunday at 2 p.m., featuring films such as Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat and Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory. Teen movies, such as Grease and High School Musical 3: Senior Year are shown every other Monday at 6:30 p.m.

According to Metrick, the library is still working out some scheduling issues in an attempt to find the best day for maximum attendance. She also said they were planning to improve on the teen movies, which have not been as well attended as the family and kids movies.

"We don't have much in the way of programming for teens," she said. "This is just the first step, but we're looking for input from teens. We'd like to put together a teen council so the kids could take an active roll and maybe pick some of the movies. We were kind of just kitting in the dark as to what they would like this summer."

Thanks to a movie license acquired by the library, the films are be shown for free, a factor that Metrick thinks will lead to the program's continuation.

"There's no financial obstacle," she said. "I imagine it will be a constant thing once we figure out a good schedule. It will be interesting to see if things pick up in the fall."

The screen, which is held in the Pio Costa auditorium, has been with the library since it was built, but was only activated recently.

"When this building was built, the screen was installed but the technology we have didn't allow for its size. We recently got it up and running, which was quite exciting because we hadn't been able to use it."

According to Ivy, one of the libraries interim directors chose to pursue purchasing a real-screen projector for the screen, resulting in its installation "a few months ago."

"It looks phenomenal," she said.

The next movie is a family showing of The Wizard of Oz on August 8 at 2:30 p.m.