Please bring back Ken Hanke's review of the Friday night World Cinema film series at the Courtyard Gallery. We've been offering this free series for years, providing complimentary refreshments and hosting a discussion afterward. It's a rare opportunity to see classic cinema in a public setting.
Ken's review is important because we show a wide variety of genres and sometimes explore cinema with experimental styles and controversial content. Our community relies on his reviews to decide whether to attend each showing. Also, it's a chance for everyone to get Ken's take on classics, which we'd otherwise not ever get to see him talk about.
It also seems like something you would [be glad] to run. Being the local arts-and-entertainment newspaper, these types of community events are something that we think you'd encourage. Of course, space is a precious commodity, yet things like Free Will Astrology and News of the Weird get an entire page. By comparison, our review takes up hardly any space at all, and helps to provide some unique local flavor. We know that those larger, syndicated columns are popular, and advertising is what keeps the paper running. However, we also believe that little things like a thoughtful review of a free film showing in a local art gallery are what really give the paper its spirit.
We're not a high-profile theater, and that review is our lifeline. As the host of both the film showings and the Thursday open mics, I try to show my appreciation for the review by mentioning it several times a week to both our in-house audiences and our 130,000 podcast subscribers around the world. I have no illusions that we are making or breaking your readership, but I'd like to think that at least a few people have found your paper because of us, and we are reciprocating your generosity the best way we can. Please give some thought to bringing that review back to the film section and seeing if it might be worth the little bit of space it takes up.
The editors respond: We agree that the World Cinema showings are a valuable community event, and are flattered that you've enjoyed Hanke's take on the classics. Unfortunately, the number of special showings in our region was taking up more print space than we could feasibly allow, so we're now listing them in print and pointing readers to Hanke's full reviews of these showings online. We encourage local film lovers to be sure and check us out there each week, at mountainx.com/movies.
— Jarrett Leone
Asheville
Unfortunately in the case of the Hendersonville Film Society (HFS), many of the people who attend are older and they don’t go online. Also the number of attendees from outside Hendersonville (young and old) has declined since you stopped printing the reviews.