Love: Springfield gem Moxy Cinema brings the world to your local screen | Arts and Culture

Freshman night for me started like it did for countless others. I wanted to go to the movies. However, this was causing me a bit of a problem.

At the time, I was racing to see each of that year’s Oscar nominees one by one before the night of the awards ceremony. It was a tradition that began that year in response to widespread access to movies through streaming in the post-COVID-19 situation. Unfortunately, the movie titled “Minari” was not considered a Best Picture nominee for months.

Only a semester and a half into my four-year stay at Missouri State University, I was still unfamiliar with some of the city’s hidden charms. Up until that point, the only Springfield movie theater I had been to was the now-closed Regal Cinemas.

After weeks of checking local listings with no luck, I found a place downtown showing “Minari.” It was The Moxie, a theater I had never heard of.

The first time I walked into The Moxy, it felt like magic. As a young moviegoer, I couldn’t believe my eyes. After all, how was it possible to have a non-profit theater in Springfield, Missouri that specializes in showing small films? I felt incredibly lucky.

I remember everything vividly about my first trip to The Moxy. Where you sit, the pre-show introduction, the popcorn, and of course the great movie itself. I left thinking it was one of my favorite theater experiences ever.

Since then, basically every time I go to Moxy, I feel exactly the same. I have yet to meet a theater that I like more.

Moxie Cinema, described at moxiecinema.com/about-us as “Springfield’s community-supported arthouse theater,” is an entertainment venue specializing in film distribution and education. According to its website, the theater shows “critically acclaimed films, old and new, that may not be shown locally,” as well as often low-budget films from around the world. .

“We exist to enrich our communities through the power of film to captivate, educate and inspire,” the website says. “Yes, we show movies and sell tickets, but essentially we exist to make our community a better place to live.”

Current and upcoming screenings include 2024 Best International Feature Film nominee Perfect Days, Julio Torres’s Problemista, and repertory screenings of Bong Joon-ho’s The Host.

“The Host” is presented as part of Moxie’s Filmstabs Series, a free re-release screening series hosted with a grant from the Springfield-Greene County Library’s Friends of the Libraries program. It will be screened.

As a film student and a guy who simply loves going to the movies, I can’t say enough about how grateful we are that Springfield has a theater like Moxie Cinema. It is no exaggeration. Being able to see the types of movies shown at Zamoxie was one of the absolute highlights of my time at MSU.

It’s always fun to watch The Moxie’s upcoming movies. Often, small, critically acclaimed films that you’ve only heard about online will appear in a list of showtimes that you’d otherwise have to wait until they’re available to stream. A movie will be shown. I’ve expanded my horizons by watching hours upon hours of local and international movies in all directions that aren’t shown on other screens. And this, of course, means that a piece of film history that was released long before I was born can now be seen again on the big screen in my college town.

I love the feeling of sitting in a packed auditorium for a blockbuster movie and having everyone locked in and a huge experience taking over the room. At the same time, sitting in a room with only 30 people can bring you so much joy. , knowing that you’re all together watching a masterpiece of intimate filmmaking.

When you go to a big theater, you run the risk of being watched by rowdy patrons or being blinded by your cell phone. At The Moxy, every screening seems to come with an implicit commitment, a shared understanding that the room we’re in is sacred. It feels weird that not all movie theaters feel like this all the time, but in my experience, screenings at The Moxy feel universal that everyone wants to go there.

I truly believe that if more people went to places like The Moxy, the world would be a kinder, better place. This may sound like optimistic movie-loving drivel, but I say it with all my heart.

Every movie has its merits, and I will support the creation of widely distributed blockbusters until the day I die. But the sheer amount of powerful art that people separate themselves from, just wanting to be part of the year’s biggest movies, is amazing.

It’s difficult to understand the different perspectives and points of view found in independent and international filmmaking without changing your worldview. I feel like I’ve gradually changed fundamentally over time due to the movies I’ve watched. It’s just a way of seeing the world through different eyes over and over again.

I’m not going to sit here and argue that arts education is valuable just because it’s “important.” Going to The Moxy is also, through all of my experiences, an incredibly fun time.

I remember watching Julia Ducournau’s “Titan” in a crowded room with a group of friends, none of us quite sure what we were encountering. The next few hours were a wild ride and the entire audience seemed completely hooked. There’s something solemn about watching a woman get pregnant by a show car in a room full of strangers, but it also felt like we were in it together.

I remember accidentally attending a screening of Pedro Almodovar’s “Parallel Mothers” as the only person in the audience. It was a thrilling experience and it felt like there was nothing else in the world but me and the movie in front of me. No one could hear me crying in that room.

I remember going to The Moxy many times with my best friend during my time at MSU. Some of my favorite movies of the last few years – The Banshees of Inisherin, Drive My Car, The Baddest Man in the World, etc. – are the ones we both first worked on in his two It was something I saw on one of his screens. I am very grateful to Moxie Cinema for making this experience possible.

Depth and entertainment can be found in art from all over the world at a variety of price points. Sticking only to large budget stocks where he gets three-month contracts in large complexes sells himself short above all else.

Every movie, big or small, deserves to shine on the big screen. All audiences will be given the opportunity to watch these films in an optimal environment.

We are proud of Moxy Cinema for giving the people of Springfield what they deserve.

At Moxie Cinema, student tickets are $9 with student ID and discounted rates are $8 on Mondays and Tuesdays. Students can become a Moxie member for $50 and get access to $3 off tickets and free repertoire screenings.