It’s shorts season
Warm up to great cinema, with the Bijou’s Oscar shorts series
By Gretchen Ammerman
Oregon Coast TODAY
Since the first set of golden statuettes were awarded in 1929 for the “best” films and performances of that year, roughly 3,000 “Oscars” have been handed out. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, that oversees the awards, frowns upon selling the little gilded men, and living winners for films made after 1950 can be stripped of Hollywood’s highest honor should they try to profit from it.
Director Steven Spielberg takes this bit of history seriously and has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars buying up some of the older awards and donating them back to the Academy. These include two given to Betty Davis as well as Clark Gable's Best Actor award for his role in the 1931 Best Film award winner, “It Happened One Night.”
Keith and Betsy Altomare, owners of Bijou Theatre in Lincoln City, also take film history seriously. Since buying the theater 25 years ago, they have tried to preserve as much of the 1937 building’s historic charm as possible.
And every year they get into awards-season mood by screening the Oscar Nominated Shorts film series, showing at the Bijou from Friday, March 11 through 17.
“This is the first time we are having them here,” Betsy said. “Previous ones were shown at the Lincoln City Cultural Center and the Newport Performing Arts Center, but you only had one chance to see each grouping. Showing them here allows for more of a variety of times and days to catch them.”
The films are grouped into animation, documentary and live action themes.
Live Action
Friday, March 11: 2 pm
Saturday, March 12: 7:30 pm
Sunday, March 13: 7:30 pm
Tuesday, March 15: 7:30 pm
Wednesday, March 16: 2 pm
Animation
Friday, March 11: 7:30 pm
Saturday, March 12: 2 pm
Monday, March 14: 7:30 pm
Thursday, March 17: 2 pm
Documentary
Sunday, March 13: 2 pm
Monday, March 14: 2 pm
Tuesday, March 15: 2 pm
Wednesday, March 16: 7 pm
Thursday, March 17 pm
“The most popular in the past has always been the documentaries,” Betsy said. “There are a lot of good ones, like I’m sure many people will be excited to see Riz Ahmed in ‘The Long Goodbye.’”
For first-timers to the series, Betsy warns that these aren’t your children’s style of animated films.
“We watched that series and, yeah, there’s a reason it's rated R,” she said. “One of the titles is ‘Beastia;’ use your imagination with that one. There is always very out-there subject matter in the animation. But there is also always something new and interesting and not something you normally think of. And there is such a variety of subjects. My favorite one was ‘Robin, Robin.’”
Betsy recommends that people reserve seats ahead of time for the films, especially if they want the deluxe package.
“We have three double recliners now,” she said. “It’s only an extra three dollars to get one of those, which goes to a different non-profit every month. This month it will go to Theatre West.”
Another recommendation? Pay close attention to the schedule:
“All of the shows are so randomly placed,” Betsy said. “For example, there is no live action showing on Thursday.”
If you come to any of the shows, you will get a ballot program that includes all the listings. You can also use it to vote for your favorites.
“It’s just for fun, they won’t be submitted anywhere,” Betsy said. “But if people want to fill them out and turn them in to us, it might be a fun way for us to get an idea of what our customers like and help us plan for the future.”
As restrictions ease, the Bijou is still erring on the side of safety.
“We’re still encouraging people to wear masks and we’re still putting some spacing between seats,” Betsy said. “Our employees will all be masked and wearing gloves.”
But the popcorn will still be popping and the beer and cider will still be flowing, so walk the red carpet into the Bijou for your awards season fix.
General admission tickets for all individual programs are $8. Passes to see all three programs are $22 and are on sale now. The Bijou Theatre is located at 1624 NE Hwy. 101 in Lincoln City. To reserve seats, email bijoutheatre541@gmail.com. For more information, go to cinemalovers.com or call 541-994-8255.