It's not your typical movie theater — just a non-descript white building, located in an industrial zone on the Portland waterfront.
Inside there's a warehouse feel, but it's cozy. Rows of folding chairs face a large projector screen that hangs from the ceiling. There's a serve-yourself popcorn maker at the back. Hundreds of multi-colored film reels line the shelves around the perimeter of the room.
This is Kinonik. Don't worry about how it's pronounced; everyone — including the non-profit's co-founders — seems to say it in slightly different ways.
"We decided that it was keeping with the way we think of ourselves that there is no official pronunciation," said co-founder Andy Graham. "It's all about how the speaker views it and how they want to say it."
Graham said Kinonik's origins go back about a decade, when he acquired an initial film collection from a friend and mentor. Since then, the non-profit has brought in more 1,800 films, mostly from college and university libraries or collectors who have donated unwanted prints.
The films are shown most Wednesday and Saturday nights.
On a recent Wednesday, a few dozen people have braved the icy conditions and packed into the small cinema. Some have arrived early to get a prime spot on the couch right in front of the screen.
Tonight's feature is Whisky Galore!, a comedy from 1949 and part of a recent series of screenings that explore crime and the law.
"I did not expect this turnout for a really obscure film," said co-founder Skylar Kelly, who offers brief introductions to each film.
This film, Kelly said, is Alexander Mackendrick's directorial debut.
"I thought it was a really fun take on when a community collectively decides that the law is completely irrelevant to their situation," he said. "And does the right thing for their culture."
What films are shown, and when, has become a bit of a creative obsession for Kelly, who also runs the projector at most screenings. Kelly said he likes to think about what might be happening in the country, both politically and culturally, and then chooses a film that might line up with it.
"I'm looking for resonances, echoes, essentially, so that one's experience of a particular film is emotionally heightened by things that are actually happening around them," he said.
After a few minutes more on the film's history, Kelly dims the lights and heads to a 16-millimeter projector positioned on a makeshift wooden platform at the back of the room.
The projector whirls to life, as the opening credits flash across the screen.
Part of the mission at Kinonik, Graham said, is to demystify the movie-going experience.
"You get see the projector, you get to hear the projector," Graham said. "You get to see the films in their physical presence around you. We're really trying to open it up, so that there's an inclusiveness to it," he said. So you're no longer just a spectator, but you're contributing to everyone else's experience."
And there's just something different about seeing a movie on film, Kelly said. When introducing each movie, Kelly often points out peculiarities about the film print itself, like the grain or color.
"In this world where it becomes increasingly risky to trust one's eyes, the things you're seeing here, one can count on," he said. "I also just think it's interesting, that these are unique artifacts that bear marks of the circumstances under which they were made or reproduced."
For the next 82 minutes, the crowd is rapt and laughing along with every silly plot turn. An occasional plane from the nearby Portland Jetport can be heard flying overhead.
"It feels like sitting in a friend's basement watching a movie," said Puck Nicoll, who's been coming to Kinonik almost weekly for the last year.
Like tonight, Nicoll usually doesn't know the movie. Nicoll grew up watching old films and trusts that whatever Kinonik is screening that week is worth seeing.
"It's become something that I really look forward to in my week, just to get away and be in this place," Nicoll said. "For me it's very intentional of sitting down to watch a movie, especially in public, where you've really got to not look at your phone."
Kevin Bertolero is also a Wednesday night regular.
"It's just nice to hear everybody laughing," he said. "You can watch it at home, but it's not the same."
Bertolero said he was initially drawn to Kinonik because he was interested in the non-profit's collection of old film prints. But he said he's also made new friends at the screenings and had some unexpected conversations with others in the audience.
"We saw... Bringing Up Baby," he said. "And there was a woman sitting next to me, and she was several decades older, but she was laughing and telling me about the first time she had seen this back in the theater many years ago."
Upcoming screenings, which are scheduled through March, include Frank Capra's You Can't Take it With You and Fritz Lang's 1960 film The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse, among others. Starting this week, Kinonik has added Saturday matinee screenings to meet growing demand.
To date, the cinema has been largely limited to showing 16-millimeter films but is installing two high-end, 35-millimeter projectors from a donor in Los Angeles. They were once used by filmmakers to view final cuts and are considered a rare find, especially for a small cinema like Kinonik. Once installed, they will allow the theater to screen about 30 more titles from its growing collection.
