Sackville punches above its weight in a number of cultural categories, and film is one of them. Thanks to the enduring Vogue Cinema and the decades-long-running Sackville Film Society, Sackvillians have a fair amount of selection for watching films on the big screen. And now, with the birth of the Sackville Cinematheque, that selection is about to get even wider.

The Cinematheque’s founder stopped by CHMA studios to talk about the project and its inaugural season which launches tonight at the Owens Art Gallery:

Founder and programmer Dino Koutros says the Cinematheque is built on a repertory cinema model.

“There used to be cinemas dedicated to effectively older titles, classic films, cult films, unconventional genre films, Avant Garde even, sometimes,” says Koutros, who grew up in a town that has two repertory cinemas, stoking what would become a lifelong passion. “I was kind of lucky to have had that experience,” he says. “That’s where I really got engaged in film.”

Koutros went on to become a film scholar, and soon after moving to Sackville with his family in 2018, started to plan what would become the Cinematheque.

“I wanted to start something like the Cinematheque almost as soon as I got here,” says Koutros, “because I noticed there is a great film culture here actually.” Koutros also noticed a gap. “There wasn’t any group screening older titles,” says Koutros, and so he decided to create something that could bring in films “drawing from the rich history of cinema.”

With this inaugural season of the Cinematheque, Koutros is screening four films which he hopes will showcase the diversity of films he hopes to program as the series grows.

Tonight’s event features a screening of Buster Keaton’s Sherlock Junior, a “kind of action comedy, highly revered by cinephiles,” says Koutros. Then in October he’s screening cult classic “The Warriors” set in 1970s New York, “edge-of-your-seat kind of cinema.” Following that in November will be Days of Heaven, “one of the most strikingly shot films ever made,” says Koutros. And then to finish off the season in December, an old martial arts film from 1967, “Dragon Inn”. “One can’t imagine The Matrix,” says Koutros, “without this film to influence it.”

Koutros is mixing it up with venues for this first season, moving from the Owens to Struts Gallery, the Crabtree Auditorium, and the Purdy Crawford Centre. Though he says he’d be delighted to host screenings at the Vogue Cinema, he says he’s working on building up on audience before taking the Cinematheque to the larger venue.

Screenings will also be free, or by donation, this season. Koutros’ says donations will go to help grow the understandably “threadbare” operation as it starts out.

You can find out more at sackvillecinematheque.com.

Fall 2022 at the Sackville Cinematheque:

Sherlock Jr
Friday, Sept. 16, 2022
7 p.m., Owens Art Gallery

The Warriors
Saturday, Oct. 15, 2022
7 p.m., Struts Gallery

Days of Heaven
Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022
7 p.m., Crabtree Auditorium

Dragon Inn
Saturday, Dec. 10, 2022
7 p.m., Motyer-Fancy Theatre/Purdy Crawford Centre for the Arts