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Watch: This Theater’s Final Screening on Film (Before Switching to Digital) Will Break Your Heart

Watch: This Theater's Final Screening on Film (Before Switching to Digital) Will Break Your Heart
Watch: This Theater's Final Screening on Film (Before Switching Digital) Will Break Your Heart

READ MORE: Watch: Paul Thomas Anderson Explains Why 35mm Film Should Stay ‘Alive’

For independent theater owners, making the switch over to digital projection requires both an emotional and a financial sacrifice, with virtually no guarantee that enacting such a change will ultimately help their business stay afloat.

Such is the case of rural Pennsylvania drive-in theater owner Bill Frankhouser — the man at the center of a short documentary film “Changeover.” The film follows Frankhouser, who also runs the projection booth for the drive-in, as he executes his projectionist routine for the very last time.

The film has screened at various festivals including the Santa Barbara Film Festival, the Austin Film Festival, Sidewalk Film Festival, the Cincinnati Film Festival and the Asheville Film Festival. 

Similar to Frankhouser, who admits onscreen that he has no idea whether or not the digital equipment will pay off, “Changeover” never touts a solution or definitive answer to the future of the film.

READ MORE: Indie Theaters Scramble to Screen ‘Interstellar’ in 35mm and 70mm

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