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BANNED (N CHAPEL HiLLI
With the exception of the Chelsea, Movie Theaters il
By Jacqueline Charles
Ink Staff Writer
Friday night. Downtown
Chapel Hill. How about a
movie? "Juice,” perhaps?
Let's see. Is it playing at the
Varsity? No way. Ram
Triple?... Sorry. Plaza?..Are
you crazy?
In ihe movie industry,
blacks have always been
second-class citizens. And
despite the emergence of films
by black HI mmakers, not much
has changed - especially in
Chapel Hill.
Students must still travel
to Durham to see the newest
films by black writers and
directors when they are
released.
“It’s not fair,” Sophomore
Milton Smith said.
Theater owners, however,
say it isn’t a question ofbeing
fair.
“Location has a lot to do
with what movies are shown
in ccrtain markets,” said Michael
Pauick, CEO of Carmike Cinema.
Whether it’s Lee, Singleton or Rich, the answer is the same: Not in Chapel Hill!
Carmike owns Ram Triple locatcd
at the NCNB Plaza.
Patrick said Chapel Hill is not
an action town.
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The Chelsea theater consistently plays films by black writers and directors.
“It will do very well with
movies that (win) academy awards
or appeal to the intellectual group.”
Jim Steele, part owner and
manager of the Varsity located on
Franklin Street, said his theater
shows primarily foreign and
independent films because they are
what interest him.
“We don’t want to duplicate
commercial movie theaters,” he
said. “We want to serve as an
alternative source.”
Both the Ram and the Plaza I-III
located on Elliott Road, show
commercial fihns.
Teresa F^iryear, who books the
films shown at the Plaza, said the
theater is not big on showing black
films, which have contained mostly
shooting and violence.
“We’re into more intellectual
films rather than a bunch of people
shooting each other,” said Puryear,
an employee of Eastern Federal
Corporation, owner of the Plaza.
Despite its policy, the Plaza ran
the popular action film ‘Terminator
2” last summer.
““Terminator 2’ did well
everywhere,” Puryear explained.
While the!
theaters have their own
idea about what.
University students would
like to see, students have i
their own ideas about the |
theaters themselves. t,
Senior Terrence'
Garrison said the theaterjf
operators may stereot>T3c .
black audiences.
“I think th^‘
people in charge in a lo
of cases, have th(
misconception that blad
people are nothing buw,
trouble,” Garrison said. \
Rava Alexander, j
a senior, agreed |
“White people
are afraid if they give us
an opportunity to act
dignified, we will act
dignified and they don’t
want this,” Alexander
said.‘This is thconly way
they can keep us in our
place — oppressed.”
Meanwhile, bot^i
Alexander and Gamson
feel it would be beneficial for
downtown Chapel Hill theaters to
show more black films.
Sophomore Marcellus Howard
added that black movies would
attract a sizeable audience.
“There are enough black and
white people here who would go
and see a black movie if they re
worried about making a profit,
Howard said.
Garrison said he does not often
go to the theaters, because they do
not support black contributions to
the cinema.
“I think that it would be very
socially and politically irresponsible
for me as an African American to
lend my financial support tO;
institutions which don’t support
African Americans,” he said.
Steele of the Varsity said he is
aware a lot of money can be made
from black movies and other
commercial films. But Chapel Hill
is too small to support two theaters
showing the same picture.
“There are too few screens in
Chapel Hill and too many movies to
be played,” he said. ,
One theater which does attract