S1: Welcome in San Diego. It's Jade Hindman. Today we're telling you about free arts and culture , the closure of Hillcrest Cinemas , and what schedule cuts could mean for Chula Vista High's renowned arts program. This is KPBS Midday Edition. Connecting our communities through conversation. There's no doubt living in San Diego can get expensive. But the good news is that there are many things to do and enjoy for free. Two people who are in the know from the San Diego Union-Tribune join us to run down the list. A.B. Hamblin is editor of the Community Guide section , and Carlos Rico is the Community Guides reporter. Carlos , A.B. , welcome to you both.
S2: Thanks for having us. Yeah.
S3: Yeah. Thank you.
S1: So , A.B. , I'll start with you , for those unfamiliar with this.
S3: So , uh , we are a small but mighty team at the San Diego Union-Tribune. And before we get going too much further , I do want to acknowledge our communities up north who are going through a fire. And our colleagues who are out there also covering in journalism. Um , we are working on some guides related to the red flag warning that we're under now. For example , I'm working with our weather reporter on some alerts and notification programs that you can sign up for in a weather event. And , um , yeah , it's Carlos , uh , writing a lot of guides. And sometimes we also collaborate with other teams. Uh , as I mentioned , the weather reporter , sometimes with some of the city reporters , we like to describe it as news you can use. Um , and sometimes that's things to do. Like what we're about to talk to today. And then sometimes , like I said , it's , you know , info for an emergency or how to prepare for something. We also do , uh , guides to upcoming holidays. Um , things to do around town. that type of thing. So yeah. Small but mighty.
S1: Oh , absolutely. And there's a lot that gets covered in the community guide section.
S2: Maybe either what's missing or maybe would think needs to be updated. Uh , like Abby mentioned as news , you can really want the guides to be a community resource , whether that's , uh , places to go for free and take your kids , whether that's where to get some some vegan or vegetarian ramen , whether it's , you know , to go see some free comedy shows , like , it really runs the gamut. But the really the backbone is , you know , trying to be a community resource , um , for locals and then people that are visiting as well. Mm.
S1: Mm. And primarily , you know , you're focusing on things to do for free. Abby. Why was that so important ? Yeah.
S3: So every year we do these kind of packages full of guides. As we kind of look to what's ahead and how people can. Kind of think about their year and make some plans for how they want to , you know. Thrive here in San Diego. And we really noticed that people. Really appreciate resources that are free or low cost. And that was one of the things we wanted to focus on with our guides this time. So yes , we created a bucket list of 50 free things to do in San Diego County in 2025.
S1: Yeah , well , I can't wait to get into it. So what are some of the big art events that are on your radar this year ? First up , I know we've got our walk. They usually host different arts events throughout the year. Tell us more about that.
S3: Oh yeah. So Art walk is an opportunity for locals to go out and check out some fine art. They do , um , some exhibits , some displays. You can also buy the art , but it's a great event to go to if you want to just , you know , get some arts and culture without spending too much money. Um , they have them throughout the year in different locations. So Artwalk San Diego is the organization that's been hosting these for decades , and they already released their dates for this year. So you could go ahead and get your calendar ready. Um , mission fed art walk in Little Italy in April. Artwalk Liberty station is in August. The Carlsbad version of the event is in September. And then they also have Bella Vita Fest , which is in October , and those are all outlined on Artwalk San Diego as well.
S1: Carlos , I want to pull you into the conversation here. Um , something you wanted to highlight was improv.
S2: It's called Mockingbird Improv. The public can go learn how to grow their reflex skills , you know , think quickly and spontaneous circumstances , uh , strengthen their self-confidence. Um , again , it's an introductory to free , uh , improv. Uh , the class , uh , gives guests , uh , kind of like a preview on how to do improv and how it works through games. They have real world scenarios and this free workshop is once a month. Uh , down at Liberty Station.
S1: Yeah , well , the Rady Shell is known for holding concerts , but it's also host a free yoga classes. Tell me about that. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. Um , I feel like if anyone's been out to the Rady Shell , it's arguably one of the best , in my opinion. One of the best , uh , sceneries you can get in. One of the best places for to watch , uh , and hear concerts. But , yeah , I was surprised to find out that , uh , fit athletic hosts a free yoga class at the Rady Shell once a month. Guests can can bring their own or ask to bring their own mat. Some sunblock on sunny days. Uh , the class is one hour. They call it , like a , quote , boot camp , yoga. And guests are just asked to RSVP ahead of time. Uh , because the demand is is high and space is limited. Um , so , yeah , I think it's just one of those cool things that Senegal has to offer. Like , you can be outdoors. Like you don't have to be indoors to do yoga. Like , you can get some cool scenery and be , you know , right along the bay and again at the Rady Shell. I don't think there's a there's a better way to do yoga. Yeah.
S1: Sounds really cool. How about dance ? I mean , where can people take free classes ? Or maybe try a new style of dance ? Yeah.
S2: Um , I was particularly excited to to find salsa and bachata classes for free. Um , me being Mexican American , like , I love to dance. And then I'm not that great at salsa bachata , but I when I found this , I'm like , oh , I need to go take some of these classes. Uh , they're one hour for free on Saturday mornings. It's a dance studio called Majesty in Motion that offers these free classes. It's an introductory classes to to bachata and salsa classes. Uh , those dances are pretty , um , infamous down in the Caribbean , in in the Dominican Republic , Colombia , Puerto Rico. And they made their way out here to the States as well , with the growing popularity of of Latin music over the years. Um , but yeah , guests can go and learn the basics of the dances. There's classes for adults and children , so if you have children and that , you know , maybe they're kind of interested in learning some new dances , um , you guys can kind of take them simultaneously. Um , on Saturday mornings at Majesty and Motion.
S1: Well , Abby , uh , just like author says , having fun isn't hard when you've got a library card.
S3: I want to shout that out on San Diego Union-Tribune dot com. Um , but there's always something going on at your local library , and you don't actually have to go to just your local library. You can travel across the county. There's a county library system , there's a San Diego library system , uh , some city libraries , but they have everything going on for free , as I should mention. From chess to meditation , they have reptile interaction. In anime events , movie screenings , gardening tips. I mean , you can pretty much learn a ton of new skills. You can get involved with other community members to do some of these things. They have free concerts. They have a winter reading challenge going on right now and you can win prizes. So it's just incredible what they offer. I mean , every day of the week there's something and every week I guarantee you can find something at one of these libraries that will interest you and Abby.
S1: Before we go. Um , you mentioned having guides on on wildfires and fire safety. When do those come out ? Yeah.
S3: So as I said , we as a guides team do work with other parts of the newsroom to create news you can use in real time. So we're publishing those in response to breaking news , in response to the situations that San Diegans find themselves in. So those are out now on San Diego Union-Tribune dot com. You can see our app on different glossary or our guide I'm sorry , on different glossary terms you need to know in a wildfire , such as what is a red flag warning ? What do some of these other terms mean ? We also have one on alert programs you should sign up for , and how to get notifications from city and emergency officials. And then , you know , all of those can be found on San Diego Union-Tribune dot com.
S1: Lots of important information in them. I've been speaking with Abby Hamblin , Community Guides editor , and Carlos Rico , community Guides reporter at the San Diego Union-Tribune. Carlos , Abby , thank you so much.
S2: Thanks for having us.
S3: Thank you so much.
S1:
S4:
S1: KPBS Midday Edition is back after this break. You're listening to KPBS Midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman. A local high school arts program could see major changes in the new year ahead. Sweetwater Union High School District is moving forward with new cuts to Chula Vista High's eight period schedule. South Bay and Imperial Valley reporter Cory Suzuki says students , parents and teachers are worried this will hurt the school's renowned arts program. Take a listen.
S4: Aaliyah Madrigal was at a concert. It was August of 2022 , and one of her favorite rock bands was playing in the glow of more than a dozen spotlights at a huge theater in the North Park neighborhood of San Diego.
S5: And it feels good to be home in San Diego.
S4: But Madrigal wasn't paying attention to the band. She was watching the lighting technician who was sitting in front of them , operating the huge lights overhead that were flaring and changing color. Madrigal could see it , how the lights were affecting the mood and tone of the room.
S6: I knew what he was doing , and I knew , like , what he was pushing and what it did and stuff it was. It made it feel really cool that , you know , like stuff that other people don't. And it makes it the show and everything look amazing.
S4: Madrigal was still just a sophomore in high school , but already she had a deep understanding of stage lighting work. Madrigal says that's what you get when you go to SIPA , the School of creative and performing arts at Chula Vista High School. For decades , the CPA has been a big source of pride at Chula Vista High. It's the only dedicated art school in the district and includes classical and jazz bands , a theater program , visual arts , and a folklorico dance program. It's brought in national and regional awards. Hundreds of students have transferred to Chula Vista High just to take CPA classes. A lot of this is especially possible because Chula Vista High runs on an eight period schedule , which fits two extra classes into the regular school year. That means instead of taking just a just a handful of creative electives over four years , students get to dive deep into specific subjects. Quentin Rivera is a senior studying drama , so the.
S7: Students have much more time to work with their instruments , work with the arts , and also still be able to balance out the academic work.
S4: Teachers at Chula Vista High say they get a lot out of the eight period schedule , too , including more time to prepare for their classes. Several other school districts in San Diego County have similar schedules , including Power and Coronado. This year , though , officials with Sweetwater Union High School District have been considering forcing Chula Vista High to end its eight period schedule and go back to a more traditional six periods per day. We've been hearing.
S8: Rumors for months that the district wanted to put CBH back on a six period day. We don't know where this came from.
S4: In January , Chula Vista High band teacher Debby Nevin spoke at a school board meeting.
S8: The reasons have varied from money to data , but the Way and Coronado school districts have figured it out , as well as a large number of San Diego Unified schools.
S4: That month , students organized walkouts rallied outside the district offices and spoke at school board meetings. 3300 people also signed an online petition asking the district to reconsider. But last month , Chula Vista High School Principal Jennifer Barker Haynes announced that they were going ahead and ending the eight period schedule next year. In an email , she said they had made the decision after thoughtful evaluation of school wide data. District officials still haven't explained in detail how they came to this decision. Like many other school districts , Sweetwater is facing a major budget shortfall this year. But the superintendent declined to comment. And members of the school board and Chula Vista High's principal did not respond to interview requests. In an email , a district spokesperson said the decision was based on the analysis of a working group which had looked at academic performance data , enrollment trends and budget impacts. But the spokesperson also didn't respond to further questions.
S6: I feel like we've had no explanation.
S4: Aaliyah Madrigal says many students and parents are still trying to figure out why this is happening. She doesn't feel like they've gotten a straight answer.
S6: I feel like they're making it for their own personal gain. They're not necessarily thinking about the community or the students.
S4: She's learned a lot more and had opportunities to work at the Old Globe and other theaters when she graduates. She knows what she wants to do. She wants to be a light board technician , like the one at that concert in North Park two years ago. Madrigal says she feels ready for that because of her time in CPR. She's sad that they're still having to fight to show why the program is important to so many people.
S6: Like , I don't think a lot of us would have the opportunities or be able to do what we've done if we didn't have this program and if we didn't have the schedule that allowed us to keep all of the classes.
S4: Madrigal hopes district leaders will reconsider their decision.
S1: And that was South Bay and Imperial Valley reporter Cory Suzuki. He joins me now to talk more about that piece. Hey , Corey.
S4: Hi , Jared. Thanks so much for having me.
S1: Glad to have you here. So you've spent just over a year following the story. And up to this point , the eight period schedule was experimental.
S4: Yeah , that's right. The eight period schedule is sort of not quite the traditional way that high schools have have done things in the past , you know , that more often looks like a sort of six period day where you have kind of one day you have six classes and each class is around an hour. The eight period schedule sort of shakes things up a little bit by , um , reducing the number of classes that you have in a day , but increasing the the number of classes that you can take over the course of a school year. So you get to take two , two additional classes in a year and get to spend more time on each of those classes during the day , because you only have , uh , half of your schedule each day and sort of every day on on Monday , you know , you would have one set of four classes , and then on Tuesday you would have another set of four classes.
S1:
S4: So this is has been around for a bit now. But not as long as the school's arts program , which goes back to the 1970s. Well.
S1: Given your the story we just heard , it sounds like from this experimentation , the program was quite a success for students.
S4: I think a lot of students and parents feel that way , and teachers too , who work at Chula Vista High. I mean , there are so many stories that that alumni of the program have about how this ability to take two additional classes without having to come early before school or stay late after just really made a big difference. You know , getting helping people explore new interests. You know , look at their their interest in printmaking , for example , or photography or dance , different kinds of dance and. And theater , all of these different options that maybe wouldn't necessarily have been available to students if they had to , you know , stay late after school or come early , which is kind of the way that a lot of these sort of elective classes and arts programs often work at schools with a six period schedule.
S1: Right ? And it's so rare to have a school to have a program like this , considering so many others have had to cut arts programs and and so many extracurriculars. I mean , tell us more about Chopin's place and significance in the district.
S4: Everyone that I spoke to has said that SIPA has been sort of this , you know , crown jewel of Sweetwater Union High School District for a long time. It's the district's only dedicated arts program. It's an arts magnet school within Chula Vista High. And , you know , the district's own reports say that over the course of the last few years , SIPA has drawn Drawing hundreds of students to transfer to Chula Vista High within the district , just so that they can take these classes and have access to , you know , these the the opportunities that that a program like CPA opens up. Right.
S1: Well , these cuts have been looming over Chula Vista High since late last year. What finally prompted Sweetwater to make these cuts ? I mean , it sounds like district officials still haven't explained in great detail what's going on there. Yeah.
S4: And I do want to emphasize here that these cuts are to a structural change to Chula Vista High School schedule. So they're not necessarily , at least at this point , explicitly going to be cuts to the schools arts program. But the the restructuring of that schedule changing from an eight period day back to a sort of a more traditional six period schedule , is what has worried a lot of students and teachers and parents in the arts program because they they fear that that is going to have an impact on the the future , the ability of students to take these arts classes and to fit them into their schedule , along with sort of the core classes when it comes to what officials with the district have said. They've been largely very silent on why this decision is happening. You know , I reached out to for this story. Every member of the district school board and I reached out in person to the superintendent , and all of them either declined to comment. The superintendent referred me to the district spokesperson. And what the district has said publicly is that they convened a working group to evaluate this schedule format , the experimental schedule , and that the working group sort of evaluated data on different things like student retention and graduation rates and the cost of the program , and in the end decided that based on the findings of that working group , the district decided that it would be best to move forward without an eight period schedule. But you know , when when asked about specifics , I've asked about specific students and parents and teachers have asked about specifics like the sort of specific data and data points and information that led to this decision. The district really has been , um , has not volunteered those. Um , so it's kind of it's hard to say at this point why they , um , district officials have have made this decision. Mm.
S1: Mm. Well , as we heard in your story , students , teachers and parents are all worried about what this means for the future of art schools and art programs. What else are you hearing ? I mean , what could this mean in the new year as school returns to session next week.
S4: When it comes to this spring ? Not much is going to change. I mean , uh , you know , the year is going to finish out at Chula Vista High with the eight period schedule , just like the fall was running on. Where the changes are going to come is in the new school year. So after the summer , that's when , as the plans have been currently laid out by Chula Vista High School's principal , that's when these changes will kick in and Chula Vista High will revert back to a six period schedule for all students. So all students will be will not have the opportunity to take eight classes within their sort of regular schedule.
S1:
S4: And this isn't you know , I should say this isn't specific to Sweetwater Union High School District. I mean , many districts , many arts programs across the state sort of feel this sort of same kind of lack of attention and lack of sort of , uh , investment. Um , at the same time. What's interesting about I think right now. And is that , uh , you know , the state has made a really big investment in arts and public schools. Uh , prop 28 , a new law which was passed in 2022 , will put $1 billion into these programs across California every year. And that was something that came up a lot in these conversations that I was having with parents and teachers , especially , um , they wonder what is going on here. You know , at this time when these are these programs like CPA are supposed to be receiving this sort of new funding and are supposed to be growing , not shrinking. Um , they wonder what the disconnect is between those changes on the statewide level and what they're seeing at Chula Vista High and reflected in their local school board's decisions.
S1: And I know it's something you'll continue to follow. I've been speaking with South Bay and Imperial Valley reporter Corey Suzuki. You can find the full web story on KPBS midday. Corey , thank you so much as always.
S4: Thanks , Jade. Always good to talk with you. Likewise.
S1: Likewise. Still to come , landmark just closed the Hillcrest Cinemas.
S9: And we have been trying to make that feel like an old school grindhouse cinema.
S1: We'll introduce you to Popcorn Reef and its alternate film programming after this break. You're listening to KPBS Midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman. Cinema enthusiasts across San Diego are mourning the loss of Landmark Theatres Hillcrest Cinemas , which closed its doors this past Sunday. The arthouse venue has screened many independent films since 1991 and become a treasured space for film lovers. KPBS Cinema Junkie Beth Accomando reflects on the closure and introduces us to someone who's trying to fill the void.
S10: Landmark theatres just closed the Hillcrest Cinemas and I had a chance to speak with Michael McGuigan , who's the program director at Film Out , about what that meant to him.
S11: We've had our monthly screenings at Landmark Hillcrest Cinemas for about 12 years now , so we were actually kind of devastated about the news that we received. We didn't actually even receive the news. Personally , I happened to see something on Instagram implying that they were closing. So immediately I ran out to my contact , who's in Los Angeles , and I was like , what is going on ? And the bottom line is we figured out that they were closing , but they really didn't want to confirm. So then we had our last screening in December. Of course , when I went in there , the first thing I did was go up to my contact there. They did confirm that they were going to be closing on January 5th , and that immediately the next day , on the sixth , they were going to start gutting it and that they were going to be turning it into office spaces. So that was kind of a blow to film out. And for film lovers who love indie cinema , and San Diego is just another one bites the Dust. There's really no there , aren't there ? I mean , we have the digital gym , we have cinema in the stars , we have a couple of other places in North County that that showcase independent films. But , you know , it's just disheartening for us as film lovers to try to find what are we going to do next ? What are the next steps ? With this platform gone , it just kind of , you know , a lot of rearranging because where do we go from here ? Can we get the audience to travel to different locations in San Diego ? So I did a lot of research , and it looks like we're going to try out as a center ultra star starting on February 12th. So we're going to see we're going to do a few screenings there over the next few months. We'll see how that goes. And I know there there is an audience for it. So I'm hoping that it will continue with our screenings over at Ultra Star.
S10: And I'm here with Eddie Carolla of Popcorn Reef , and we just heard from Michael talking about having to relocate his monthly film series from Film Out.
S9: And that was a really cool thing for the community there. So it's that's blowing my mind that that happened with landmark closing. I think it's signaling kind of a new era of moviegoing. And we've been seeing that post-Covid with the way that movies , arthouse movies are released , whether it's straight to streaming now , a lot of them are getting picked up by streamers. That whole issue is probably part of what's going on here. I also do think that a lot of the major chains are actually picking up a lot of independent ish films , and they're putting them. You can see them at Regal , you can see them at AMC , and that when people have those memberships and all that that might have been taking traffic away from a place like the landmark. Like I went to see Pan's Labyrinth down there. And was that 2005 , 2006 like whether my friends from high school and that was the only place you could see it was at the landmark Hillcrest. So it was like a destination thing. Hey , this is a not a blockbuster movie , and we're gonna go down here and see it. Now , you would be able to see Pan's Labyrinth everywhere. I feel like that took some of the audience from the landmark , and it's really a shame , because I know then they had to start playing more mainstream films , and it's just it's interesting to see , but it's also really sad to see.
S10: I know a lot of people are mourning the loss of landmarks Hillcrest Cinemas , but I also feel like they are ignoring the fact that there are still places that exist where they can go to movies. There's digital gym cinema , there's cinema under the stars , there's Angelika Film Center , and someone like you with Popcorn Reef are actually bringing us stuff that is not showing anywhere else. So talk a little bit about trying to find venues to show kind of these unique one off film programs.
S9: Yeah , it's really a lot of a personal thing for me. I pick movies that I want to learn more about. That really rocked me. Maybe sometimes when I was a kid , it really , like resonated with me in some way. And then some of the stuff I did not live through the 70s , but we're showing like a program , and I'm just moved by those pieces of cinema. That's how the programming starts. And then venue wise , like we've been all around San Diego , we've worked with a bunch of different awesome venues , and right now we're at the Regal Mira mesa now , and I'm really excited about that because it's that brings a certain flavor to the films we show because it's like , wow , we're seeing this at a Regal Theater , and it's kind of like , this is an off the wall movie that you can't see at a Regal Theater most of the time. And then we're also over at the 10th Avenue Arts Center downtown , and that's a performing arts center that does a lot of really awesome stage productions. And we've been able to kind of convert that into a movie experience with a giant screen that we like. we roll in on wheels. And we have been trying to make that feel like an old school grindhouse cinema. And we're doing the giallo program there , where we're going to show 70s films and grimy type things like that , that you you would not see them at a multiplex or at a mainstream theater. And I hope people can come and see movies that they've never heard of before and experience something wild. And then we're also at the Addams Avenue Theater , and we've had a lot of really awesome guests there. That's a Normal Heights , and it's it can be a concert venue. It also serves as a wedding venue , and it's been really fun to experiment with that because the community there is so vibrant and they love movies and there's never really there's there was the Ken like , but over on that side of Normal Heights , there wasn't something like a movie theater in general. So it's kind of more of like a neighborhood hangout. We have a lot of guests that come there. The filmmakers talk about the films , and we show 80s films and early 90s films , too. It's kind of like our niche there.
S10: Well , I do love that.
S9: Beyond Fest up in LA , did a , um , screening of. They did a few screenings of films at the Imax headquarters that they opened up to the public. So I got to go and see Dunkirk. They're like on the Imax campus , and they're screened there. That they actually use to test the movies is it's not that big , but I noticed that the way they positioned the screen is very much closer. So you can kind of feel like you're floating in the screen. And so that's kind of what we tried to do with at the 10th Avenue Arts Center , where you can feel like you're really immersed in the screen , even though it's not a giant , you know , 60ft tall venue. It does feel like you're you're not going to see like we showed Doctor Butcher , M.D. there last year , you're going to see Doctor Butcher , M.D. on a screen like this. I don't think in 2024 anywhere else.
S10: Well , in talking about screens where you're not going to see these films , normally you have next Wednesday coming up , the Guyver and this is going to be at a multiplex. You mentioned the regal Mira mesa.
S9: Mira mesa used to be called Edwards Mira mesa. Yeah , since it opened when I was a kid , and so I've been there for so long , it's kind of like I feel like my home away from home. And this idea that I had of , like , being able to show really wild , crazy movies at that theater kind of resonated with everyone on the team there. So everyone's been really pumped about it and people have been coming to and it's it's a fun experience. Again , it's kind of playing off the vibe that we have that there is. It's a multiplex theater that shows all your favorite blockbusters , but you get to see this kind of crazy movie you never think of before seen in a theater like that.
S10: Well , and explain how crazy this one is.
S9: The Guyver ? Yes.
S12: Nothing less than the fate of the human race is at stake. When this girl meets this boy.
S9: This fits into the movie that I was talking about earlier , where I'm trying to find movies that , like , really rocked me. Or that with my very early childhood images that were from that. So I was lucky enough to have the director of society , Brian Usana , who's also a pretty prolific movie producer. He came out last year to talk with me about society , and that's a movie that really bothered me , as I didn't even see it until I was in my early 20s. But it was all of these images that were like what I was afraid of when I was a small child , and I wanted to , like , break down these like , infantile fears and kind of face that and understand where he was coming from , making it. And the Guyver is like he did not direct. The movie is directed by Steve Wang and Screaming Mad George , but he produced it. And in many ways , it's kind of a follow up to society in the sense that all of the look of those effects and the gore and the weird characters are still there , and yet it's also an action movie. That , and I know this has not been lauded about the Guyver , but it reminds me a lot of Power Rangers , which I grew up watching around the same time.
S13: I am the Guyver.
S9: So kind of like the mix of those two is just I think it's an incredible experience. It's a really fun movie. It's early 90s nostalgia , like non-stop , and it's something that I don't think has gotten celebrated enough. So that's why we're doing it well.
S10: And January is also unofficially set aside for giallo , and you are going to be showing a triple bill of giallo films. But before we talk about the specific films , explain to people what giallo is , in case they're not familiar. Yeah.
S9: Yeah. Giallo are Italian murder mysteries. It's kind of like maybe the blanket way to describe a giallo. Um , they're Italian horror movies. It doesn't have to be a horror movie to count as a giallo , and they served as , like , the like the prototype for the slasher , if you like. Friday the 13th. They're movies like that , and that started emerging in the 80s. I think that the slasher was influenced by the giallo , but they're known for really stunning cinematography and really amazing visuals , somewhat psychedelic like colorful visuals , beautiful women , a lot of fashion emphasis. And then the other part of it is with Italian cinema , it's always like , why are they doing all these things ? Like part of it is something that's lost in translation , maybe , or like it's part of their culture and we don't understand it. But there's a lot of elements that are like , okay , this is kind of an odd mix match of different things , right ? And well.
S10: Giallo is always kind of like a fever dream , like it doesn't always make logical sense , but it's absolutely mesmerizing.
S9: I agree , and it's something that , like , I get bothered by because there's like sometimes a sense of dread and some of the best ones , but it's also coming from a place of something's off , and I don't know why , but that might be something that's lost in translation. Or it might be intentional. I think with Argento , it's intentional with most of his movies. It's always a murder mystery , but there's no chance that you can even figure out who actually did it , because there's gaps in logic a lot of the time. And it's just it's a really fun time.
S10: Well , and you were showing three , and one of the things about giallo are the titles. So just reading these titles , I've always wanted to take , like all the titles of giallo and try to make one story out of them because the titles are so , like , elaborate. So you were showing three films and these are all the colors of the dark. Your vice is a locked room , and only I have the key , which is probably one of my favorite titles , and The Strange Vice of Mrs. Ward. So tell us what this triple bill is going to be about. Yeah.
S9: So this triple bill is dedicated to the star of all three of those films , Edward Finch. And she's like one of the original scream queens. And she , she starred in I believe , six gallows. All three of the ones we're showing are all directed by Sergio Martino , who's considered one of the masters of giallo. And these are three really awesome movies that showcase her talent. We just wanted to kind of do a tribute to her , because when I think giallo , I think Edward finish. And so that's kind of the idea behind this.
S10: And another key part of giallo is the music. The scores in a lot of these films are just amazing.
S9: This is. Yeah , it's it's gonna be rocking when we play these films. We're gonna turn the bass up and it's. Yeah , like you said , it's a mesmerizing. Experience.
S14: Experience.
S10: And looking forward to what you have coming next.
S9: We've got Alex now who's our new intern. He's helping out , but it's sometimes it's stressful because it's kind of a little seat of your pants thing where , like , I don't know what we're going to show in February yet. I wish I had that all lined up , but we don't have that yet , so hopefully we're gonna have a little bit like in this year. It's going to be a lot more consistent and we're going to be at all three places continuing to deliver those different things. I think that the downtown , we're going to do a lot of grindhouse stuff and the Addams Avenue Theater and Normal Heights. We're going to be doing a lot of , um , 80s and early 90s stuff , and then everywhere kind of in between. And maybe some later , like I was mentioning to you , Billy Madison's one of my favorite movies of all time , which doesn't fit into this genre film thing , but is still kind of like an outrageous piece of cinema we're going to be doing , hopefully that type of stuff at Mira mesa , along with the filmmaker , Q and A's and the , uh , the 80s 90s programming as well over there.
S10: All right. Well , I want to thank you very much for talking about the upcoming programming at Popcorn Reef , and I will see you in the cinemas. Yeah.
S9: Yeah. Thank you so much for having me , Beth. Appreciate it.
S1: That was Beth Accomando speaking with Eddie gorilla of Popcorn Reef. The Guyver screens Wednesday at Regal Mira mesa cinemas. That's our show for today. If you missed anything , you can download KPBS Midday Edition on all podcast apps. Don't forget to watch Evening Edition tonight at five for in-depth reporting on San Diego issues. The roundtable is here tomorrow at noon. Before we go , I'd like to thank our Midday Edition team producers Ashley Rush , Giuliana Domingo and Andrew Bracken , senior producer Brooke Ruth , supervising audio producer Quinn Owen , art segment contributor Beth Accomando. Technical producers Brandon Truffaut and Rebecca Chacon. The Midday Edition theme music is from San Diego's own surefire soul ensemble. I'm Jade Hindman. Thanks for listening and have a great weekend , everyone.
