Previews: CINEMA ON ICE at Palm Springs Cultural Center

Deserted Films returns to the Historic Camelot Theatre (at the Palm Springs Cultural Center) Jan 21 - Feb 25 for a fun, winter-themed film series on the big screen culminating in a special screening of Dr. Zhivago (1965)… the first film to screen at the Camelot when it opened!  

Screenings will feature live introductions and thematic film ephemera provided by Melissa Dollman and Devin Orgeron of Deserted Films along with themed drinks. 

Attendees can save $4 off the price of two drinks when they pre-purchase on Eventbrite only. 

“The Summer Heat Film Series was so much fun we thought we’d follow it up with some more weather-inspired cinematic cheer. We know how funny it is to our snowbird friends when the denizens of Palm Springs pout about the cold!  So let’s celebrate it instead!” said Melissa Dollman and Devin Orgeron of Deserted Films.

Cinema On Ice Film Series Jan 21 - Feb 25

Historic Camelot Theatre at the Palm Springs Cultural Center

2300 E. Baristo Rd. Palm Springs, CA 92262

Buy Tickets on Eventbrite or at psculturalcenter.org
Cinema On Ice Film Series Trailer

CINEMA ON ICE FILM SERIES SCHEDULE

Jan 21, 6pm THE THING (1982) John Carpenter (109 mins.)

We LOVE the Howard Hawks version as well.  Your homework is to watch it!  But John Carpenter really zeroes in on the cold…and the horror!  Both versions are based on John W. Campbell’s more broadly influential 1938 sci-fi novella, Who Goes There?  Shift your shape into our comfortable seats.  R.J. MacReady (Kurt Russell) will build a cozy fire…. This one is EXTRA-fun on the Camelot’s big screen!

Themed Drink: The MacReady 

J&B lowballs on ice…or call your lowball because not everyone loves Scotch!
 

Feb 1, 6pm GROUNDHOG DAY  (1993) Harold Ramis (101 mins.) 

Bill Murray stars in this classic wintertime comedic nightmare.  And, while it would be HILARIOUS to show it over and over again for the remainder of the series, it will be followed by 3 other crowd-pleasing, cold-weather favorites, so don’t stray too far. Come on… how many other movie theatres are going to help you celebrate Groundhog Day? Deserted Films cares about you, so set your alarms for this one!

Themed Drink: The Rita Special 

Sweet Vermouth, rocks, with a twist (make it even lighter with a splash of soda)

Feb 9, 6pm  MCCABE AND Mrs. Miller  (1971) Robert Altman (121 mins.)

Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen, Hungarian cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond, and iconoclastic American filmmaker Robert Altman combine forces to bring us this wintry, sepia-toned anti-Western…one of the best films of the 1970s.  Set in Presbyterian Church, Washington and shot in a suitably even more wintry West Vancouver (in the middle of winter!), Altman’s film perfectly captures the mood of the early 1970s.  Beautifully shot, lots of overlapping dialogue, downbeat music cues…Warren Beatty, Julie Christie.  This one will make you miss Altman, the 1970s, Leonard…. The snow, maybe not so much!

Themed Drink: The McCabe 

A Canadian whiskey sour made with our own sour mix (because a double whiskey with a raw egg is not for everyone!)

Feb 16, 6pm SNOWPIERCER  (2013) Bong Joon-ho (126 mins.)

Chris Evans, Song Kang-ho, Tilda Swinton, Jamie Bell, Octavia Spencer, Go Ah-sung, John Hurt, and Ed Harris star in this exciting and imaginative adaptation of the French “climate fiction” graphic novel Le Transperceneige by Jacques Lob, Benjamin Legrand and Jean-Marc Rochette.  Set in 2031 (which isn’t that far away!), the film imagines a post-apocalyptic frozen world where earth’s remaining inhabitants circle the globe aboard the Snowpiercer train.  This series-spawning film will keep you on the edge of your seat.  It also gets you thinking about class… and the climate.  Best enjoyed with a warm (or stiff) beverage.  

Themed Drink: Protein Bar Fizz 

Jagermeister and tonic on ice with lemon.  Trust us. 

Feb 25, 6pm Dr. Zhivago (1965) David Lean (197 mins.)

Did you know that the first feature film shown at the Camelot when it opened in February, 1967 was a magnificent 70mm presentation of David Lean’s Dr. Zhivago(1965)?  The special screening was a star-studded United Fund benefit.  This is a sweeping, epic romance and a kind of film that simply isn’t made anymore.  The big screen is required!  Omar Sharif, Julie Christie, Geraldine Chaplin, Tom Courtenay, Rod Steiger, and Alec Guinness star.  We will have a proper INTERMISSION during which Deserted Films will show something fun.

Themed Drink: White Russian

You know the drill here…not just for Lebowski achievers!

About The Historic Camelot Theatre

The Palm Springs Cultural Center’s Historic Camelot Theatre is highly regarded by film fans. It boasts one of the largest screens in the Coachella Valley and a state-of-the-art projection and sound system. The Historic Camelot Theatre is also one of the few theatres in the country that can screen 70mm film, 35mm film and digital files. The theatre seats 594 people and includes a stage.

About Deserted Films

Melissa Dollman and Devin Orgeron have dedicated the better parts of their lives to film and to the preservation of our collective visual history…especially as that history plays out in “lesser known” or “ephemeral” film. Orgeron, a widely published emeritus professor of Film Studies at North Carolina State University has spent the last eighteen years researching, writing about, and sharing films made to advertise goods and services, films made to educate and instruct children and adults, and films made by amateurs to commemorate important as well as everyday events. He is editor-in-chief of The Moving Image(the journal of the Association of Moving Image Archivists), an academic journal that celebrates these interests. Dollman is a trained audiovisual archivist with a Ph.D. in American Studies, and a former board director for the Association of Moving Image Archivists. Her research often focuses on the role ephemeral films play in our understanding of our shared cultural heritage and as documentary evidence. As such she has focused on “nontheatrical” films…. films made to screen in alternative venues (churches, prisons, schools, fairs, lodges, conventions, etc.) and home movies. Her work on the Tribesourcing Southwest Film project, for example, sought to bring historical nontheatrical films depicting Native American communities back to those communities for reinterpretation and re-narration by members of those communities.

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