Films will once again flicker on the screens at Sisters Movie House after more than 400 days. “We’ve had so many false starts, we’re super excited to be having a date that is kind of now etched in stone,” said theater co-owner Drew Kaza last week. The theater initially closed March 16, 2020, to help curb the spread of COVID-19 and planned on reopening by May 1 with the intended release of Disney’s “Black Widow.”

But with the continued rise in cases and the release schedules of the superhero movie and other major motion pictures, the theater remained dark.

Now with bigger releases coming back, Kaza has announced an official reopening date for the independent theater, May 21, making it the last of Central Oregon’s cinemas to begin showing movies again.

With a few senior staff members returning, Kaza is in the process of hiring new employees in time for reopening and hopes to add a few more positions going forward. “One thing about COVID is … it does require us to have more people doing more specific jobs,” he said, “We’ll probably try and keep people more stationary just in the interest of keeping COVID safe.”

Annus horribilis

Kaza and his wife, Yeeling Cheng, have been running the four-screen independent movie house on the south east corner of Sisters since 2016 and dipped into their savings over the past year to keep the theater afloat.

“The nest egg that was supposed to be going toward our dream house … is on hold for a couple of years longer,” he said, adding “it’s made us cringe and it’s been tough for sure. … But we’re also really optimistic about the business, I have to say, coming back.”

Kaza’s optimism coincides with an indication of a rise in movie-going crowds. New releases of big blockbusters, including “Godzilla vs. Kong” and “Mortal Kombat,” each brought in close to $100 million domestically. But the movie industry still has a ways to go, according to a January article in Deadline, the 2020 international box office dropped 71%, bringing in just $12.4 billion with $10.2 billion of that coming from international markets.

“We think there’s a lot of pent-up demand,” Kaza said, “…and you know there’s a fantastic backlog of movies coming out over the next year or so!”

While the theater was dark, Kaza got involved in efforts to get relief packages to his and other small theaters with the Save Your Cinema initiative and more recently state legislation.

He along with the owner of Portland’s Cinema 21, Tom Ranieri, spearheaded efforts to get $9 million in relief to Oregon theaters.

“Although we’re not going anywhere,” Kaza said, “We know of a few theaters in Oregon that have already shut or are on life support. The health of our whole industry is at stake.”

While the Save Your Cinema initiative was passed through with the federal CARES Act in December and theaters can apply for relief funding along with shuttered music venues, this $9 million proposal is targeted specifically for Oregon movie theaters.

The bill, introduced on March 16 by state Rep. Rob Nosse, passed unanimously in committee and moves on.

Kaza states that while there have been relief packages for businesses and creative arts organizations, movie theaters often didn’t qualify. He noted that many other states had similar bills earmarked for cinemas but wondered, “Why aren’t we seeing the love?”

If the bill passes, the $9 million would be divided amongst Oregon’s more than 500 theaters. “We’re talking about maybe getting $50, $60, $70 thousand per movie theater which would be a lot for all of us right now.”

For Sisters Movie House, so far the only money they’ve seen has come from the local level.

“To date the only support we’ve really received, and I’m grateful for it… has been a few grand and that helps get us through maybe sort of half a month’s worth of expenses.”

‘Raison d’etre’

Support from the Sisters community as a whole has been a wealth of comfort, from notes of encouragement to checks for subscriptions to the Sisters Movie Club which gets cardholders seat upgrades, exclusive booking privileges, discounts and more.

“I think everybody’s pulling for us,” he said, “and we feel that … it really has helped us through the darkest of winters knowing that everybody was out there wanting us to come through.”

While the number of tickets sold will be up to what risk level Deschutes County is in, the theater will follow the Cinema Safe guidelines as outlined by the National Association of Theater Owners including enforcing social distancing and mask-wearing at all times unless eating or drinking. And the menu at the cinema will also feature a few new tastes, Kaza teased.

Up first for cinephiles is “Dreamhorse,” which Kaza joked was perfect for Sisters being about a horse indicating that “anything with a horse in it we could play for a month or six weeks!” Larger releases like “A Quiet Place Part II” are also on the schedule.

“We feel like that’s kind of our raison d’etre, you know, for coming back, it’s no longer about us and the business. People see the Sisters Movie House as a real sort of cultural outpost in Sisters that they want to see come back and come back strong.”