Why the Big Screen Experience Still Reigns Supreme
It’s a compelling case, the one made from your couch, but allow me to question everything you believe––about movies, sweatpants, and pillows.
It’s true, you don’t have to go to the theater. You can wait until the movie streams. You can listen from the small built-in speakers of your tv. You can watch with the lights on, the phone pinging, the kids shouting. You can pause, stop, rewind, or turn it off entirely. You could host a viewing party, invite your friends, and hope no one spills wine or wipes oily chip-fingers on your rug. But this is the life of a DVD, not a film.
It’s the same question we ask ourselves before choosing a restaurant over our own kitchen, before shopping in town instead of online––What experience am I seeking? Life is more than our basic necessities, more than the outcome of our choices, more than finished seasons and binge-watched series. It’s the process, it’s the artistry, it’s the éntrees, the ceremony and occasion of experiencing, uninterrupted and with incredible intention, a phenomenal film. There’s a satiation in a chef-made meal and a sensitivity in a well-built theater that cannot be feigned. And so we dine, we shop, and by virtue of The Onyx Theatre, we view.
The Onyx Theatre
The Onyx Theatre, in the Seven Hills District of Nevada City, is a 21-and-over, two-room, 29-seat, meticulously-maintained movie theater with a commitment to independent, foreign language, and documentary film alongside the very best that Hollywood has to offer. This arthouse-style theater serves beer and wine, curated snacks, fresh-popped organic popcorn topped with real butter, luxurious seating, and an intimate setting with professionally designed presentations run by former projectionist, General Manager, and Nevada City Chamber Vice President, Celine Negrete. “I’ve been involved in the arts for as long as I can remember, but film is my passion. It’s what moves me more than any other art form––more than music, opera, ballet, or live theater. I think film is the most realistic experience of humanity we have, and I find humans fascinating. And yes, we all stream, but there’s something powerful about watching a film the way it was intended to be shown––on a large screen, with amazing sound, in a dark room, with other people around me. Even if I don’t see them, I can still feel their presence. I can sense their collective emotion as the film plays. And because we’re a small town, when the lights go up, I know these are my community members. In this way, in viewing a film together, we can feel connected to one another in a very subtle way. I don’t know if this same implicit belonging takes place in a big city movie theater, but it happens here.”
In 2023 The Onyx Theatre showed 9 of the 10 films nominated for Best Picture at the 2024 Academy Awards. Chosen thoughtfully by Celine and her team, who follow “the buzz” around new releases and festival award winners, The Onyx curates screenings by accomplished directors, underrepresented communities, and artistically significant films. “As someone who grew up in LA and then lived in San Francisco for 20 years, a lot of big cities create natural exposure to a wide range of stories, whereas in a small town we may not be experiencing the same cultural swings. I’m an introvert, so film is my way of accessing the world around me, which is why I love to offer that same opportunity to our community. It’s a powerful tool for appreciating other ways of life, and other human stories, in a thoughtful setting without needing to leave Nevada County.”
The Onyx Downtown
Every Sunday at 7pm The Onyx Downtown in Nevada City shows repertory films on their largest screen inside the Nevada Theatre at the top of Broad St. With monthly themes, no age limits, and the nostalgia of the west coasts’ oldest continuously operating theater, to view classic films in a landmark resource is as close as we’ll come to viewing cultural phenomena as new releases. “We screen anything from films a couple years old to those released in 1920, and they can all show within a month,” says Spencer Kellar, The Onyx Downtown Manager responsible for programming. “We aim for themes. November will be Film Noir from the 40’s, and October will be our first month showing double features. Once a week I get to watch our community fall in love with film, either for the first time, or all over again. ”
After Hours
The Onyx Theatre curates a selection of culty and classic late-night films that screen on Friday nights at 10 PM on Argall Way
Sunrise Cinema
Lifting the curtain on classics, The Onyx Theatre is carrying over the incredible response to their downtown repertory film screenings with Wednesday morning viewings of films (long since seen on the big screen) in their intimate screening rooms off Argall Way in the Seven Hills District. All films screen at 9:30 am and offer fresh coffee alongside a rotation of early morning baked goods.
107 Argall Way, Nevada City, CA 95959
