A collection of my favorite places to find *things*

Movie Theaters

The Moxie Cinema

Springfield, Missouri

Easily my favorite theater ever.

I used to live a walking distance from it and spent summers seeing all kinds of movies. The Moxie is a non-profit that's well-known within the town's film community. I had friends that worked at the theater, so we would watch films after hours. We did a screening of Over the Garden Wall one Fall which was really cool. They also give away free movie posters which is how I ended up with three Barbarian posters (I still have not seen the movie but that's a part of the bit!)

If you ever visit the Moxie and hear a woman laughing at non-humorous points in the movie, congratulations! You're watching a movie with Jan, a beloved regular. I watched Come and See with her in the theater and she might be the only person in the world to laugh out loud while watching that movie.

Stray Cat

Kansas City, Missouri

The only non-for profit movie theater in Kansas City. It's incredibly small, but snacks and tickets are very reasonably priced. The staff is incredibly friendly.

I haven't seen as many films as I'd like. They show a lot of lesser-known animated films as a part of their "Animation Club" series so I've been to a couple of those. The venue tends to get filled up pretty quickly so I like to arrive early so I can sit in my preferred spot in the back row.

One time, I went to see a film with my very short friend, Elliot. He was struggling to see so I convinced him to move to the seat in the back row which is a bit higher than all the other seats. This changed helped him see the screen...until a tall woman wearing a sunhat sat down right in front of him. I offered to switch seats with him, but then even I couldn't really see. The film was French, and her wide brimmed hat covered the subtitles. Eventuall, I worked up the courage to ask her to remove her hat. She sighed and took it off to reveal a pretty bad bald spot. I felt horrible for the rest of the two hour movie, but also idk lady, wear a head scarf or something. A wide brimmed hat in a small theater is a little comical I think.

Screenland Armour

Kansas City, Missouri

This is a pretty cool small locally-owned theater. It's a tad bigger than the Moxie but shows similar films. I watched the Odyssey 70mm there as well as one of my favorite films, Hundreds of Beavers. Some of the staff are crazy stoned which can be anxiety inducing when I'm stoned, because I always get worried that they forgot my snack order. (They've never forgotten my order, I'm just stupid when I'm high.)

When I saw Die, My Love (the Jennifer Lawrence / Rob Pattinson film that not enough people talked about) the projector kept stuttering and for a little bit I thought it was an (bad) artistic choice in the film, then I realized that it was an error with the projector. I was seeing the film at 2pm on a Tuesday, so I was the only one in the theater and I didn't want to miss anything by getting up and complaining. It hasn't happened to me since and I've had plenty of great movie watching expierences.

Film Fesitvals

Kansas City Underground Film Fest (FFUCK backwards)

Kansas City, Missouri

I've been accepted into this festival a couple of times. It's always super great! It's completely free (unless you buy refreshments or a T-Shirt). The festival lasts a little over a week and is packed with amazing short films. The festivals focuses on community a good amount, I think. Local/regional films can be submitted at a free/reduced cost. They also have a block that's dedicated towards highlighting the local films, and collaborate with local artists for merch designs.

It's run by some wonderful people, and I've been looking forward to it every year since moving to the area.

Bird Watching

Kansas City, Missouri

Bird Watching is another free festival in Kansas City. It takes place every month and they allow for audience voting. The hosts are really fun and there's always a ton of great new local films to watch. They have a director Q&A each time, and they do a pretty good job at keeping things moving. They just ask three questions, and then let the audience approach the filmmakers off-stage (which saves the filmmakers from bad questions and the audience from having to listen to rambling)

What makes this festival extra special though, is the community. It's monthly so a lot of the same filmmakers and people will come to the venue. I've met some cool people and some really talented artists. It's a very welcoming space.