CLAIRE KOHLER, Chief Operating Officer of TLA Entertainment and former usher, will also join us to help tell the story of how she, Murray, and other TLA staffers bought the cinema in 1981 to continue its reputation as one of the country’s leading repertory art cinemas. Filmmaker and writer JOHN WATERS will join us to discuss how instrumental the Theater of the Living Arts Cinema was in launching his career, with screening his controversial 1972 film, “Pink Flamingos,” when Al Malmfelt ran the theater at 334 South St.
Our guest, RAYMOND MURRAY, President of TLA Entertainment, who started as a projectionist in 1972, says film sales are going to VOD (Video On Demand) and he’ll continue with their online presence and act as a film festival curator. (The Bryn Mawr site has another year on its lease.) TLA Entertainment will still rent foreign films and gay and lesbian feature, cult and art titles online, but the reliable, neighborhood, brick-and-mortar rental store, staffed by knowledgeable and opinionated film-school students, will be gone, as of this Sunday, 8/21.
1520 Locust St follows several closings of stores of the TLA franchise– at its height there were seven retail stores, including one in New York City. TLA video’s last Center City movie rental store is closing this week.
