The Dying Art of the Projectionist

When I was in high school, all my coolest friends were projectionists. It seemed like the perfect job: you got to work with film (we were all movie nerds and wanted to go to film school), you saw every movie that came out before anyone else could, you got loads of free popcorn and soda ... you get the idea. But these days, with so many theaters going digital, the profession -- the craft -- that my friends spent years perfecting is going the way of the dodo. Canisters of film are increasingly becoming objects of curiosity. It's emblematic, perhaps, that in December, the last photo lab in the world that processes Kodachrome slide film will stop doing so. When's the last time you went to a friend's house to watch slides of their vacation on a slide projector? The same shift is happening in the projection booths of movie theaters all over the country.

This three-minute, autobiographical film by Temujin Doran, a projectionist working in the UK, is a wonderful tribute to his soon-to-be-lost art. It's a day in the life, affectionate without being precious, and kind of moving. Give it a watch.

Facts About Projection from Studiocanoe on Vimeo.