Movie Mondays At The Library – 1:00PM

Join us every Monday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. for a free screening of an award-nominated or newly-released-to-DVD movie. Stay afterward to talk about the movie with your neighbors. Film ratings range from PG to R, so this program is intended for grown-ups. For a complete list of scheduled films, visit burlingtonlibrary.org/film, or call the library at 342-1130. Space is limited to 20 people.

Questions & Answers

How can the library show these movies?
Burlington Public Library needs a public performance license for every movie it shows. We pay annually for licenses from Movie Licensing USA (also known as Swank Motion Pictures) and the Motion Picture Licensing Corporation. These licenses cover many, but not all, movies. We also have public performance rights for some movies through Kanopy Videos. Additionally, in some cases we have obtained direct permission from the distributor to do a single non-profit showing at the library. We are very careful to limit our public performances to films that we have permission to show.

I didn’t know about this! Why don’t you put up posters?
There are limitations based on our licensing about where and how the Library can advertise our movie selections. There are also limitations based on our space. Our largest meeting room has a maximum capacity of 45 people (and only 24 comfy chairs).

Why movies? Shouldn’t you be doing something with books?
Movies are fun! They’re also something that people can experience together relatively easily. Shared experiences are one way to build a community. Our world has so many choices for books (we have over 60,000!), movies, television shows, websites, news sources, et cetera, that it can be harder and harder to feel connected to people. Also, again, movies are fun!

How do you choose the movies?
Our original starting point was Oscar Movie Mondays. Many prestige films are dropped late in the year for awards consideration, but don’t necessarily get a screening outside of a big city. That means that when the list of Academy Award nominees is announced, many folks haven’t heard of any of them. So we show the ones that we can get licensing for and obtain legally on DVD in a timely manner. Beyond that, we try to show movies that are well reviewed and that we think will be thought-provoking and interesting to our audience.

Why don’t you play [my old favorite]?
We try to stick with recent films. Our experience has been that while we all might have a soft spot for certain older films, not as many people come out of the house for them.

I can’t believe you played that [violent/salacious/dumb] movie!
If a movie is nominated for an Academy Award, particularly in the Best Picture category, we’re going to show it if we can get the licensing. We don’t condone every movie, but we certainly don’t censor.

Can you turn on the subtitles?
Yes! Whether it’s because of hearing difficulty or because of challenges understanding accented speech, I’m happy to turn on the subtitles for anyone who asks.