DANVILLE – The historic Fischer Theatre has a new festival this weekend to honor Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman, who grew up in Danville. The two-day festival includes movie screenings, a discussion with a film critic, and food. Morning Edition host Kimberly Schofield spoke with the theatre’s interim director Ashton Greer about the inaugural FischerFest.
ASHTON GREER: So the FischerFest is brand new. It’s a brand new concept. It’s our first film festival at the Fischer Theatre. We decided to kick it off honoring Gene Hackman since he passed away earlier this year, and he’s a Danville native, and very he’s just dear to our community. So we had a lot of feedback that we should do something to honor him, and we’ve had a lot of people suggest film festivals to us over the years, and so a group of us kind of put our heads together and said, “Let’s do it. Let’s do both. Let’s do a film festival. Let’s honor Gene,” and we’re going to kick off FischerFest. Our theater had been going through quite a transition for several months during his passing, and there was so much, so much asking from the community, like, ‘is the Fischer going to do something?’ And at the time, we just weren’t organizationally in a place to act. But now that we’re in that position, we just haven’t forgotten, you know. It was something that was really important to our board and to our staff to do something for Gene.
KIMBERLY SCHOFIELD: And were there also renovations for the Fischer Theater? The timeline is pretty extensive, I think.
GREER: Oh my goodness, it’s a crazy, cool, Oracle story. It was built in 1884 it was a grand opera house. It changed hands many, many times. In the late 1900s, like 1980s 1990s, there was a lot of pressure to tear it down, a lot of people thinking it wasn’t going to make it. A lot of rallying, a lot of resourcing, just committed individuals saving this theater. And then in 2019 Julius W. Hegeler II donated several million dollars and brought the theater to its current state, which is still not completely finished, but he did so much to bring it to where it’s at today. And then since 2019 it’s kind of been, we’ve been learning how to operate a historic theater, performance venue, effectively, in our community. And there’s been a lot of lessons, a lot of ups and downs, a lot of really passionate people involved. And we’re here today, and we’re still, we’re still moving forward.
SCHOFIELD: Yeah, continuing to just grow and move along. For FischerFest, can you tell me what the event will be like. What are the daily events?
GREER: Saturday, August 16, Sunday, August 17, all day, each day, doors open at 10am the first day. That Saturday, we have Bonnie and Clyde at 11, The French Connection at 3, and then Unforgiven at 7. And then the next day, same thing, Sunday, August 17, 10am. We have Crimson Tide at 11, The Royal Tenenbaums at 4pm. But then at 2, right in between, we’re doing a dessert and discussion in our Portia Club area, and that’s basically going to be led by a film critic and lots of information about, you know, Gene Hackman career, his impact, what Danville meant to him, what he learned from Danville, how that impacted his professional life and his legacy moving forward. So just an hour of discussion, free, dessert on us. And that’s the lineup.
SCHOFIELD: Do people who want to come to this event have to do anything specific? Can they just show up at 10am? Do they have to register?
GREER: You can either way. You can show up and just buy the ticket that’s available or you can buy tickets in advance online. And if you buy them online in advance, you get a lot of options. You can just do just one movie for $10 or you can do a whole day pass for $25 and then there’s a really cool option to do both days. It’s called the Real Deal Pass and it’s all five movies, dessert and discussion, bottomless popcorn the entire time you’re there, and preferred box seating. And those tickets are $75 and there’s a very limited amount. So if you want one of those, I would say definitely buy it in advance.
SCHOFIELD: This is a huge undertaking, just with the changeover, the organization of the Fischer Theatre, and then, of course, honoring the legacy of somebody who has made such an impact, as you said, and as many people know, in the film industry. What do you hope this does for the community or what do you hope people take away from it?
GREER: I’m really hoping that it brings people to the theater who have never been here. So I’m hoping that people get exposure to the Fischer, that they understand its magnificence and beauty. And I just feel like the Fischer really inspires people who step foot inside. So I’m hoping for that, you know. I’m hoping for some nostalgia, for people coming out and remembering. There’s something so powerful about remembering and film is art and it inspires. And I’m really hoping that people leave inspired or moved, or, you know, maybe they got to connect with old friends. There’s so many incredible purposes for an event like this.
I think I would just add that the mission of the Fischer Theater is that art is vital to a good life. And it sounds really broad and kind of vague, but I mean, there’s just so much purpose in art. It communicates in a way that we don’t, we don’t typically communicate on a day-to-day basis. Art gives you expression and freedom in a way of learning things that you wouldn’t have learned in other ways. And that’s what I love. So even, if you…maybe you’ve never seen a Gene Hackman film, and you’re just like, ‘I don’t know about this,’ I mean, I would say your $10 ticket or $25 ticket helps us further our mission. And also, if you come out and experience the Fischer you won’t be disappointed. It’s so beautiful.
