Category: OGT Spotlight

This piece is part of a series of blog posts from OGT volunteers recommending films they love for you to watch from home. By Gerardo Chacon In An Unexpected Love, the Argentine writer and producer Juan Vera explores the obstacle of the monotony of married life with two iconic Argentine […]

This piece is part of a series of blog posts from OGT volunteers recommending films they love for you to watch from home. By Christine Wells As a good will gesture during the COVID-19 Quarantine, my broadband service provider gave customers several weeks of free channels. Translation…I got to view […]

This piece is part of a series of blog posts from OGT volunteers recommending films they love for you to watch from home. By Stacia Woycheck From an early age, I’ve loved relics from decades before me. My mother’s love of antiques may have fueled it. Don’t get me wrong—I […]

This is the first piece in a series of blog posts from OGT volunteers recommending films they love for you to watch from home. By Deborah Sorensen This celebratory 2019 documentary chronicles the rise and fall of Other Music, an independent record store in New York City, founded in 1995. […]

We, the Friends of Greenbelt Theatre, believe in the power of film to generate understanding and empathy, community and—most importantly—conversation. We believe film is a powerful tool: one that can help us look at our past to understand our current context, one that can illuminate the everyday abuses of racism, […]

By OGT Blog Squad Volunteer, Stacia Woycheck Hello, Old Greenbelt Theatre fans! I’m back after the hectic four-week crash course called, “Moving your job online ASAP”. In our current “stay at home” status, like you, I’m catching up on all of the things I “didn’t have time” to do before […]

Dear members and patrons, Since the Friends of Greenbelt Theatre reopened the Old Greenbelt Theatre on May 1, 2015, we have prided ourselves on never going a day without showing a movie. We’ve been there through snow days, every Federal holiday, a major renovation, and all the quiet normal days […]

By Stacia Woycheck When I write my blog posts for the Monday Matinees, I typically rent the movie on Amazon Prime (mostly), watch it once, then write. Depending on the flick, sometimes I watch it twice. The March Matinee, Top Hat, is a “two-view” film for me. Although we haven’t […]

By Caitlin McGrath, Executive Director of Friends of Greenbelt Theatre Choosing the films we play is one of the most fun *and* most challenging parts of being Executive Director. Fun because I get to think about what our community might like to see, and challenging because beyond that much of […]

By OGT Blog Squad Volunteer Arrabi Nandakumar When April Reign, former attorney and current writer/DC-based activist first tweeted “#OscarsSoWhite” in 2016, it sparked a social movement as the hashtag spread through Twitter and news outlets, and led to mass boycotts of the 2016 Oscars. This spurred the Academy of Motion […]

By OGT Blog Squad Volunteer Nicole Hudgins With inspiration from his grandfather, director Sam Mendes has created an innovative “one shot” World War I adventure in the buzz-worthy film 1917. Faced with cut telephone lines as the consequence of a German retreat, a British general (Colin Firth) recruits two soldiers […]

Dear Friends, At this time last year, we were facing a lot of uncertainty. With independent cinemas closing permanently all across the country and with our theater facing a four month renovation of our only screening space, we really weren’t sure how we’d keep our organization going. We explored all […]

By Ephram Oliver, 15-year-old grandchild of Greenbelter and Member Stephanie Zirkin. The first thing I did after the credits rolled during Little Women was mouth “wow.” I love movies directed by women about women, and Greta Gerwig seems to be the master of exploring the complexities of the female spirit, […]

By Stacia Woycheck, OGT Blog Squad Volunteer Start the year off right at the first Monday Matinee of 2019, Twentieth Century, on Monday, January 6th. The 1934 film stars John Barrymore as Oscar Jaffe—an overbearing, down on  his luck director—and Carole Lombard, as Mildred Plotka turned Lily Garland—Jaffe’s protege who […]

Old Greenbelt Theatre’s Dr. Caitlin McGrath was honored by the Beltway Plaza mall on Friday, October 18 as she was inducted into their Wall of Fame, which recognizes Greenbelt locals who are making a difference in the community. Greenbelt Access Television recapped the event in this 4 minute video.

November’s Monday Matinee is the award winning film, The Apartment. The 1961 Oscar winner for Best Picture is chock full of young stars that you will certainly recognize. Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, and Fred MacMurray create a powerhouse triad. Edie Adams (Miss Olsen) is thrown in for good measure. The […]

By Stacia Woycheck, OGT Blog Squad Volunteer After a month off for Labor Day, Monday Matinees are back! This Monday, October 7th feature is the classic Arsenic and Old Lace starring the ever debonair Cary Grant and Priscilla Lane, directed by Frank Capra. Oddly, Arsenic and Old Lace struck me […]

30 movies in 8 days.  This was the goal before I left – knowing that I could average four a day, with two more on the final morning before I dashed to the airport. To pull this off requires a lot of planning, hustling in and out of venues, and […]

The Old Greenbelt Theatre is proud to feature concessions items from local businesses, and we are excited to announce that J. Elise Tea is joining the lineup, along with Zeke’s Coffee, Baba’s Brew, Dundalk Dan’s Beef Jerky, and other local favorites. J. Elise Tea beverage company was founded in 2016 […]

Catch the last Monday Matinee of the summer as the OGT features the film Jezebel starring Henry Fonda and Bette Davis. The black and white romantic drama was released in 1938 by Warner Brothers and won five Oscars: Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Picture, Best Cinematography, and Best Score. […]

Every six months, OGT picks a VIP volunteer. This is someone who in the prior six months has proved an indispensable part of our volunteer team or who has stepped up in a big way for us. This month, we chose Christine Wells as our VIP volunteer. During the lead-up […]

By Stacia Woycheck, OGT Blog Squad Volunteer The July Monday Matinee is The Lady Eve released in 1941, starring Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda. The comedy won the Academy Award for Best Writing, Original Story. It was named as a top ten films in 1941 and is considered one of […]

We are grateful to all of our patrons who are waiting eagerly for the opening of our Pop-up cinema. Because we’re regularly getting questions, we wanted to write up some of the most frequently asked questions so you have answers on what’s up with the Pop-up and where you can […]

By OGT Blog Squad Member Stacia Woycheck “I would like, if I may, to take you on a strange journey.” – The Criminologist On June 1 at 8pm, for one night only, the Old Greenbelt Theatre is going to take you on a strange journey with the screening of the […]

By OGT Executive Director Caitlin McGrath Even four years later, the memory is crystal clear: A cold night in January, 2015. Sitting in Greenbelt City Council Chambers, the room was packed as we quietly waited for the vote. For nearly two years I had been working a plan to transform […]

By Stacia Woycheck, OGT Blog Squad Member On Monday, May 6, the Monthly Monday Matinee features Alfred Hitchcock’s mystery drama, The Man Who Knew Too Much. The film was released in 1956 and stars James Stewart and Doris Day. I settled in to watch The Man Who Knew Too Much […]

By Kelly McLaughlin, OGT Director of Marketing & Development “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” The famous Dickensian opening lines are tantamount to cliché, but at the same time vastly appropriate to the life of independent, arthouse movie theaters these days, as two dueling […]

By Tammy Hurley, OGT Volunteer Concessions Team Leader I knew about the theater before I moved to Greenbelt in 2016.  I had no idea of its background or it being non-profit. I did know it showed the kind of movies I was interested in seeing, which was really good enough […]

Watching a movie… on your phone, iPad, or other personal screen means privacy, control, independence.  You can press stop, pause, or play, rewind or fast forward. You can adjust the volume and brightness, or add captions.  You can watch anytime of day or night, anywhere you like. You can be […]

By Kelly McLaughlin, OGT Director of Marketing & Development I’ve always loved movies. I come by it almost genetically. My father taught film production at various universities during my childhood, and I grew up on a steady diet of indie, niche, and foreign films: The Last Unicorn and The Point […]

Movie fans and movie theatre fans who haven’t already seen it will not want to miss the beautifully structured exhibit, Flickering Treasures, on view at the National Building Museum through October of this year.  The exhibit, created by photo-journalist Amy Davis, traces the social and architectural history of Baltimore’s lost […]

OGT is happy to announce our VIP Volunteer for the First Quarter of the year is Stacia Woycheck. Stacia joined our OGT volunteer team this January, and she’s jumped in with both feet. You’ll see her sunny smile at concessions, and we hope you’ve had the pleasure of reading some […]

By OGT Blog Squad Member Stacia Woycheck The OGT Monday Matinee on April 1 is The Women (1939), starring Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford and Rosalind Russell and is directed by George Cukor. The flick features the work of screenwriter, Anita Loos, of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes fame and is based on the […]

By OGT Blog Squad Member Elizabeth Knutson If you enjoy foreign films and languages, subtitles are familiar territory. If you don’t understand the foreign language of the film, you can simply absorb it as atmosphere while reading the English language subtitles. If you do understand the foreign language, you might […]

By OGT Blog Squad Member Stacia Woycheck The Old Greenbelt Theater features Monday Matinees, a free classic movie the first Monday of each month. This Monday, March 4 at 1pm, Of Human Bondage will be shown, starring Bette Davis and Leslie Howard. Since we are just one week past the 2019 […]

By OGT Blog Squad Member Stacia Woycheck What makes a film Oscar worthy? I see films to be entertained, to learn and (being honest) to  escape from my reality. For me an Oscar worthy film hits me in my core, perhaps it creates sadness or elation and hopefully it plays deeply […]

We asked our moviegoers, patrons, members, and donors who they would vote for if they were picking the Oscars. And while we are compiling the results, we wanted to share with you some of our staff member’s picks. The last staff member in our installment is Amy Knesel. Amy is […]

We asked our moviegoers, patrons, members, and donors who they would vote for if they were picking the Oscars. And while we are compiling the results, we wanted to share with you some of our staff member’s picks. Brenna Lauer is our House Manager. She’s the friendly face you see […]

We asked our moviegoers, patrons, members, and donors who they would vote for if they were picking the Oscars. And while we are compiling the results, we wanted to share with you some of our staff member’s picks. Next up is Kelly McLaughlin, our Director of Marketing and Development. See […]

We asked our moviegoers, patrons, members, and donors who they would vote for if they were picking the Oscars. And while we are compiling the results, we wanted to share with you some of our staff member’s picks. We’re kicking it off with our Executive Director Caitlin McGrath! Here’s who […]

By OGT Blog Squad Volunteer Elizabeth Knutson. Playing this week (Feb. 8 – 14) at the Old Greenbelt Theatre is Pawel Pawlikowski’s Cold War, winner of this year’s Cannes Festival prize for Best Director; European Film Award for Best Film of 2018; and Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, […]

Cold War, directed, written, and masterminded by Pawel Pawlikowski is a beautiful Polish film and one of the best films I’ve seen in a while. All I knew about it ahead of time was that it was a love story, but watching it love is not the emotion I felt. […]

By OGT Blog Squad Volunteer Polly O’Rourke. Showtimes, trailer, and more available on the Shoplifters film page. Written and directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda, Shoplifters is an affectionate portrayal of an unconventional family, struggling to survive on the margins of Japanese society. Brought together by both family ties and circumstance, the family […]

  As part of a partnership with the Prince George’s County Memorial Library System, the Old Greenbelt Theatre will now house over 1400 16mm films. The partnership was made possible through the work of the librarians at the New Carrolton branch and the Old Greenbelt Theatre’s Executive Director, Caitlin McGrath. […]

We are very pleased to announce our newest film series, Film Noir.. This series theme was chosen by our membership in a recent survey (with Musicals and Hitchcock coming in a close second and third – stay tuned for those series to be announced soon). In this first iteration of […]

Studio Ghibli, founded by Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, is arguably one of the most prolific animation studios to ever exist. Although more widely known for their films like My Neighbor Totoro,  Princess Mononoke, and more recently Ponyo, Miyazaki’s visionary film Spirited Away was released and took home the Academy Award for Best Animated Picture in 2002. Spirited Away is […]