Synopsis
After years of restoration, Christ Dulworth reopens the Beacon Theatres in Waveland, MS. His struggles during his time as the last “film only” movie theater are examined.
Cast
Chris Dulworth with appearances by friends and family.
Production
The film is shot as a documentary following Chris at work. Shot & edited by Neil Brimelow and Stacie Watts as Co-Producer.
Insider Information
“Slow Buttery Death” was my fourth and final student film. It stars Chris Dulworth as the manager of “Beacon Theatres,” the last “film only” movie theater to open in the United States in Waveland, MS.
Beacon Theatres was my childhood local cinema and I saw most of the movies of my youth at that cinema. Unfortunately, despite being several miles inland the theater was annihilated and buried under 14 feet of sludge and water. As fate would have it, Chris’ cousin Charlie Watzke bought the theater and decided to remodel it and restore it, as it had laid mostly dormant since after the Hurricane. So, when Chris moved back home from Texas, he started working with Charlie on renovating the theater.
After years of work the theater finally opened, on December 8th, 2016 and they were faced with an insurmountable challenge from day one: Film as it had been for a 100 years was not just dying, it was dead. By the time they re-opened, most of the film studios only released their films via digital projection on hard drives, not film.
Their next hurdle to overcome was that they had to convert to digital as rapidly as possible, or die. This is their story.
