[Read all of the articles in our Portland Fun Guide HERE! Looking for a print copy? Look at this handy-dandy map!—eds.]

At the Oscars in March, Best Director Sean Baker took the stage with a warning: “Right now the theater-going experience is under threat. Movie theaters, and especially independently-owned theaters, are struggling, and it’s up to us to support them.”

Living in Portland, you may not witness that struggle first-hand. Our city is practically silly with celluloid: independent theaters in all quadrants offer screenings not just on digital, but in 70mm, 35mm, and 16mm, often from within an establishment over 100 years old. Repertory titles suffuse Stumptown; Q&As with stars and filmmakers feel abundant. 

Still, even while thriving, Portland’s theater-going community is forever at risk from streamers, rising rents, and existential threats like AI or the obsolescence of physical media. Heeding Baker’s words, and supporting the treasures we have before they’re priced out forever, has never seemed more important to Portland culture than now. 

So, let’s take a brief tour of our independent theater paradise. 

Cinema 21

616 NW 21st | Owner: Tom Ranieri

This year, the Alphabet District’s Cinema 21 enjoys its 100th anniversary. It’s where you’ll find talked-up art fare—Apichatpong Weerasathakul’s enchanting Memoria and Harmony Korine’s beautifully scummy AGGRO DR1FT had limited runs—and semi-regular, participatory showings of Tommy Wiseau’s cult phenomenon The Room (yes, please chuck spoons at the screen), with occasional appearance by the media-hungry director. In fact, Wiseau loves the theater so much he premiered his sophomore film, Big Shark, there in 2023.    

Upcoming: Metropolitan and post-screening Q&A with the mannered maestro, writer-director Whit Stillman (May 1)

Laurelhurst Theater

2735 E Burnside | Owners: Prescott Allen, Woody Wheeler

At the corner of Burnside and NE 28th, the Laurelhurst marquee is a beacon calling pedestrians to a cozy night of pizza, beer, salad (if that’s your thing), and a healthy array of first- and second-run titles. Part of Portland’s supply of centenarian cinemas, the Laurelhurst Theater was built in 1923 by Walter Tebbetts (who’d later erect the Hollywood and Roseway, RIP), but has been under the stewardship of the same two guys for the past 26 years. “We think our society needs to have some common shared experiences, like movies,” says co-owner Woody Wheeler. “We feel very fortunate to be in [this] community.”

CineMagic

2021 SE Hawthorne | Owners: Ryan Frakes, Nicholas Kuechler

Portland’s oldest, still-surviving cinema—outlasting Clinton Street by one year—CineMagic is, in its latest and most invigorated version, the brainchild of two Portland movie-lovers: Nicholas Kuechler, who managed the theater six years prior to becoming co-owner, and Ryan Frakes, an employee of Portland-area theaters for most of his adult life. Together they’ve built CineMagic as a paean to their crowd-pleasing tastes, offering affordable 16mm, 35mm, and ear-annihilating digital screenings of themed series for genre-fiends and families alike. 

Academy Theater

7818 SE Stark | Owners: Heyward Stewart, Julie Stewart, Tyler Dupuis 

New releases sit comfortably among revival showings at Montavilla’s Academy Theater, where on a few days in March you could’ve caught Showgirls in the middle of the afternoon—under the cold light of day is the ideal time for Showgirls, IMO—then later that night had an avocado roll from Miyamoto, the restaurant down the street, with Mickey 17. 

In addition to sushi, concessions feature Flying Pie pizza (from next door) and Bipartisan Cafe’s baked treats (from across the street). “Academy owes its continued success to fantastic support from the Montavilla community,” co-owner Heyward Stewart says. Good movies and sometimes better food: utopias have been built on less.

Upcoming: Robert Altman’s generation-defining Nashville and Rolling Thunder, John Flynn and Paul Schrader’s neo-western (April 25 - May 1)

5th Avenue Cinema

510 SW Hall | Staff: Sarah Schaeffer, Clara Johnson, Alyssa Glaze, Naomi Nguyen, Isaac Odai

Oregon’s only student-run cinema, Portland State University’s 5th Avenue opened in 1989. Since then, according to Cinema Coordinator Sarah Schaeffer, PSU has given full control to students of the School of Film: “...once each member picks their two films for the term, all I have to do is secure the distribution rights for it. We don't need permission.” 

This emphasis on discourse around burgeoning film fandom, in addition to hosting 35mm showings, has allowed 5th Avenue to, in its own words, “bridg[e] the gap between students and the film community at-large.” As Schaeffer puts it, “The 5th Ave team really works to cater to the eclectic tastes of both the city and student body.” The result is a seemingly boundless curatorial variety.

Upcoming: Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis (May 2-4) in 35mm and Bengali master Satyajit Ray’s essential Pather Panchali (May 23-25)

Tomorrow Theater

3530 SE Division | Owner: Portland Art Museum

The Tomorrow Theater opened late 2023 as a self-proclaimed “creative hub for the cultural snacker,” wielding festival-grade tech for current features and interactive rep screenings. This is great and all, but at the heart of Tomorrow is its storied history as the Oregon Theatre, which up until March 2020 was Portland’s longest running pornographic movie palace. Owned by the Maizels, who’d also run the Aladdin and Clinton Street (then: the Encore) as porn purveyors in the ’60s, the OT bore a slight veneer of respectability, so much so the Mercury once described the theater as “much less creepy than most of its kind.” High praise.

Upcoming: Charlotte Wells’ devastating Aftersun, with after-screening discussion and salon, hosted by Nationale (May 15)

Clinton Street Theater

2522 SE Clinton | Owners: Aaron Colter, Susan Tomorrow, Tom Kishel, David Gluck, Morgan McDonald, Steven Williams

In the spirit of the art collective who operated the theater in the late ’70s and early ’80s, six people with ties to local film and music communities took over the Clinton Street Theater in 2022. Though Portland’s second oldest (and oldest continually operating) theater is maybe best known for showing Rocky Horror Picture Show every Saturday since 1978, the new owners still prioritize inclusivity and diversity. This means holding a 200-seat space for drag shows, music performances, and comedy nights, in addition to regular rep programming and special Q&As, like when Sheryl Lee—Laura Palmer in David Lynch’s intense Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me—visited the Clinton for a deeply affecting Q&A following the film. 

“My advice to this city: Cancel one streaming service and go see a new movie in a theater once a month instead,” co-owner Aaron Colter tells me. “You'll likely find something wonderful, and you'll have a deeper connection to art and your community.”

Upcoming: CorMAYnia, a 16-film retrospective celebrating filmmaker Roger Corman’s inconceivable legacy (May 8-20)

Hollywood Theatre

4122 NE Sandy | Owner: The Hollywood Theatre non-profit

Acquired by a non-profit in 1997, the Hollywood Theatre has come to represent the enduring vivacity and accessibility of film culture in Portland. Saving rental and memorabilia haven Movie Madness and its nearly 100,000 titles; opening a microcinema for local filmmakers and students at the Portland Airport; bringing back regular 70mm showings to the region; still projecting silent films with live organ accompaniment—the list of the Hollywood’s good deeds is long and well-documented. I have seen most of my favorite movies on film at the Hollywood. I genuinely consider myself blessed to live in the same city as this historic house.

Upcoming: Kineto Shindo’s folk nightmare Onibaba (April 29) and The Straight Story (April 27, part of a week-long Lynch tribute), both on 35mm