The Opera House Screening Room provides movies and other digital programming to its patrons in the wake of the continued COVID restrictions which prevent the theater from opening. The cost of streaming the films ranges from $4.99 to $12 per household, depending on the film. The revenue generated is shared by the Opera House and the film studios. “Since we are unable to reopen yet, this is one way of providing our patrons with access to programming, and of generating income for the Opera House to help ensure its survival,” says Opera House Executive Director Rick Davis.

Every two weeks, a new batch of films is offered; each batch is launched on Friday. The current round of films includes two holdovers from the first round: Herb Alpert Is… and Frida Kahlo. In addition, four new films are included: Museum Town, Rock Camp, the reason i jump and Free Time.

Herb Alpert Is … is a new documentary that profiles the artist, now 85, mostly from the perspective of colleagues like Questlove, Sting, and Bill Moyers. In their words, the shy, unassuming trumpeter is a musical, artistic and philanthropic heavyweight.

Frida Kahlo is an exploration of the life and work of the celebrated Mexican artist. A personal and intimate film, it offers privileged access to her works, and highlights the source of her feverish creativity, her resilience, and her unmatched lust for life, politics, men and women.

Museum Town tells the story of a unique museum, the small town it calls home, and the great risk, hope, and power of art to transform a desolate post-industrial city. In 2017, MASS MoCA became the largest museum for contemporary art in the world – but just three decades before, its vast brick buildings were the abandoned relics of a massive shuttered factory.

Rock Camp is “summer camp meets Spinal Tap!” The documentary is a journey to Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp, where dreamers from across America and around the world gather to shred with their heroes – and learn to rock like the legends.

Based on the best-selling book by Naoki Higashida, the reason i jump is an immersive cinematic exploration of neurodiversity through the experiences of nonspeaking autistic people from around the world. The film blends Higashida’s revelatory insights into autism, written when he was just 13, with intimate portraits of five remarkable young people.

Between 1958 and the early ’60s, Manfred Kirchheimer and Walter Hess shot a wealth of 16mm footage of New York City street life. Now, some 60 years later, Kirchheimer has edited that footage, beautifully restored and digitized, into Free Time, a wordless lyrical paean to a seemingly vanished city, rhythmically graceful and highly evocative.

The Opera House Screening Room is found on the Opera House web site at www.fredopera.org. Links for each film take the patron to third-party studio sites for ticket purchase. Tickets are per household.

Patrons are able to view the films on nearly any mobile device, smart TV, laptop or computer.

The 1891 Fredonia Opera House is a member-supported not-for-profit organization located in Village Hall in downtown Fredonia. Currently closed due to COVID-19 restrictions, the theatre is offering a variety of digital program offerings to continue its mission of “present the performing arts for the benefit of our community and region … and providing access to artistic diversity … and high quality programming at an affordable price.”