Showing documentaries, uncensored and free of charge, is no simple task. St. Pete for Peace showed films every Wednesday for over five years at Café Bohemia, but disagreements over appropriate material in mid-July left the series without a home. The group secured a location for the screenings at T & Me Tea Company in Gulfport, but owners of the adjacent Art Village courtyard, of which T & Me is a part, didn’t approve of the type of films shown. Series organizer Chris Ernesto then approached The L Train, an LGBT-friendly bar in Downtown St. Pete. But first he wanted to be sure the bar knew what it’d be getting into.
“We were really upfront because we didn’t want to run a risk of another Bohemia,” Ernesto said. “Here is what we do, these are the films we show.”
L Train owner Laura Cipriani laughed it off, approving of all films.
“I believe everyone needs a place to share views and educate themselves,” Cipriani said. “It’s not my place to say what is good or bad content. Some people will agree and others will disagree.”
The L Train has an actual indoor theater that is air-conditioned, with plenty of cushioned seating. Being indoors is a big benefit to the series, said Ernesto.
“We got rained out more in the past 12 months than in the three years before that,” Ernesto said. “It was stressful being at an outdoor venue before because we didn’t know whether or not we would have a show.”
The Party’s Over, a documentary about Philip Seymour Hoffman’s adventures at political conventions, kicks off the film series on Thurs., Aug. 2.
“We wanted to show it with the convention coming to town soon,” Ernesto said.
For the month of August, films will be shown on Thursdays at 7 p.m. After that, screenings will return to Wednesday nights at 7. The L Train sells beer and wine, but no food, though Cipriani hopes to change that soon. Meanwhile, people are invited to bring their own food for the show.
This article appears in Jul 26 – Aug 1, 2012.