Images Cinema in Williamstown, Massachusetts has landed a new executive director who has worked in the film business for 30 years, most recently in Los Angeles.The 14-year-old version of Doug Jones made a life-chartering decision when he lied about his age in order to get a job behind the candy counter at a theater in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
“I was going to sneak, cheat and weasel my way into a job that would get me closer and closer to that movie theater,” Jones said.”And if it meant telling somebody that I was born on a different day than when I was actually born…so be it.”
For Images Cinema’s board of directors, that white lie didn’t stand in the way…actually, it helped, according to chairman John Strachan.
“He was so just passionate about movies back then and knew that he wanted his work life, his career to center around movies even back then…that was one thing,” said Strachan.
Most recently, Jones was associate director of programming at the Los Angeles Film Festival and Film Independent. The festival showcases American and international cinema to more than 92,000 filmgoers. Having also written about movies for print and online publications, Jones worked in San Francisco and Minneapolis before moving to LA.
“It’s just such a magical experience to go into a movie theater and the lights go down and just be completely enveloped in this other world, in this other story,” Jones said. “The genre doesn’t matter so much as just the experience of dreaming while you are awake inside of a movie theater.”
In September, Jones officially takes over for Sandra Thomas, who’s been running the show for the past 12 years. While Thomas oversaw the addition of a marquee at the Spring Street cinema and the transition to digital film, a certain story seems to stick out. It has to do with a make-shift symposium because a date mix-up.
“On a Monday night I got a phone call from the professors who were organizing the symposium and they said ‘If Werner Herzog were to show up on Thursday do you think you could show his latest film?” Thomas recalled. “So I said ‘Sure, why not!’ So he had showed up at the airport a year early saying ‘Who’s picking me up?’ So they pulled that together in four days and then he came back the following year for the actual symposium which was also really great.”
Thomas says she was flattered that more than 40 applications came in for her position, from as far away as Morocco. She adds she’s most proud of how engaged the community has been in the cinema’s journey into a non-profit structure, which began in 1998. Strachan agrees.
“In her tenure has taken it from a little cinema in a little town that I think people just hoped would stay open into an organization that’s actually able to fulfill its culture mission to the people here and bring something of the outside world to this little corner of the Berkshires,” said Strachan.
The home of Images Cinema is a single-screen, 400-seat theatre that opened nearly 100 years ago. It has never stopped showing movies despite changes in ownership and film culture. Jones says the chance to experience that small-town feel and a return to his roots is what attracted him to Williamstown.
“Somebody comes to a movie at Images and it turns out their neighbor is the person behind the candy stand selling them their popcorn,” said Jones.
Jones says he wants to showcase the cinema to a wider audience and attract more filmmakers through the connections he’s made in the industry. Images is also studying the feasibility of adding a second screen. Thomas says she will remain active in the area’s arts scene.
