After approximately 8,000 years of pandemic/restoration-related silence, Milwaukee’s historic Oriental Theatre will reopen Friday, August 20. Milwaukee Film, which operates the theater, made the announcement Monday afternoon. YES.
“We are so excited to have film fans back in our beloved theatre,” said Jonathan Jackson, CEO for Milwaukee Film, in a press release. “We’ve been patiently awaiting this day for a long time and cannot wait to once again open our doors for moviegoers to experience the wonder that is the Oriental Theatre. With our restoration work completed during the pandemic, Milwaukee’s historic architectural icon is ready again to transport our community via movie magic like nowhere else in the country.”
The first film to screen at the reopened theater will be 2021 Sundance Film Festival Fiction Film Top Prize Winner CODA. Milwaukee Film describes it as “the emotional, crowd-pleasing story of seventeen-year-old Ruby (Emilia Jones) who is the sole hearing member of a deaf family—a CODA, child of deaf adults. When Ruby joins her high school’s choir club, she discovers a gift for singing and is torn between obligations she feels to her family and the pursuit of her own dreams.”
Tickets for the film go on sale Thursday, August 12.
The reopened theater will also host several screenings and events for the upcoming Cultures & Communities Festival, set for September 6-12.
And here, once again, are some pictures of the renovated/restored Oriental:
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