Hyperreal Film Club to open east Austin 'clubhouse', screening room

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Local nonprofit Hyperreal Film Club will open a "clubhouse" in the 300 block of Chicon Street on Sept. 10, which it said will be a "homebase" for Austin filmmakers and film lovers, according to a press release from the organization.

"We really wanted the opportunity to focus on building community even more," said Jenni Kaye, one of Hyperreal Film Club's co-founders. "Our approach to this whole project is that there's other theaters offering a really amazing, crisp presentation experience, but what we bring to the table is more of the community component."

The group previously held its screenings at other locations in Austin, such as the Paramount Theater and State Theater. Due to not having its own location, Hyperreal screenings were limited to a handful each month.

The club is also volunteer-run, she said -- herself, along with co-founders Tanner Hadfield and David McMichael, and a large pool of volunteers.

"We've just been putting in a lot of the foundational structures in place, so that we can maintain a steady stream of support for these shows. [We're] trying to be as like efficient as possible, since we are essentially quadrupling the amount of screenings per week that we've done," she said. "But we had our first one last night, as far as our soft launch goes, and it was a really fun experience and smooth."

Currently, that "soft launch" is a series named "Secret Cinema Nights," showing "a movie you will love but will not know until it begins." The club plans to hold film screenings Tuesday through Friday after the official launch.

"What we try to replicate is watching a movie with your friends in your living room," Kaye said. "We want to create opportunities for people to connect. We have this clubhouse...where people can hang out; so instead of going out to the parking lot to talk about the movie with your friends, you can hang out there maybe meet some new people."

The screening room's launch night movie will be Alejandro Jodorowsky's 1973 film "The Holy Mountain," the first film screened by the group in 2016. Kaye explained that the film influenced the clubhouse's design, from color scheme to a ramp alluding to a major scene.

"Coming back to that film for the opening of this space, honestly, it's really surreal," Kaye said. "But we haven't played it since, and it's one of those films that has really influenced us aesthetically. I think it'll be a really beautiful way for us to honor our first chapter while starting this brand new one."

Funding for the space was raised through donors, the Texas Commission on the Arts, and the city of Austin’s Elevate Grant Program.

"There will maybe be some tears on Tuesday night for us. It's finally clicking, that this is a real space that we own, that we're business owners, which feels bizarre," Kaye said. "We hope we can live forever and become a mainstay, and really be part of the fabric of the Austin film community."