Movie buffs become basement dwellers

In the basement of the Museum of Natural History, a makeshift movie theatre screens local and international films for Halifax moviegoers. Every Thursday through Sunday, film-loving volunteers transform the basement into Carbon Arc Cinema, offering a quirky alternative to the mall-dwelling Park Lane Cineplex. 

Joseph Jung, a double major in philosophy and cinema and media studies at Dalhousie University, has volunteered at Carbon Arc since May. He’s been an avid regular at the independent theatre since 2022. 

“I went to the Atlantic International Film Festival, and I was inspired by that environment of showing new, independent cinema,” says Jung. “I was searching [for something similar] and found Carbon Arc through social media. I was intrigued right away.” 

As a film lover, Jung’s role as volunteer programmer is a perfect fit. A programmer’s main job is to assist the theatre’s artistic director with curating films for Carbon Arc’s audiences.

“The artistic director of Carbon Arc, Carsten Knox, sends us this list of film screeners, we watch and … see if it will be adequate to show for our audiences,” he says.

For Jung, the best thing about Carbon Arc is the freedom to show films that aren’t mainstream. 

“​​A lot of those [films] don’t get the opportunity to get screened in big Cineplex theatres,” says Jung. “I found an appeal that is different from the mainstream, in those kinds of slow or more meditative and contemplative style films.” 

The cinema doesn’t only focus on international films, it also showcases local Nova Scotian films. Alice Body, the administrator of Carbon Arc, doubles as an organizer for the Nova Scotia Retro Film Festo, a festival dedicated to screening classic Nova Scotian films.

“When our artistic director was selecting the films, and we were trying to book them, some of them were on the precipice of being physically lost and just disappearing and lost forever,” says Body. “We were like, ‘Wow, this festival is quite important.’”

As a non-profit, any money Carbon Arc makes goes to running the theatre. 

“It goes back to making Carbon Arc bigger and better, which means pursuing our values … celebrating cinema culture, cultivating appreciation for cinema amongst the community and bringing the community together.”

Carbon Arc opened in Halifax 15 years ago, filling the need for an independent cinema in the city. Halifax hasn’t had a permanent independent cinema since Wormwood’s Dog and Monkey Cinema closed in 1998.

Body says independent cinemas ensure smaller films produced outside of Hollywood reach local communities. 

Without an independent cinema, “A lot of local filmmakers that are emerging and aren’t in the pipeline of what gets fed to the Cineplex superstructure miss out,” Body says. 

Carbon Arc’s festivals, like the Nova Scotia Retro Film Festo and the Animation Festival of Halifax, encourage people to make and consume local films. 

“Local filmmakers are a part of the ecosystem of what makes cinemas so relevant to our community,” she says. “Films are meant to be shared and bring people together.”