News

Wildlife group fires up projectors at Roxy Theater (A great effort to support)

‘Grand Reopening’ scheduled for Tuesday

Movie projectors rolled at the Roxy Theater last week for the first time in more than two years.

By DARYL GADBOW of the Missoulian

The audience was made up of the final judges for the 25th annual International Wildlife Film Festival,
set for April 20-27 this year.

The International Wildlife Media Center and Film Festival is in the process of purchasing the Roxy,
718 S. Higgins Ave., as its new headquarters in Missoula. The movie theater has been closed since
January 2000 and has been for sale since the deaths of part owners Robert Ranstrom and Robert
Sias in 1999.

The IWMC/IWFF has announced a major fund-raising drive to help the nonprofit organization come up
with the money to buy the Roxy. The group needs to raise approximately $250,000 – most of the
purchase price – by May 31 to go forward with the transaction, according to Janet Rose, executive
director of the IWMC/IWFF.

So far, the fund raising has been going well, Rose said, with donations and commitments already
totaling about $80,000. Most of that came last week, she said, in a commitment for a donation of
$50,000 from the Englehard Foundation, which has Missoula ties.

A wildlife art auction on March 2 brought in $11,000 for the campaign, Rose added. IWMC/IWFF also
has sold sponsorships for 15 theater seats at the Roxy for $1,000 apiece.

An IWMC/IWFF "totem pole" sign was erected Friday on the Roxy’s front. The wildlife figures on the
totem pole will be painted in as the fund-raising proceeds, showing the progress of the campaign,
according to Rose. The ultimate goal is to raise $400,000, which will cover the entire purchase price,
plus enough money to pay for minor renovations and new projection equipment.

The next big fund-raising event planned by IWMC/IWFF will be the public’s first opportunity to watch a
film in the Roxy since it closed two years ago.

The "Grand Reopening" of the Roxy is scheduled at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The benefit event will feature an
awards reception, with an opportunity to meet the International Wildlife Film Festival’s final judges
from all over the world, and a sneak preview of the festival’s best film in one of the Roxy’s three movie
auditoriums. Hors d’oeuvres, desserts and fine drink also are promised.

Tickets for the event are $50, or $75 for a couple. Call 728-9380 for ticket information.

Two other fund-raising projects will take place soon, Rose said. One is sales of ceramic tiles for a
"Wall of Fame" in the lobby of the Roxy, in which benefactors’ names will be displayed on a variety of
wildlife-image tiles, on one of the three auditorium entrances, or the theater’s main marquee, for
donations ranging from $50 to $150,000. The other project will involve sales of "Help IWMC/IWFF
Save the Roxy" bumper stickers.

The Roxy’s facilities would be a perfect fit for IWMC/IWFF, said Rose, not only as a venue for
activities during its annual spring film festival, but also for a variety of year-round special events. The
organization has an extensive film and video library that can provide tremendous educational
opportunities for the community, she said.

Several other organizations have expressed interest in sharing the Roxy facilities for educational
activities, Rose added.

The IWMC/IWFF will continue to rent the Wilma Theatre in downtown Missoula, with its seating
capacity of 1,000, for major film screenings during the April festival. More than 10,000 people
attended festival events last year.

Reporter Daryl Gadbow can be reached at 523-5264 or at [email protected].

http://missoulian.com/display/inn_news/news08.txt

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