A former projectionist remembers his reel life

The first day of Austin Andrie-Grondek’s job as a projectionist at the Westwood Cinema 8 in Omaha, Nebraska, was breaking down the cases of reel-to-reel film for “The Assassination of Jessie James by the Coward Robert Ford.”

“That movie was a good three hours long,” said Andrie-Grondek. “So, it took me about four or five hours.”

While some theaters still show movies on reel-to-reel film, most projectionists have been sidelined by digital technology. The Westwood Cinema 8, where Andrie-Grondek worked for about nine months in the 2000s, closed permanently in 2022. 

“Movies in every single way, are a form of art,” said Andrie-Grondek. “Even projecting it.”

He said he remembers doing tricks for late-night screenings, like playing movie trailers in reverse, upside down or with different audio.

“There’s something that you get out of that experience that was unique to that era, and it’s harder to reproduce with the fully digital projection,” he said.  

Click the audio player above to hear Austin Adrie-Grondek’s story.