During the regular academic year, the Student Activities Council (SAC) shows a movie every Sunday in Watkins Auditorium.
This week’s movie, “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” will be shown on Feb. 12 at 6 p.m. and 9 p.m.
The SAC is a team of 14 students dedicated to making university life more entertaining. The Film and Video Committee, along with the other executive chairs of Arts, Entertainment, Game Room, Graphic Design and Publicity, will go through a process to pick movies through popular demand.
The SAC has a contract with two major film providers, Swank Films and Criterion Pictures, allowing them to receive copies of the films.
“We make a deal that we will see this movie at this particular date for x number of dollars, they send us a bill, and we pay for it,” said Tim Barrington, instructor and technical director of visual and theatre arts.
The SAC provides students with the opportunity to be able to see a new movie for free without having to leave campus. Some students do not have the ability to be able to go out because of money or lack of a vehicle, so along with entertainment, these movies give students an opportunity to be able to get involved with campus life.
These movies can be viewed by students for free, but there is a cost for SAC to make these showings a possibility. According to Barrington, pre-releases can cost anywhere from $700-$800 to be shown only a few times on one day.
“We actually have gotten a deal for ‘Fantastic Beasts’ for $550,” Barrington said. “We often put on a pre-release in the early fall when the freshmen first get here, and maybe something during the fall semester. If there is a movie that is out that people want to see, we will try and make a deal on [it].”
The next pre-release to come to UTM will be “Hidden Figures.” The movie showing will be sponsored by the History Department and Student Activities Council at the end of March.
To keep up with the latest showings, students can view the posted movie fliers near the auditorium.
