In 2003, eight young Rhode Islanders created a secret apartment in a hidden space inside the Providence Place Mall and lived in it for four years, filming everything along the way. They snuck in furniture, tapped into the mall’s electricity, and even secretly constructed a brick wall with a locking door, smuggling in over 2 tons of cinderblock. Far more than just a wild prank, the secret apartment became a deeply meaningful place for all its inhabitants – a personal expression of defiance against local gentrification, a boundary-pushing work of public/private art, and finally, a 750 square foot space that sticks it to the man!

A retired farmer and widower in his 70s, Alvin Straight (Richard Farnsworth) learns one day that his distant brother Lyle (Harry Dean Stanton) has suffered a stroke and may not recover. Alvin is determined to make things right with Lyle while he still can, but his brother lives in Wisconsin, while Alvin is stuck in Iowa with no car and no driver's license. Then he hits on the idea of making the trip on his old lawnmower, thus beginning a picturesque and at times deeply spiritual odyssey.

Our new Asian Underground $7 grab bag series presents a monthly dispatch from the world of alternative Asian genre cinema, notorious and influential for boundary-smashing oddity and extremity. (Not suitable for audiences under the age of 18.)

Join us as East Tennessee PBS presents FREE popcorn and a 30-minute sneak preview of the upcoming documentary CAREGIVING, premiering June 24 only on PBS!

Our summer collaboration with the Knoxville Museum of Art continues with a FREE screening of this documentary portrait of pioneering video artist Nam June Paik, whose work has both aesthetically and intellectually informed generations of media artists. (The screening will be preceded by a special live dance performance from local performance troupe Ignite! Powered by Dancer's Studio.)

Central Cinema is pleased to team up with the Knox County Public Library's Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound for a free monthly screening event, alternating between regionally-relevant feature films and dispatches from their extensive archive of audiovisual treasures.

Weimar superstar F.W. Murnau (NOSFERATU, SUNRISE) became one of the most influential filmmakers of the late silent film era thanks to his restless, psychology-focused aesthetic innovations, which hit an early peak in this celebrated classic about status and shame in an economically ailing mid-1920s Germany. Hailed as a prime example of "pure cinema" and featuring just one late-film intertitle, we're pleased to present THE LAST LAUGH (DER LETZTE MANN) as the latest installment of our 16mm "Film On Film" series, presented from the collection of series coordinator Josh Mays.

Nomi (Elizabeth Berkley) arrives in Las Vegas with only a suitcase and a dream of becoming a top showgirl. She quickly befriends Molly (Gina Ravera), who works at the high-profile Stardust Hotel, and lands a job at a seedy strip club. A chance meeting with Cristal (Gina Gershon), the Stardust's marquee dancer, and her powerful boyfriend, Zack (Kyle MacLachlan), brings Nomi one step closer to realizing her dream. But, as she ascends to the top, Nomi begins to wonder if it's all worth it.

This widely acclaimed film from Soviet director Elem Klimov is a stunning, senses-shattering plunge into the dehumanizing horrors of war. As Nazi forces encroach on his small village in present-day Belarus, teenage Flyora (Aleksei Kravchenko, in one of the screen’s most searing depictions of anguish since Renée Falconetti’s Joan of Arc) eagerly joins the Soviet resistance. Rather than the adventure and glory he envisioned, what he finds is a waking nightmare of unimaginable carnage and cruelty—rendered with a feverish, otherworldly intensity by Klimov’s subjective camerawork and expressionistic sound design. Nearly suppressed by Soviet censors who took eight years to approve its script, COME AND SEE is perhaps the most visceral, impossible-to-forget antiwar film ever made. (Janus Films)

Sheriff Buford Pusser (Joe Don Baker) tries to remove Southern mafia corruption in his small Tennessee/Mississippi border county. The State Line Gang attacks him, his family, and anyone who tries to help him. Eventually, Pusser recuperates, and returns with a vengeance....and a four-foot-long wooden stick.

Join us as the Knoxville Museum of Art presents two screenings of this charming early 90s environmental fable... FREE for KMA members and Summer Art Academy campers, and just $5 for everyone else!

Join us as we host a one-night-only premiere of this locally-produced documentary about Knoxville skate culture... two showings only!

Central Cinema is pleased to present this underseen documentary about absurdist religious/cultural parody The Church of the Subgenius, featuring a special pre-show sermon by Reverend Onan Canobite... you'll PAY to know what you REALLY think!

Our Skate Video Night series presents a monthly program of top-shelf skate videos, presented on VHS and DVD curated by our friend Chris Albiston.

Join us for our FREE monthly live standup engagement, showcasing the best comics from Knoxville and elsewhere, courtesy of our friends at Tiny Stage Comedy!

Our latest $7 wildcard series reimagines our popular OVA Extreme events with an expanded purview... join us as we dig deep into the wide, wild world of anime with ANIME EXTREME!

Our KHFF Arcana $7 grab bag series features a special monthly film selection (sometimes announced, sometimes a surprise) curated by the Knoxville Horror Film Fest!