After what will mark one of the worst semesters in University Union Cinemas’ history, UU officials have estimated $9,000 was spent on 12 films that were never screened.

UU Cinemas organizers say they have held, at most, three screening events this semester. The group was left completely unstaffed after its lone member quit out of frustration in late October.

UU has regrouped and appointed a new student to head the Cinemas program, but not before it squandered almost one-third of its budget, which comes from the Student Activity Fee. The organization plans to start showing movies again next week.

‘I definitely think it is no more than ($9,000). I’m not exactly sure what the exact figure is off hand. It’s definitely a lot of money,’ said Dennis Jacobs, president of UU. ‘That was rough – that whole period was rough. We’re expecting budget cuts because films haven’t been shown.’

According to Jacobs, UU Cinemas got about $28,000 from the Student Association for the semester. The money that remains from this semester will be available for next semester, according to SA Comptroller Maggie Misztal, but she added that UU Cinemas will probably see a cut in funding eventually due to their actions this semester.

‘We evaluate organizations on the consistency and ability to get things produced,’ Misztal said. ‘They’ll be funded less this semester.’

But the drop should not be too severe, Misztal said, because of the unique role that UU Cinemas fills on campus. While there are numerous groups hoping to bring speakers and artists to campus, UU Cinemas is one of the only organizations that offers current and more mainstream movies.

This means that the decision to cut funding will not be based solely on this semester’s events, Misztal said, since the finance board will have to weigh the organization’s performance this semester against overall student interest.

According to Tom Ptasinski, the group’s former chairman, the organization began to run into the problems at the end of last semester when many of the students involved either graduated or left. This left Ptasinski as the only person to do the majority of the organization’s tasks.

‘I couldn’t get anyone to commit,’ Ptasinski said. ‘The lure of UU Cinemas is not as strong as UU Concerts or Speakers, because all you do is watch movies.’

Thinking that more people would join and that he could handle running the organization by himself, Ptasinski ended up ordering movies through mid-October.

‘(The reels) came in and I just had to ship them back out,’ Ptasinski said. ‘And it was a heartbreak because I just didn’t have the people or the resources. It really isn’t a one-person job. It just isn’t.’

The Michael Moore marathon UU Cinemas presented before Moore came to campus, which featured three of Moore’s movies, was the last straw for Ptasinski, he said. After airing the movies one night, Ptasinski said he ended up doing everything on his own and found himself lugging all three films in their backpack-sized cases to his dorm room in Haven.

‘I just kind of plopped down on my bed after that one. That was the moment that I knew,’ Ptasinski said. ‘I said, ‘If every weekend’s going to be like this, I can’t know how a sane person can put up with it.”

Jacobs said that Ptasinski’s resignation left UU with no one qualified to continue the work.

‘When Tom resigned we were in a bind,’ Jacobs said. ‘The problem was that we didn’t have anyone else who was trained. When Tom wasn’t able to do it, there was no one to step up and do it. There was no one with that knowledge.’

With no one to replace Ptasinski and the organization already shipping back movies without showing them, Jacobs said he decided step back and try to start the process over again. The organization decided not to do anything until a proper amount of people could be found to help and someone could be properly trained to head up the organization.

‘To be honest with you, that two months without movies was worth it to find someone who could handle it,’ Jacobs said.

With the reorganization, UU Cinemas is now ready to start showing films under the new chairman, Clarence Cross III, a sophomore majoring in broadcast journalism and marketing.

The organization is now focusing on how to get more people from the campus community involved, Cross said. Also, with the funding from this semester carrying over into the next one, Cross said he hopes to fix a broken projector as well as get some movies to campus before they premiere.

‘I can only hope for the best,’ Cross said. ‘Obviously, to see it through is going to be tough.’

Next week UU Cinemas will show ‘Eight Crazy Nights,’ airing at Watson Hall next Wednesday and Thursday nights and Sunday afternoon; ‘Garden State,’ airing Friday and Saturday at Gifford Auditorium; ‘Dick Tracy,’ airing afterwards at Gifford at midnight. The organization will also be showing ‘Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow’ next week.

Missed Movies:

These movies were received by UU Cinemas, but were shipped back to the distributor without being shown to students.

‘Spiderman II”Shrek II”Airplane”The Village”Anchorman”Superman”Super Size Me”The Sixth Sense”Open Water”Terminal”Coffee and Cigarettes”Wayne’s World’

Published on December 20, 2004 at 12:00 pm