October 24, 2025
When 2021 dawned at BMFI, it seemed like it would largely be a continuation of 2020, and for the most part, it was: Theater 5, Film Studies Online, Remote Classroom, Question of the Week, Community Curated, and the occasional Corn on the Curb event—BMFI staff delivering fresh popcorn to members as they pulled up next to the theater. But the glimmers of hope that we all saw from our homes—vaccine rollouts and the viability of social distancing—were also indications that the theater’s reopening may not be too far off.
But while all the work on BMFI policies, ticketing, and facilities was being done in preparation for that day, there were still plenty of opportunities for film fans to be entertained, educated, and engaged in Theater 5 and via Film Studies Online. Throughout 2021, T5’s virtual cinema program presented 79 new releases and restorations, drawing more than 2,300 rentals.
The Film Studies Online free discussion series covered 28 films in 2021, drawing over 1,500 live participants. People from all over kept finding the FSO discussion recordings, which were viewed more than 10,000 times in 2021 alone. There were also nine Remote Classroom seminars taught before on-site education returned, including The “Sunken Place”: Genre, Race, and Gender in the Films of Jordan Peele, “What’s Done Cannot Be Undone”: Macbeth on Film, and The Immortal Cinema of Agnes Varda.
Meanwhile, on Lancaster Avenue, Director of Theater Operations Mike McCracken and his team were figuring out how to incorporate social distancing into BMFI moviegoing. The biggest challenge was reconfiguring our online ticketing system to not only offer reserved seats, but to block the seats surrounding those purchased by a patron to maintain the desired distance between parties of moviegoers.
In addition, the theaters’ climate control was receiving a major upgrade. Beyond increasing ventilation with outside air, BMFI added Needlepoint Bipolar Ionization (NBPI) technology to all of its HVAC systems that effectively enhanced filtration efficiency and helped to significantly reduce airborne pathogens. New disinfectant misters to sanitize seats between shows and other specialized equipment were used for even more thorough surface cleaning.
Before long, the big day arrived. On Friday, April 9, 2021, after months of preparation and over a year of being closed, BMFI reopened for business. Sure, it was a little different: there were social-distancing decals on the floor, masks on faces, and empty seats around every set of moviegoers. But there were also ticket buyers at the box office, popcorn bags being filled, and movies on the screens! Those first films to show in Theaters 1-4 in over a year were four Oscar contenders: Judas and the Black Messiah, Minari, Nomadland, and The Father.
Things were slow at first—okay, very slow—and we were only open on the weekends initially, before gradually expanding to full-week operation as people became more comfortable “getting back out there,” and word of BMFI’s thoughtful precautions and comfortable environment spread. New releases came first, followed by repertory screenings, and later free member screenings returned, and even Film Studies.
Over 40 people joined us in the theater on July 8 for the first on-site education offering in 16 months, the Cinema Classics Seminar: Jaws. There were ten more seminars at BMFI, which were also livestreamed in the Remote Classroom, and an installment of the Film History Discussion Series over the remainder of 2021, as well. See Hear Feel Film, our third-grade arts-education and visual literacy program, also returned, with nearly 300 students from four regional elementary schools participating in the program virtually.
Throughout 2021, we were regularly updating our internal procedures and public policies to stay current with the changing federal, state, and local regulations and the scientific community’s—and the movie theater industry’s—best practices. These moving targets kept us on our toes, but our tireless efforts at compliance also made more and more people feel comfortable returning to the movies as the months wore on.
One big initiative on this front debuted on Sunday, September 12, 2021. VacCinema® at BMFI featured designated days for fully vaccinated patrons. All film screenings, classes, and programs offered on those days were available only to moviegoers who “had all their shots.” In addition to their tickets, patrons needed to bring a COVID-19 vaccination card (or a clear photo of it) and a Photo ID. People who didn’t comply with these guidelines were not admitted. In addition, all staff in the building on VacCinema® days were also required to be fully vaccinated.
Thoughtful and inviting approaches like VacCinema® resulted in more than 42,000 people coming to see movies at BMFI in 2021. While that’s just a small fraction of a normal year’s attendance, after 2020, it was wonderful to see. And that number would grow in 2022, in part because we all got more used to living in a world with COVID, but also because the year would see the return of our beloved screenings of The Sound of Music and the Summer Filmmaking Workshop, the start of our silent-film collaboration with the young musicians of School of Rock Main Line, and the beginning of a friendship with a noted film critic and podcaster.
