bers in the yard as well as three people sitting on the curb. When his dear friend Isabel Ruggero passed away in 2014 after a five-year battle with cancer, Zagottis dubbed his “movie theater” Cinema Isabel. For the entire 2014 season, Zagottis reserved the “VIP section”—the couch in the back where Ruggero used to sit—in her honor. At the end of that 2014 season, Zagottis’ projector gave way. “Somebody came up to me after the movie and said, ‘Let us chip in.’ I said, ‘I can’t do that,’ but he said to do a Go- FundMe crowdfunding campaign,” Zagottis said. The response was overwhelming: in 12 weeks, Zagottis had raised $1,200 for the projector, HD Blu-ray player, cables and more. “People were donating 50 bucks, 100 bucks, without even thinking,” Zagottis said. “Someone even apologized because they could only afford $20. I said, ‘Are you kidding me? You’re apologizing?’ It said something to me. I said, maybe there’s something to this that I’m not getting; to me it’s just showing movies,” he said, but to people who come, it’s something more. “There are times when I start to get tired and say, you know, I think we’re done. And then there are times when I think, why? Just do it. You get a lot out of it. People enjoy it. Especially this year— more new people have come this season to each film than ever before.” Sometimes it takes a new face to remind Zagottis why he started the festival in the first place. “When a new person shows up and they go, ‘Holy crap, I can’t believe that you do this, this is amazing, this is awesome,’ I think it’s a wake-up call. It reminds you that it may be 10 years for you, but it’s brand new for someone else, and they go, ‘This is really awesome,’ and Zagottis snaps a group shot after every movie. then you go, ‘Oh yeah, I forgot.’ “So I keep doing it. And I’ll keep doing it until I can’t do it anymore, or until something breaks down and I don’t have what I need. As long as I keep living here and I have a backyard.” When Zagottis considered holding his film festival in a different location, one of his friends said, “You can’t take it out of your backyard, because that’s part of what makes it cool. You’ve got a chandelier hanging in your backyard, Frank. How off the wall is that?” One year Zagottis had a sketch to redesign Photo courtesy of Frank Zagottis where to hang his projector, and someone said, “You’re getting rid of the ladder? You can’t get rid of the ladder. It’s rickety, and it’s cool because it’s part of the charm, because here you are with this ladder showing these great movies in your backyard. It just seems more homey.” So Zagottis kept the ladder. It looks like some things will never change. The rest of the season includes “Children of a Lesser God” on Aug. 20, “The In-Laws” on Aug. 27, “Heaven Can Wait” on Sept. 10, “Arthur” on Sept. 17, and “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” on Oct. 1. All dates are subject to change due to weather. Join The Newtown Road Backyard Film Festival Facebook group, then send a direct message to Zagottis or check your “other” folder for a message from him, because all new members must contact Zagottis before being added to the group. Make sure to RSVP for the screenings you want to go to, because seating is limited. 20 I BOROMAG.COM I AUGUST 2016 ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT
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