5th Avenue Cinema, Movie theater in Portland, United States
The 5th Avenue Cinema is a movie theater in Portland, Oregon, run by students and faculty of Portland State University. It sits on campus and screens a mix of newer films and older works from different countries.
The cinema opened in 1970, making it one of the longest-running university-run film venues in the United States. Over the decades it has shifted from a simple screening space to a place with a curated program shaped by each new generation of students.
The cinema's name comes from its original 1973 rebranding, though the entrance stayed on Southwest Hall Street. The PSU Film Committee, which has helped choose the programming almost since opening, picks world and art films each term, and screenings are free for PSU students while the public pays a nominal fee.
Screenings happen mostly on weekends, so it is worth checking the current schedule before you go. The venue is on the university campus and is open to the public, not just to students.
The cinema gave the first public screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show in 1975, when it was still a struggling house showing old and midnight movies. Its two screens use 35-millimeter projection, and it is one of the few student-operated theaters in the United States.
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