Mountaineer Cinema Revives Film Culture at Western Colorado University

When the journalist and filmmaker Julian Rubinstein first arrived at Western Colorado University in the fall of 2023 to take a position as the University’s first Visiting Filmmaker and Journalist-In-Residence, he had just finished a major feature documentary project, The Holly. The film would go on to great acclaim, winning regional and national Emmys along with nearly a dozen other awards. It was reviewed in The New York Times. It was even longlisted for an Academy Award nomination.

Film, it seemed, was a medium nearly everyone valued. But after settling in, he found that Western’s theater, newly renovated in 2012 and the only movie theater in Gunnison, was rarely used. An effort by the owners of The Majestic Theater in Crested Butte to revive it had failed, and there was little appetite on campus to turn things around.

“What happened here?” Rubinstein thought. “How does a town of 6,000 people have a beautiful theater that’s almost never used?”

Now, after helping to develop the University’s film program, being invited to serve as a judge for the Crested Butte Film Festival, and receiving an invitation to become the first filmmaker to join Colorado Public Media’s new Ambassador64 program, Rubinstein is hoping to turn Gunnison’s cinema scene around.

“Having filmmaker and journalist Julian Rubinstein serve as our ambassador at Western creates a meaningful bridge between us, the University and the Gunnison community,” said Amber Cote, senior director of statewide civic engagement at Rocky Mountain PBS. “We’re excited to partner with Western Colorado University through our Ambassador64 initiative, which connects Rocky Mountain Public Media with trusted community organizations and individuals across the state.”

Last year, Rubinstein launched Mountaineer Cinema, using the University Center theater as an outlet for both student-made films and award-winning independent films such as Sundance winner Maryam Keshavarz’s The Persian Version, which included a live Zoom Q&A with Keshavarz. The series also featured selections from the Crested Butte Film Festival and Telluride’s Mountainfilm Festival. Open to the public, the screenings drew large crowds that made it clear they hoped for more.

This year, he expanded the effort by hiring a staff of film students to run the cinema, including student cinema manager Reed Juarez Welsh, and forming a partnership with Western’s School of Business, bringing additional energy and a fresh perspective to programming and outreach. The project is part of Western’s new School of the Arts, launching this fall.

On Friday, February 13, students and community members gathered for Student Film Night to watch two films from Rubinstein’s Special Topics: Environmental and Outdoor Filmmaking course, along with a third film created by a student in Experimental Filmmaking. For many of the student filmmakers, it was their first opportunity to see their work projected on the big screen for a live audience.

The momentum continues this spring. On April 2, Mountaineer Cinema will host a screening of I Was Born This Way, a documentary by Academy Award winner and Colorado filmmaker Daniel Junge, followed by a Q&A moderated by Rubinstein. Then, on April 23, in partnership with Rocky Mountain PBS, the series will present The Librarians, a documentary about librarians who “emerge as first responders in the fight for democracy and our First Amendment rights.”

“Together we will host one event leveraging Rocky Mountain PBS content each semester, beginning this April with a screening and dialogue around The Librarians,” Cote said.

Through Mountaineer Cinema and partnerships with organizations across the state, Western is positioning its theater as a place to celebrate student creativity and community engagement.

“I’m excited to be able to work on something that can bring film back to the Gunnison Valley and our campus,” Rubinstein said. “See you at the movies!”

To support Mountaineer Cinema, visit https://www.classy.org/fundraiser/6984615.