Conrad and I were hired as part-time staff members at the Majestic in 2018 and 2017 respectively. We both came to Crested Butte to be ski bums, and worked for a combined 11 years as ski instructors at Crested Butte Mountain Resort. To fully support ourselves, we both worked in many different restaurants and retail stores before landing our coveted spots at the Majestic, which allowed us to dive deeper into our lifelong love of cinema! In 2019, I became the manager of the Majestic and was able to learn the ins-and-outs of operating the business. When the Majestic closed down for good due to COVID in 2020, we knew we couldn’t stand to let our remote community to be without its only movie theater. Along with another former employee Whitney Favor, we established a nonprofit, Friends of the Majestic, and started fundraising to bring the Majestic back as a nonprofit cinema. In just under 2 years, our grassroots campaign fundraised nearly $350,000 from over 2,000 donors to reopen the Majestic on 9/24/22. Since then, we’ve managed the day-to-day operations of the Majestic along with managing the nonprofit. We did not have the straightest path into the exhibition business, but our love of cinema and community were our guiding lights!

Our favorite part of our jobs is connecting with our community through film. Being a small operation in a small town, we know our customers very well! We love chatting with them after the movie and telling them behind the scenes factoids they hadn’t yet heard. We see the Majestic as one of the last “third spaces” in our community, and we host free events weekly to make sure our space is accessible and welcoming for everyone. I love seeing people’s moods be altered by movies, and leave the theater with a new point of view. I love seeing new parents come out for their first date night after having a kid, or a recent widow come out as a way to process their grief. I love seeing new friendships form over cult classic showings, or a shy customer’s confidence develop after a killer performance at karaoke night! We get to be apart of people’s lives at the Majestic – whether its their joy or sorrow – and I am so proud to provide this space for our community.

For me, it would have to be the Barbenheimer premiere on 7/21/23. This also happened to be my 30th birthday. We sold out both showings of both movies, and pulled off the biggest day in the 30 year history of the Majestic. Our entire staff came in to help out, all donned in Barbie costumes. “Hi, Barbie!” echo’d throughout the lobby the entire night, as customers flooded in sporting Barbie and Oppenheimer costumes as well. About 10 people showed up in full spandex and rollerblades, making it a tight race for the winner of the costume contest! The energy in the Majestic that night was magical and gave me so much hope not only for the future of the Majestic, but for the future of cinema!

For Conrad, it would be 9/8/23 – the night before we got married. Conrad and I met working at the Majestic in 2018 and fell in love working our weekly shift together, which was basically a 7 hour date spent running the business just the two of us. While planning our wedding, we knew we wanted to have a special movie night for all of our visiting family and friends, most of whom had never experienced the Majestic in person. We closed down to the public and rented out all three screens to welcome over 200 folks from all over the country. We showed three of our favorite movies – Heavyweights, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, and Wet Hot American Summer. The marquee read “Carrie and Conrad’s Wet Hot American Wedding”. The Majestic is such an important part of our love story, it was incredibly special to share it with our loved ones and watch them experience the magic as well.

For me, it would be when I volunteered at Telluride Film Festival in 2018. The night before the festival began, volunteers were treated to a free movie screening. We went in not knowing what movie we would watch, and I sat alone since I had yet to meet any other volunteers. The lights dimmed and “The Favourite” came across the screen, and my life has never been the same since. I am always a fan of going into movies blind and alone, but this film completely blew me out of the water and remains one of my Letterboxd top 4 to this day! It motivated me to dive deeper into film, and push for lesser-known movies to be booked at the Majestic.

For Conrad, it would be seeing Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets at his local theater when he was 8 years old. Conrad doesn’t come from a big movie family, so this was his first ever movie in a theater and the only movie he ever attended with his whole family. Needless to say, he was mesmerized and knew that seeing a film on the big screen was the way to go. His dad had been reading the Harry Potter books to him and his sister, so to experience what he had imagined in his head be translated to the big screen was an eye opening experience for a young buck! Conrad became an avid movie goer afterwords, finding friends with families who would take him to the theater. Once he got his drivers license, you couldn’t keep him away from theaters!

In a world where it feels like there is a never ending slew of issues which divide us, I get to watch movies unite people every day at the Majestic. Even now, with access to millions of movies from the supercomputer in your pocket, nothing can be the experience of a movie in a cinema. I think now more than ever, people appreciate the shared experience a movie theater provides, and there are fewer and fewer places to get that. We take pride in the Majestic being a “third place” in our community – a neutral safe space that promotes social connection and diverse perspectives. Beyond helping us process the complexity of being human, I believe film can make us better humans. To sit in a dark room and be absorbed into a story for 2 hours is rare in our increasingly technological world, and is wildly effective at building empathy. I think about the future of exhibition and I see the power of film to bring people together and understand each other, and that excites me more than anything! If the Majestic can be just a tiny part in uniting people instead of dividing them, we will have accomplished our mission.

Find you nearest independent theater and get involved! And watch a lot of movies – all sorts of movies! Find joy in movies you don’t understand or the bad movies!