------------------------- * EVENT TONIGHT * ------------------------- Recognition of BlueLight Cinemas TONIGHT at Cupetino City Council Meeting Date and Time: 6:45pm Octoboer 17, 2017 Location: Community Hall, next to Cupertino Library, 10800 Torre Ave., Cupertino, CA 95014 ----------------------------- Thank you for the many residents who come together to the Chain event on Sunday October 8th to support BlueLight Cinemas. The fate of BlueLight Cinemas is hanging by a thread. They are going week by week with no visibility towards the future to arrange future events. The film festival hosted by Cupertino Library Foundation is put on hold too. You can save BlueLight Cinemas by speaking up. 1. Speak up at Cupertino City Council Meetings: On Tuesday October 17, 2017, BlueLight Cinemas will be recognized for its contribution to the community. An invitation letter by Art Cohen, attached below, summarized BlueLight's contribution well. The schedule of future Cupertino City Council meetings can be found at cupertino.org 2. Write to Cupertino City Council at CityCouncil@cupertino.org 3. Write a letter to local newsletters, such as Cupertino Courier, Mercury News or your local paper. 4. Write to KT Urban, the owner of Oaks Shopping Center at https://kturban.com/contact 5. Last, but not least, visit BlueLight Cinemas and purchase food and drinks to enjoy the movies and support BlueLight. It takes a community effort to save our unique community theater BlueLight Cinemas. It takes a community effort to keep Cupertino from losing its character piece by piece. You can make a difference. Cupertino Residents for Local Small Businesses ---------------------------------------------------- NEXTDOOR POST by a Community Member that captures the beauty of BlueLight Cinemas ---------------------------------------------------- I think that you are missing the special niche that the BlueLight filled. I never went there for newer films. What was so cool about the place was that they had Chinese films. Indian films, fascinating documentaries, and film festivals with expert commentators that you could never see anywhere else. They just finished a Library Foundation festival with wonderful black and white films that were pre-code (before censorship and rating existed) with an expert speaker afterwards that opened up a whole new avenue of interest for me and others. Last year they had a series of Shakespeare at the Globe Theatre on film which was so stunning that I went out and purchased some of the hard to get DVDs (they are British of course) to share with friends at home. It really is more of a specialty and art theatre. Yes, it could use a facelift, but I would love to see something like it kept either at the Oaks or somewhere else in town like the new Vallco (as a separate venue from the AMC)--kind of like Cupertino's own Camera 3. Many of the current big box theatre films are either mundane, cliche, overly violent, or not worth my time. They are also getting insanely expensive. Keeping the prices low so everyone could enjoy going out to a movie was one of Art and Jackie Cohen's main objectives. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ INVITATION LETTER TO October 17, 2017 Cupertino City Council Meeting ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ We just learned that Bluelight will be recognized by the City at their next City Hall Council Meeting on October 17th 6:45pm. I invite you and your colleagues to attend. This special proclamation is to recognize Bluelight's benefits to the community. I will be there at that time and will be happy to make a statement regarding Bluelight's future in Cupertino. Meanwhile, a grass roots petition has started at change.org : https://www.change.org/search?q=bluelight%20 and there was an impromptu rally in support of the theater on Sunday afternoon. In a nutshell, Bluelight was born at was the old "Oaks Theater" venue that had been closed for over 7 years from 2001-2009. We renovated the interior and re-opened it in November 2009 with a new mission and purpose: to work closely with schools, library, city, Cupertino Library Foundation (Instructional Film Series with Mark Larson and Santa Clara Reads programing, Hollywood SciFi Events) and other community organizations to provide a low cost venue for fund raising, school field trips, independent film makers, film festivals, celebration events (birthdays, weddings, engagement proposals, etc.), cultural exchange events (Chinese movie nights, Indian films, Asyrian films), documentaries, and other topical events in additional to standard blockbuster first run and second films. We are also one of the few theaters in the greater bay area that still can service 35mm projection, although typically everything has been offered in digital 2k and dolby surround sound the past two years. We've been honored to work with Tesla, Solar City, Apple, Ray Kruzweil and other corporate entities since November 2009. The theater was originally built in the early 1970s and has since had numerous exhibitor owners, but none have focused on providing the community services focused on kids, students, and seniors. Some notable fund raising events include our LunaFest annual fund raiser to find a cure for women's breast cancer and fund raising event for College of Adaptive Arts that services adult students with physical and mental challenges. As a multi-stakeholder 25+ year resident in Cupertino, having kids attending CUSD, and serving on multiple non-profit boards and small business owner, I am very said to have to consider its closing, however, the financial burden of the rent combined with the lack of building maintenance (i.e. roof and HVAC) has made it impossible for me to continue. Regards, -Art -- Art Cohen, CEO BlueLight Cinemas Premium Discount Theaters @ the Cupertino Oaks Shopping Center Tickets and Showtimes: 408-255-2552 Office: 408-255-5002 Direct: 408-446-5887 Fax: 1-504-285-5040 Web: www.bluelightcinemas.com Mailing Address: 20660 Stevens Creek Blvd. #171 Cupertino, CA 95014