Kinonik is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit, and donations are tax-deductible.
About Us
Kinonik is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization whose mission is to enlighten and entertain audiences of all ages through projected screenings of celluloid classic films. Our current archive consists of more than 500 16mm films.
A century into the film industry, digital offers myriad options for viewing media that the pioneers of the film industry surely never envisioned. While the benefits of accessibility can’t be argued – something is missing.
Films have been created to give audiences the shared experience of temporary escape from the mundane into a world of heightened emotions and suspense that give them license to laugh, cry, gasp, chortle, and even shriek together.
The streaming experience is essentially solitary. The theater experience is unfolds with a community of many. The more solitary our world gets the lonelier our world gets and the less we experience common experiences
This is the magic of movies; it’s the difference in nuance between sprocketed frames of real images speeding past the bright bulb of a projector than the digitized experience of pixels on a flat screen.
We’re committed to preserving the film experience through the real-deal – projected screenings of must-see silent and sound classics.
Contact Us
Kinonik
121 Cassidy Point Drive
Portland, Maine 04102
Our Mission
Kinonik is a nonprofit microcinema dedicated to the communal experience of watching films projected on analog formats. We preserve and present 16mm and 35mm film as a living medium with the aim of fostering dialogue, education, and resistance against cultural homogenization. In an era of increasing social isolation and algorithmic control, Kinonik serves as a space for collective meaning-making where cinema is not a commodity but a shared encounter with history, aesthetics, and radical imagination.
Our programming emphasizes overlooked, suppressed, and subversive voices by placing them in proximity to famed classics. To this end we continuously seek to expand our film collection— embracing digital formats only as a means of access to exceptional works that are unavailable to us on film. We are fascinated by the craft of projection as an art form and strive for excellence in presentation regardless of medium.
Committed to accessibility and community-building, Kinonik maintains fair pricing, proactively encourages diversity among our audience, and collaborates with artists, scholars and organizations. We approach our screenings both as entertainment and acts of celebration. We offer an alternative to the isolating forces of the mainstream by cultivating a joyful space where people can gather, discuss, and engage with the art of film through the analog experience.
Our Board
- James Cradock
- Andy Graham, Acting Executive Director
- Gregory Jamie
- Skylar Thorne Kelly
- Nicholas Loukes
- David Nutty
- Carolyn Swartz
- Bob Wirtz
- Katherine Worthing