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In a 2021 AMC Theatres promotional campaign, actress Nicole Kidman struts into a movie theater wearing a pantsuit and heels, announcing that “we come to this place for magic.”
Hop Film screenings, run by the Hopkins Center for the Arts, feel like a place where that “magic” happens. Since arriving on campus freshman year, some of my fondest memories have been of stepping out of Loew Auditorium alongside my friends, laughing or wiping away stray tears.
Whether it’s a premier title like “The Princess Bride,” “Everything Everywhere All at Once” or “Wicked,” or an impactful documentary like “I Heard it Through the Grapevine,” every film-going experience I’ve had through the Hopkins Center has been memorable, and it’s thanks to those who work behind the scenes — and behind the screens.
To get a better sense of the logistics behind the program, I talked to the people who make the magic of Hop Film screenings possible. Head of film and media Johanna Evans ’10 has been involved in the arts at Dartmouth since she was an undergraduate student. According to Evans, she never expected to work professionally at Dartmouth — rather, the serendipitous opportunity arose from her love of film.
“I was really involved in the film society when I was a student, going to meetings every week [and] the movies all the time,” Evans said. “I was taking a gap year between my master’s and Ph.D. and found myself back in the Hanover area. [Working with the Hopkins Center] started as a part-time job because they needed extra help, then it was such a great fit … that now this is my career.”
Evans said that her role largely involves keeping her ear to the ground, anticipating what films might interest Dartmouth and Upper Valley community members. In addition to considering community opinions, she said that film critics’ reviews of a film can impact whether they are screened on campus.
“I’ve got the whole plan for all of the weekends in April and May in a spreadsheet — there’s a lot of moving things around as reviews come out,” Evans said. “For a film at a festival that isn’t good, you try to find something else to replace it.”
After Evans sets the schedule, she said she reaches out to both major and independent film distributors to request films.
“I send them an email saying, ‘Hey, we’d like this film for this time, tell us the terms,’” Evans said. “The movie business is still a handshake business. All of this is … based on trust and relationships. The studios know that we’ll put on a good show, and that’s why they’re happy to work with us.”
Evans said that program manager Peter Ciardelli has been a crucial part of the Hop Film program’s success. Though Ciardelli is new to the role, he has been involved in film-making as the technical director for the film and media studies department since 2001. Ciardelli said that he assumed the program manager role because it was time “for a change” and “to try something else.”
“It’s been wonderful to get to know new people,” Ciardelli said. “The majority of my [previous] work dealt with making films, and this job is everything that comes after that. It’s still film but in a completely different way.”
Ciardelli’s primary responsibility is to manage print traffic, or the delivery of film copies from distributors to the Hopkins Center and back — in his words, making sure “that the films get on the screen.”
In addition to print traffic, Ciardelli also manages student projectionists and facilitates the training of new ones.
“New projectionists sign up for a trainee slot primarily so I can introduce them to the physical space and generally [explain] how things work,” Ciardelli said. “They also shadow one of our student projectionists who already knows the wheels and learn that way.”
Ryan Hill ’27, a student projectionist who started last spring, said he likes that the job allows him to interact with the arts outside of his studio art major.
“I’m always in the [Black Family Visual Arts] Center because I’m a studio art major,” Hill said. “I love that building, and I really am a very big fan of film, so that was a big reason why I wanted to do it.”
Hill said that the connection between the Hop Film program and the Dartmouth Film Society — of which he is a member — was also a major reason why he became a projectionist.
“I met [Evans] at a couple of [Dartmouth Film Society] meetings because she was working with us to pick a slate of films last winter, and a few other people in the film society worked as projectionists,” Hill said. “She sent an email to a few of us, and I became really interested.”
Evans said that the intuition and “showmanship” of student projectionists set the tone for a great movie-going experience.
“Anyone who’s a real movie lover is suited to be a great projectionist,” Evans said. “Being the sort of person who cares about whether the movie is too quiet or too loud and that kind of sensitivity … makes a great movie experience versus an okay one.”
The Hop Film experience extends beyond the screening itself. Hill said that one of the best parts of his job is the events that accompany the movies, such as Q&As with filmmakers or film subjects.
“I’ve had a couple films that have prompted pretty interesting Q&As afterward,” Hill said. “Even if I don’t … watch all of the film, I still get to hear the perspectives of filmmakers, producers or professors on the content of the film, and I really enjoy that.”
Along with events like Q&As, Hop Film often collaborates with professors or departments to encourage students to engage with programming. According to Evans, spring programming will include films that faculty members have expressed interest in.
“[In the spring,] we’re playing ‘No Other Land,’ which we were planning to screen anyway, and a faculty member reached out and said, ‘I really want to play this and bring my class to this film. Do you think there’s any way the Hop[kins Center] can get it?’ So it works both ways,” Evans said.
Evans said that the nature of Hop Film, as a film program “housed within an academic institution,” makes the program “unique.”
“We try to offer something for everyone and a balanced mix of films every weekend,” Evans said. “We have a unique program in that we can book only one or two screenings of a film and a different movie every night.”
The impact of the Hop Film staff persists long after the curtains close. The process of getting a film to the screen is logistically complex — from securing a film schedule to managing print traffic to calibrating aspect ratio, timing and sound. Despite the organization required, Hop Film consistently exceeds expectations and builds a community around film. For Ciardelli, the audience members motivate his work.
“My favorite part is seeing the audience’s reactions after the movie — [if] they had a great experience and they’re smiling, or if it’s a rough movie [and] they’re pondering it,” Ciardelli said. “Once, I thought it would have been all about what’s on-screen, but it’s always about the audience.”
As it turns out, uncovering the inner workings of the program doesn’t diminish the glamour of Hop Film. In fact, it is the people behind Hop Film that make the movie experience all the more magical.
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