Movie night in Norwich

At a time when many events are being scaled back due to the economy, entertainment is being added in the city of Norwich.

Now that the curtain has gone down at the Donald Oat Theatre, Norwich Community Cinema is moving in. It is their mission to bring picture shows back to downtown Norwich.

"It was quite an effort and it's an ongoing effort," said Andrew Harvey, Norwich Community Cinema.

The group hopes to someday have its own theater but right now is happy to host its opening night right here. Three movies headlined by the locally filmed - The Curse of Micah Rood, featuring Welcome Back Kotter star and Connecticut native Ron Palillo.

The director will be at the Norwich theater to discuss the film at Saturday's showing - the first movie shown downtown in decades.

But the effort expands beyond the theater. Bringing cinema back to downtown Norwich is also meant to bring life back into this part of the city.

"I would like to see it thrive. I would like to see people strolling around enjoying the waterfront, having dinner, coming to see a movie," said Harvey.

Movies will be shown the second Saturday of each month during the summer.

For more information, please visit norwichcinema.org/