Documentary featuring local drive-in to play at Mahoning this weekend

When filmmaker Alexander Monelli set out to make a documentary about the Mahoning Drive-In Theater, he wasn’t planning to expose injustice, or make a big political statement.

Instead, he wanted to capture a quirky group of characters who gather on summer weekends to celebrate cult movies and watch them in their original film format.

“It’s a very different documentary. It’s not political. It’s pretty much you hang out with these guys for 80 minutes and see what it’s like to be at this drive-in in the middle of nowhere,” he said.

In the summer of 2016, Monelli spent most weekends filming life at the Mahoning and the film buffs who call it home. His film, “At the Drive-In” has screened around the country. This weekend it will come full circle to the place where it was made as the drive-in will screen the documentary Friday and Saturday nights.

“They asked to do it. It was their idea, and I said sure, I think that would be fun,” Monelli said.

While he filmed the documentary, Monelli realized that for core fans and employees at the drive-in, it is an escape from daily life. It’s a place to talk about obscure movies and directors with others who share their passion for classic and cult movies, shown in their original format on 35 mm film.

“You come here, it’s almost an escape from reality. You can leave all your problems here,” he said.

During the filming he captured some of the theater’s signature events, like “Camp Blood” and “Zombiefest.” A couple got married at the theater, which Monelli didn’t want to miss.

It also captures the difficulties of running the theater, like a down weekend where rain and a program including “Spider-Man” with Tobey Maguire failed to draw fans.

“I wanted to show the up and down and the struggle,” he said.

He set out to do a film dealing with drive-ins in general. A friend from high school, who’s featured in the movie, told him about the Mahoning.

When he met the rest of the theater’s staff, he was taken by their struggle to show only film when nearly every theater in the country has converted to digital. He concluded that the characters deserved their own story.

“When you watch the film, you will be seduced by the people in it. Everyone has sort of fallen in love with them. They open up, they’re very raw and natural and funny and sad and entertaining,” he said.

The film has screened at festivals around Pennsylvania and beyond, and Monelli will often answer questions from the audience after a screening. It’s a guarantee that someone will mention wanting to go to the drive-in.

“The first thing that people always say after the movie ends is, ‘I gotta go to the Mahoning Drive-In now,’” Monelli said. “It’s cool for people to actually want to go there.”

The documentary has gotten thumbs-up reviews from its subjects. Theater owner Jeff Mattox said during filming he didn’t realize how well it would turn out.

“He’s really a good documentary director — I thought everybody looked good, it told a story, it showed what we’re doing, trying to preserve a historic drive-in theater,” Mattox said.

The film was completed last year, but the drive-in had already booked its schedule. They wanted to screen it early this season, but not so early that cold weather could disrupt plans.

“We wanted to get it in as soon as possible, and avoid cold weather,” Mattox said.

While 99 percent of the films shown at Mahoning Drive-In are on their original film stock, they have the ability to project digital recordings, which means they can show Monelli’s. Coincidentally, the purchase of a digital projector is one of the situations documented in the film.

Monelli will continue to screen the film as long as festivals continue to select it. Next month, he’ll travel to Los Angeles for a festival at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, arguably the most recognizable movie house in the world.

“That’s a mind blower. There’s no telling what could happen. We’re very honored and pleased,” Mattox said.