Nayib Estefan is hoping to bring back Joan Crawford, literally, for Mother's Day. The founder of the Secret Celluloid Society, who programs movie nights that spotlight 35mm retro films at O Cinema Miami Beach, has invited a medium to conduct a séance before the showing of the 1981 lavishly, over the top "Mommie Dearest."
"Who knows who else will show up?" says Estefan.
He recently moved his wildly inventive screenings to O Cinema Miami Beach from Coral Gables Art Cinema and he says it's the perfect place for what he calls his "immersive movie magic." He works hard to create his pre-shows. He makes VHS mix tapes. "We have TV and VCR combos in the lobby where I've created custom mix tapes."
Estefan has dressed up as The Fly and run out of a side curtain during a showing of "The Fly." He threw liquid nitrogen to create a cold blast of smoke when the Sta Puft Marshmallow Man exploded in "The Ghostbusters."
Mommie Dearest.
The idea for the immersive movie experience and 35mm lovefest started when Estefan created Shirley's, a backroom screening theater in the back of Gramps in Wynwood.
"The design is based on the Twin Peaks' Black Lodge," says Estefan. The showings became a sort of "social experiment," he says. "We would show crazy movies and do weird stuff" like the liquid nitrogen prank.
Secret Celluloid Society's "Rocky Horror Picture Show" interactive has become notorious. "There are the textures of the movie that just come out of the movie and into the crowd."
Estefan's interest in the 35mm classics arrived from his being practically weaned on VHS cassettes. "My grandfather [Emilio Estefan's father] knew a guy at a VHS store called Superstar Video in Miami. For most people, they had to sign a mortgage away to get one tape, but the owner was my grandfather's buddy and he would let us take 10 movies out at a time. I would literally just sit there and watch movies over and over again."
LEFT: Mommie Dearest. RIGHT: Nayib Estefan.
He also remembers going to the Byron Carlisle, which is now O Cinema when he was a teen and watching first run movies. He recalls "Natural Born Killers" and "Bram Stoker's Dracula, "which he'll show on May 14. "Creepshow" is May 21 and "Demons" is set for May 28.
"It's amazing to be at O Cinema. I'm used to doing screenings in the back room of a bar and now everything has bubbled over into this thing which has getting bigger and bigger."
While he enjoyed his time at Coral Gables Cinema, he says that only being able to seat 140 people sometimes caused fans to have to be turned away. "Now there are 300 seats, more than double." And although he hasn't filled the place yet, he has hopes.
Estefan came back to Miami after he had "moved away to seek other things." He had gone to Los Angeles in the 1990s to become a filmmaker, but returned to his hometown of Miami four years ago. He discovered the cultish appeal of 35mm in Los Angeles.
"The Secret Celluloid Society grew out of my desire to be the person that was enabling access to these kinds of films for Miami audiences, just like I was seeing happen in L.A." He believes that in the past four years, Miami has had a cinematic renaissance. "The film landscape has changed in Miami and I'm happy to be a small part of it."
He's also happy to be settled down and back in his hometown. Two years before returning to Miami, he married Lara Coppola in the backyard of his parents Star Island home. Nayib and Lara welcomed a son, Sasha Argento Coppola Estefan, who was born in Miami in June 2012.
So what is the difference between watching a 35mm movie and seeing a digital print? Of course, Estefan has an answer as brilliant as Technicolor.
"Watching 35mm is the difference between listening to music on vinyl or listening to music on your iPhone."
"Mommie Dearest," Saturday, May 7th. Doors open at 11 p.m. General Admission, $10, Members, $7.50. O Cinema Miami Beach, 500 71st St., Miami Beach. (786) 207-1919. www.o-cinema.org. www.secretcelluloidsociety.com.
