Thursday, August 6, 2026 at 1:00 PM
Laemmle Monica Film Center, Santa Monica
ONCE UPON A TIME IN A CINEMA, a comedy-drama set in a small-town cinema during one eventful Friday night screening from hell. Over the course of one evening, the film follows the travails of beleaguered cinema owner Earl Clancy as he faces a myriad of disasters, any one of which could sink him. Drawing from writer/director David Gleeson’s own experience growing up in a family of cinema owners where his father’s 78-year career marked the longest in the cinema business in Ireland, if not the world, ONCE UPON A TIME IN A CINEMA is a love letter to a peculiarly Irish cinema experience, which was as much about connecting with people as it was about the movie.