The Last Picture Shows
Rustin Thompson · 2026 · 78 min
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- Date
- Tuesday, August 25, 2026
- Time
- 6:00 PM
- Neighborhood
- Downtown Santa Ana
- Access
- Public
Presentation
How you’ll see it.
- Format
- DCP
Guest Q&A
Q&A w/ Rustin Thompson
The Last Picture Shows at The Frida Cinema includes this in-person presentation.
Ten states. 10,825 miles. 123 theaters. In his latest feature The Last Picture Shows, filmmaker Rustin Thompson journeys into the American West on a search for traces of what was once a center of small-town life: the movie theater. On the trip, he finds long abandoned and forgotten cinemas; movie houses that have fallen into disrepair; theaters recently closed, theaters struggling to hold on, and theaters that—thanks to their thoughtful caretakers—are not only surviving but thriving. Between the stops along the way, Rustin poetically intersperses excerpts from Peter Bogdanovich’s 1971 classic film The Last Picture Show, as well as reflections on past and present hardships facing the film exhibition industry. The Last Picture Shows reminds viewers that even in vast cinema deserts, there are oases of community and gathering that remain, where the movie house continues to be a place of wonder, contemplation, and connection.
- Director
- Rustin Thompson
- Year
- 2026
- Runtime
- 78 minutes
- Genres
- Documentary
Before you go