What is Cinecon?

Taking place in the heart of Hollywood, Cinecon is a five-day celebration of film featuring screenings, celebrity guests, and one of the best movie memorabilia shows in the country. The show is put on by a group called the Society for Cinephiles/Cinecon. This Labor Day weekend, beginning Thursday night, August 28 and continuing through Monday afternoon, September 1, film fans attending the show will be treated to nearly fifty rare features and shorts, and have an opportunity to purchase rare stills, posters and other collectibles.

CASABLANCA and GONE WITH THE WIND? Great movies, but you won’t see them at Cinecon. We specialize in running rare, unusual and unjustly forgotten movies from the silent and early sound era. Most films are screened in 35mm and silent films include live piano accompaniment. Cinecon is truly 7th Heaven for Cinephiles who have seen nearly everything TCM and AMC have to offer.

For more than forty years, Cinephiles from across the nation and around the world have come together over Labor Day weekend to celebrate the movies.

Beginnings

The Society for Cinephiles, Ltd, as the Society for Cinephiles/Cinecon was first known, was established in 1965 by Tom Seller, an avid reader of The 8mm Collector magazine, and Cinecon 1 was sponsored by Samuel K. Rubin, publisher of The 8mm Collector, in Indiana, Pennsylvania. It was a small affair with only a handful of die hard film fans. They gathered in a small room at the local Holiday Inn and showed each other 8mm silent films from their personal collections. This was 1965 before videos and DVDs, a time when, if you wanted to see your favorite old film, you had to wait until it turned up on TV or else you had to buy a projector and start your own film collection in 8mm or 16mm.

The following year another cinephile, Clark Wilkinson, hosted the show in Baraboo WI and Cinecon officially became an annual event. For the next several years the Cinecon moved from city to city as a sort of moveable cinematic feast. Today, the fanzine 8mm Collector is known as the respected Classic Images magazine, and since 1990 Cinecon has made its home in the Los Angeles area.

Cinecon Today

Cinecon screenings take place at the Lloyd E. Rigler Theatre at the Egyptian located at 6712 Hollywood Blvd. The historic Egyptian theater was renovated and restored in 1998 by the American Cinematheque group. They managed to maintain the historic integrity   of the theater while installing state of the art projection and sound equipment making it the optimum venue for all formats of film.

Our Memorabilia show, Film Book Fair and celebrity Career Achievement Awards Banquet take place a few blocks down the street at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel at 1755 North Highland Avenue. The Renaissance Hotel is the cornerstone of the Hollywood and Highland Entertainment complex which features retail stores, fast food eateries, movie theaters, restaurants and also houses the Kodak Theater which is the home of the Academy Awards. Cinecon attendees receive a special discount when booking their accommodations at the Renaissance. The Memorabilia show and Film Book Fair which are usually located in the 3rd floor meeting area of the hotel will be moved to the mezzanine level (second floor) near the Hollywood Ballroom where the banquet will be held.

The festival begins Thursday afternoon with pre-registration packets available at 5:00 pm at the Renaissance Hotel registration table and walk-up registration beginning at 6:00. The packets contain the Cinecon program, film schedule, Cinecon badge and optional banquet ticket. The films start at 7:00 and run to about midnight. (See the Cinecon schedule for actual show times).

The Memorabilia show runs all weekend, Thursday through Monday (click here for hours). The celebrity Career Achievement Awards Banquet is Sunday evening and the Society for Cinephiles business meeting is usually held on Saturday morning at the theater.

To attend the Cinecon Classic Film Festival you need to become a member of the Society for Cinephiles--but becoming a member is easy. Membership is included when you buy a full festival pass or a single day pass. No admissions to individual films are sold. Passes also include free entrance to our memorabilia dealers' rooms but for those who only want to shop we do offer a separate dealers-room-only admission.