Courtesy Image The above artistic image, created by Holly Behl, represents the newly founded Thunder Bay Cinema Society in Alpena.

ALPENA — A launch party is set for Saturday for the newly formed Thunder Bay Cinema Society in Alpena.

The party will be held from 6 to 10 p.m. at the Nucleus Lounge in the Center Building. “Buzzard” will be screened, which is a film by Alpena native Joel Potrykus. After the screening, Potrykus will be available virtually for a special question-and-answer session with attendees.

“Joel is an inspiration to me and to a lot of other filmmakers that are in the game, because he kind of said ‘No’ to Hollywood and he was like, ‘I’m gonna go my own route,'” said Zach Irving, a founding board member of the Thunder Bay Cinema Society.

Potrykus has been successful in the world of independent filmmaking, and teaches screenwriting at Grand Valley State University.

Saturday’s screening is the first in many events that the Thunder Bay Cinema Society will be planning to bring film enthusiasts together for an enriching shared experience.

The society aims to host film screenings of different genres to appeal to all types of movie lovers. They may screen seasonal films around the holidays, or have themed film parties at different venues around town.

“I have to give Zach, really, the credit,” TBCS President Jess Breckenridge said of TBCS steering committee member Zach Irving. “I was attending a film workshop that Zach and Kara Bauer had put on,” referring to the Introduction to Film Series at Art in the Loft. “I just saw Zach’s passion, and how he wants to do more things here … We want to get the community involved in film.”

Irving owns Irving Entertainment, a video production company in Alpena.

Breckenridge and Irving talked about the previous film festival held in Alpena, which Joe Rybarczyk ran, called the Sunrise 45 Film Festival.

“Joe Rybarczyk started a film society here; it was the Thunder Bay Film Society,” Irving noted. “We are the Thunder Bay Cinema Society.”

Irving talked about working with Rybarczyk, who recently moved to Chicago.

“He did the movies by the bay down at the bandshell, and I was a part of that,” Irving said. “It was just really cool to see this conversation of film in Alpena, and it didn’t really matter what kind of film — it was any kind of film. So, they were showing ‘Nemo’ to ‘Wizard of Oz’. It was cool to see ‘Wizard of Oz’ on the big screen down by the bay.”

Irving said Rybarczyk did a great job with the film society and festival.

“Joe really brought that kind of collaboration together, and he brought the Sunrise 45 Film Festival together for two years,” Irving said. “I was a filmmaker there that actually submitted a film in that festival and actually won one of the competitions. It was really cool to see them grow this community.”

Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, festivals and theaters halted for several years.

“When COVID hit, everything kind of fell apart,” Irving said. “The society dissolved, and we didn’t have theaters here.”

With the recent opening of Sanctuary Cinema in Alpena, moviegoers can now enjoy newly released films on one of three big screens at the theater after years of Alpena being without a theater.

“Having the resurgence of theater coming back with the Sanctuary Cinema, and people starting to have this craving of the experience of going out to see the films on the big screen … It got a fire under me,” Irving said. “And working with Kara on our film classes, we want to grow our film classes and do more. Also, I wanted to create more of a conversation in this area, and keep a conversation going.”

Breckenridge and Irving explained that the films they will be showing will not compete with the Sanctuary Cinema because they will not be showing blockbuster movies, and some of the films they show will be from different eras, or genres that are unlikely to hit mainstream theaters in Alpena.

“People are going to want an experience that they remember, a nostalgic experience, and we want to provide that,” Irving added. “And a new experience, too, as well. And we want to provide that through doing screenings at local bars and restaurants, and then also having different venues around not only the Alpena area, but up to Cheboygan and down to Oscoda, where we would bring in certain types of films that were either independent films, or they would be older films that we could talk about more of the history.”

He explained that after holding two sessions of the Intro to Film class with Bauer LeMonds, they have noticed an increasing amount of people interested in learning to make their own films.

“Through the classes that Kara and I have done, we’ve got over 30 to 40 people that are interested in learning more and doing more,” Irving said. “And they want to help out, and they want to see this grow. So, there’s more of the public in this area that want this, and there’s a need for it.”

Irving added that Breckenridge has a background in editing and working on an online show, as well as bringing her business and nonprofit expertise to the table.

“To have someone to help grow and steer this nonprofit … it was a no-brainer for me to pick her to be the president,” Irving said.

“Within two years, we want to bring a film festival back to Alpena,” Breckenridge said.

TBCS steering committee members include Jess Breckenridge, Zach Irving, Kara Bauer LeMonds, Mary Ellen Jones, Jessie Howard, Alex Breckenridge, and Ashley Peterson.