Cyclone Cinema, run by the Iowa State Student Union Board (SUB), has been at Iowa State for years. They offer free movies to students and the public. The movies are mainly screened at 7 p.m. Thursday through Sunday in 101 Carver Hall.
Luke Juffer, a senior in economics and philosophy and co-director for Cyclone Cinema, said the event is part of the SUB.
“That’s a club that does just a bunch of event programming on campus,” Juffer said. “I applied last fall for this position and got accepted. I pick the movie lineup, and I help run the screenings. I work with my co-director, organize the volunteers and get all the materials together.”
The directors and the SUB advisor pick the movies and often pick recently released blockbusters.
“It’s just the two directors and the advisor [picking] movies,” Juffer said. “We try to get big movies; we try to get the biggest blockbusters that are available that are still relevant. We just pick the biggest movies. Sometimes we do throwback movies if there’s not a lot of releases. They go in theaters, and then, a couple weeks later, they become available for the licensing to the colleges, so we try to get them as soon as they become available to colleges because we want people to come see them. We want the most people that would enjoy the movie to come watch it.”
The SUB tries to improve Cyclone Cinema by examining concessions and what people buy or don’t buy.
“The concessions that are available, we sometimes look at what’s selling, what’s not selling, we try to get new ones,” Juffer said. “I don’t know if it’s confirmed, but they’re talking about getting new types of soda and candy.”
Despite looking at the concessions, Juffer iterates that Cyclone Cinema is very successful.
“It’s a pretty successful program,” Juffer said. “We usually get around 200 people every weekend that come to the movie for the four nights, so we think we’re doing pretty good. We do special events to keep it fresh and make [the people] keep going. We had the outdoor movie a couple of weeks ago, where we showed ‘Twisters’ out on the lawn south of the Campanile. That had over 500 people there, so that was a really successful event.”
They also make an effort to screen different types of movies aside from recent blockbusters.
“We do documentary screenings; sometimes, we work with different committees and SUB to do international movies,” Juffer said. “We showed ‘Parasite’ a couple of weeks ago. We try to keep it interesting, keep it good and keep it consistent so that we have a ton of regulars, a ton of community members come out, and they like that.”
Alex Brown is a computer engineering senior and an SUB volunteer. He has been a volunteer since his first year. He was an attendance taker on Sunday during the last showing of “Alien: Romulus.” Brown also helps out at open mic night and other events, but he volunteers at Cyclone Cinema more often.
“It’s more frequent, and it’s easier to volunteer for,” Brown said. “It’s not as much of a time commitment. Volunteering for one of these is more like volunteering for the start of [the movie]. We don’t have to be here the whole time during the movie like you would be at a regular event, but that helps make it easier. It’s pretty chill, even if you do stay, it’s quiet [outside of the movie], it’s less focused on the event, and we can watch [the movie] too if we want.”
Henry Allard, a senior in mechanical engineering, watched the Sunday screening of “Alien: Romulus” and believes that Cyclone Cinema does a great job.
“I think they have a great selection of movies,” Allard said. “I think it’s crazy that they can get blockbusters at Iowa State. I love that they set it up in Carver and they have multiple [settings] if too many people show up, and yeah, the concessions are great. It’s a great experience. I recommend it to people who haven’t heard of it.”
More information about Cyclone Cinema can be found on their website.
