Twice a week this fall, Binghamton residents and Binghamton University students have the opportunity to see films that aren’t easy to find on the big screen. At 7:30 p.m. every Friday and Sunday in Lecture Hall 6, Harpur Cinema screens a different critically acclaimed film, luring the audience away from the autonomous laptop screen and into the collective, community setting.

Harpur Cinema is an enriching program run by the Harpur cinema department and sponsored by the Harpur dean’s office. The program was founded in 1965 as theñ “Harpur Film Society” in an effort to expose the Binghamton area to movies that don’t often make it to multiplexes, such as independent or foreign cinema.

“We changed the name to ‘Harpur Cinema’ about three years ago to better reflect the fact that it was no longer strictly a subscription society,” cinema professor Joyce Jesionowski explained.

Viewers have the choice of seeing any film for $4 at the door, but can also purchase a series pass for $22, allowing them to view each and every film shown throughout the fall months. Students and senior citizens receive a $2 discount on the series pass.

Jesionowski, the programmer of Harpur Cinema, selected a specific caliber of films for the fall semester, each elaborating on the thematic discourse of growing up. Every week, the screenings incorporate youth and adolescence and discuss the departure from innocence.

“I start programming by looking at all the festival offerings in any particular year (Cannes, Berlin, Toronto, Venice, Sundance, New York, etc.), to see what’s new and interesting,” Jesionowski said. “[This year], the films that seemed to be the most interesting coalesced around issues having to do with children, adolescents and the challenges of growing up.”

The program is not only a thematic reflection of cinema, but also a promoter of global cinematic exposure. Films from Europe, Asia and Africa have been represented, and for the first time this semester, a South American film was shown to open the fall program.

“I’ve wanted to book a South American film for some time and was really happy to get ‘Octubre’ to begin this fall’s series,” Jesionowski said.

The program has recently focused on showing contemporary international cinema such as “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives” by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, the Palm d’Or winner of the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. However, the cinema department is still interested in exposing archival, classic films as well — the fall 2010 selection included “Le Million,” a 1931 musical-comedy directed by René Clair. That said, American cinema is still often represented. Last semester, the program screened “Meek’s Cutoff,” a neo-Western film by Kelly Reichardt that is important to the genre’s canon.

The program is promoted through email subscriptions, the cinema department website and often by Binghamton University faculty. However, the true success of the program comes from a combination of the unique and different selection of each semester’s programs and the power of a theater-sized screen. This ‘big screen’ experience is what pulls viewers away from YouTube and other low-quality streaming experiences toward a theater-oriented viewing.

While Jesionowski and other cinema professors often promote the program through their classes, the program is beneficial to all individuals. Films in the series offer various forms of cinematic experience. For example, “Les Contes De La Nuit” is an animated French film directed by Michel Ocelot, while “Norwegian Wood” is a Japanese film based on the widely celebrated Haruki Murakami novel of the same name.

“I think [Harpur Cinema] is really enriching,” said Jonathan Christie, a junior majoring in English and minoring in cinema. “It exposes students to films that normally they wouldn’t bother to see.”

Students who are not cinema majors or minors can find a good introduction to the Harpur Cinema experience this semester. The program, through Jesionowski’s selection, attempts to engage all viewers while simultaneously challenging them to think of the conventional movie in new ways.

Caitlin Sickler, an undeclared sophomore, is a huge Studio Ghibli fan who is looking forward to a new animated experience.

“I am really excited about ‘Contes De La Nuit’ in October,” she said.

Harpur Cinema is a valuable Binghamton experience and is available to anyone in the area at a low price. Information about the program’s weekly location and a schedule of the films can be found at www.binghamton.edu/cinema/harpur-film.html.