Video Fan, located at 403 Strawberry Street has been a locally owned and operated movie rental business since 1986.
Video Fan, located at 403 Strawberry Street has been a locally owned and operated movie rental business since 1986. And since early this year, the business has begun the transition into becoming a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
One of the people largely responsible for heading up this effort has been store manager Andrew Blossom.
In July, the nonprofit, technically considered a separate entity called ‘Video Fan Forever,’ succeeded in raising funds through a Kickstarter campaign to secure enough funding to cover rent for the upcoming year.
At present the business is in the process of raising more funds to cover costs for the upcoming year’s rent (2016), to fund the making of a documentary film about the history of the business, and to continue growing the movie collection in anticipation of a time when physical versions of movies may no longer exist.
At present, Video Fan has already accumulated over 40,000 titles that they have been collecting for close to 30 years. Funding goals beyond these will cover the eventual acquisition of the entire movie collection from the current owner by the nonprofit, and all remaining operational costs on a year to year basis.
Why does preserving Video Fan matter? In an age where the general perception is that anything that has ever existed (media-wise) is available on the Internet, Blossom makes an argument to the contrary.
“Physical media presents us a record of access to film that does not exist in streaming—at least paid streaming services…Streaming services [the competitors pushing movie rental businesses out of the market] are ephemeral…Access is not guaranteed,” he said. “We would never suggest that someone who really loves film give up streaming…but if you also come to the video store, then you have so much more of everything than you’re getting through Netflix and Amazon Prime.”
Besides this, Video Fan offers a local option where you can speak to real people who love and know a lot about movies and who are willing to give suggestions. The store provides access to obscure, local, foreign, and genre films that simply are not available via streaming services and other platforms like Redbox.
In many regards, Video Fan represents an important resource beyond the community – it it preserves the broader history of physical format movies (VHS/DVDs).
According to Blossom, with the transition into becoming a nonprofit organization, there will come a few minor changes, like how people gain access to the collections.
“One thing that will never go away is that if someone wants to come in and rent one movie for two nights, that model will continue to exist,” he said. “But we’re building a membership model as well so people can rent movies for longer with reduced late fee penalties.”
Blossom said they are also working to make special services available to educators and educational institutions and students “so they can access what we have to the benefit of whatever they’re doing for school.”
Beyond the changing access models, Blossom describes a newer, revamped version of the director library they currently have.
To get involved in helping out with the cause, there are a few things you can do. Go to videofanforever.com and click on the donate button.
All donations are tax deductible and receipts are available upon request.
If your capitalistic beliefs won’t let you give money for a good cause without getting something in exchange, consider purchasing a t-shirt in store or at the aforementioned website.
Otherwise, consider attending any or all of the upcoming events that Video Fan will be participating in in the coming weeks.
For starters, 7:00 PM, this Friday night at Hardywood Brewery, a screening of the recently unearthed/re-mastered film The Astrologer will be shown.
Craig Denney's THE ASTROLOGER (trailer) from Cinefamily on Vimeo.
All proceeds will go toward Video Fan Forever, and the night’s events will include DJ sets from Sister Golden Haze and Greg Darden to be followed by a live set by Manzara.
Other upcoming events to look out for: John Waters will be in town at the Byrd Theater October 16th doing a live performance/screening a midnight showing of the documentary film about him, This Filthy World, to benefit WRIR and the Byrd Theater. You can pick up tickets to this event here or in person at Chop Suey books, check out the trailer below:
On October 29th, there will be another Hardywood viewing to benefit Video Fan Forever. This time it will be a special Halloween screening of Night of the Creeps.
Otherwise, Video Fan takes part in monthly film screenings in coordination with Movie Club at Strange Matter and Yesterday’s Heroes Vintage Store in an effort to generate further interest in movies and their cause.
“Robert Ebert said about movies, that they were ‘an empathy machine…’ so, it’s the closest thing that exists to experiencing somebody else’s point of view because it’s a combination of so many things,” said Blossom who said films can create any number of complex emotional reactions
“If you want to have an empathetic experience that’s accessible to most people, come out to Hardywood this Friday night at 7:00 PM and support a good cause.”
