A chance encounter on a plane led to the Quentin Tarantino Film Festival | News, Sports, Jobs
Photo submitted Quentin Tarantino’s personal autograph is displayed at the Main Street Theater in Columbiana.
COLUMBIANA — A chance meeting on a flight from San Francisco to Los Angeles in March led to the creation of the Quentin Tarantino Film Festival at the Main Street Theater in October.
Nicole Ice, Columbiana business owner and Columbiana Cultural Collective board member, was flying first class when she noticed another passenger on the plane who was none other than Tarantino himself.
Ice said she was too shy to strike up a conversation with him, but Tarantino struck up the conversation after overhearing her on the phone with Cultural Collective director Erich Offenberg.
Ice said she and Offenberg were going through some action regarding the rights to the movies to show at Columbiana’s Main Street Theater.
The cultural collective operates the theater and is in the process of buying it over a five-year period from the Kufleitner family, who bought it from the original owners a few years ago to keep it alive in the community.
Ice said Tarantino spun around in his seat after overhearing his conversation and said: “Do you have a theatre? I have a theatre! and began to kindly offer suggestions regarding theater programming.
“He couldn’t have been a nicer guy” she says.
Tarantino has offered to show some of his own films at the Main Street Theater, and even provided an autograph for the town which is shown at the theater, Ice said.
The three-day film festival organized by the Cultural Collective is scheduled for October 6-8 and will present the films of Tarantino “Pulp Fiction,” Django Unchained and “Reservoir Dogs”.
Ice said that “Reservoir Dogs” is special this year because it’s the film’s 30th anniversary.
She also said that some B-list celebrities may attend the film festival and appear in the films.
In addition to the festival, the Collectif Culturel has resumed hosting live plays at the theater this year.
Live games were suspended once COVID-19 hit. Ice said the first live play took place at the theater recently and was a hit. More are planned for the rest of this summer. A live concert is also scheduled for August 26.
“It’s great to see plays in the theater”, said Columbiana Mayor Rick Noel.
Ice said the Cultural Collective is working to raise money to pay off the roughly $800,000 still owed to buy the theater.
The band is grateful to John and Beth Kufleitner for creating this opportunity. “They saw the value the theater program brought to the community,” she says.
Ice also said people should be aware that nonprofit groups can volunteer to work on the concession stand for events and keep a percentage.