Would You Like to Win a Movie Theater With an Essay?

250 words and a $99 entry fee can win you a movie theater.  The Cape Ann Cinema is holding an essay contest to select the next owner.  Owner Rob Newton says:

I opened the living-room-style Cape Ann Community Cinema in historic Gloucester, Massachusetts in 2008. I designed it to be a resource for the residents of Boston’s North Shore to not only have a comfortable and welcoming place in which to appreciate great films, but also as a means by which to offer access to filmmakers and their process. In the 7 years during which we as a community have built the place up to become the premiere arthouse cinema on the North Shore, we have shown over 1,500 films, hosted hundreds of filmmakers, launched a thoroughly modern performance stage, and given over 100,000 guests a filmgoing experience that serves as a high standard by which all other nights out at the movies are now judged.

I have been in the movie business for nearly 30 years. I started out in high school as a clerk in a video store that I would later spend my college tuition purchasing. I became a full-time film critic and award-winning writer. I became a stand-up comic and made a novelty record and got it played on The Dr. Demento Show. I sold my largest video store to a national chain. And then I started showing movies… and making them. I have been fortunate to do what I love, and love what I do.

But with all this work, I forgot to take time for myself. My last vacation was in 2004, and it has finally caught up with me. I now have a medical need for more time off than I can safely put the Cinema on auto-pilot for. So in the interest of keeping this vital resource alive beyond my time with it, I have decided to find a new steward for The Cape Ann Cinema & Stage while I focus on my health and my family. This is where you come in.

The contest will be open until June 30, 2015.  Good luck!