Richmond City Cinema Club

Salhab’s debut presents us with Khalil, a Lebanese freedom fighter who faked his death during the Lebanese Civil War & escaped. Ten years later, he has chosen to face the city and community he abandoned. Blurring the lines between fiction & reality and memory & reconstruction, Phantom Beirut lives up to its name. There is a haunted nature of the Beirut that Khalil returns to, with damages from the civil war apparent everywhere he turns.
In our continuing mission to aid those affected by the Gaza genocide, we will be raising funds for Jad & his family at this screening. While it is free entry, we hope that you’ll be able to contribute to a great cause. Lebanese and Palestinian struggles are deeply intertwined, as both are targets of the Israeli war machine. 100% of our earnings for this evening will be donated.
We would like to thank the always wonderful Several Futures for working with us on this screening and making it possible for us to make this a fundraiser. It means the world to us to know like-minded people in the world of independent and international film 🕊️
— Lewis Peterson, Hard Light Cinema

Celebrate Hard Light Cinema's 2nd birthday with a double-feature from one of our favorite American auteurs, Kelly Reichardt! Tickets are $10 each or $15 for the double-feature and will be sold both at the door and online here. There will be cake and a lot of cheer at the show (also the inevitable Elliot Smith and PNW 00s indie music). See y'all there.

Doors are at 6:30pm and Wendy and Lucy will start at 7pm; doors for Old Joy at 8:30 with movie starting at 8:45!

Tickets and more details here: https://hardlight.online/2026/08/22/%f0%9f%8e%82-hl2-wendy-and-lucy-2008-old-joy-2006/

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The leaves are falling, the days are getting shorter, but in spite of the impending seasonal dread, we’re having a ball because it is Hard Light’s second birthday 🎂
To celebrate, hop in the van with us as we head up to the gloomy Pacific Northwest with a DOUBLE FEATURE of two of Kelly Reichardt’s most celebrated early films, 2008’s Wendy and Lucy and 2006’s Old Joy. These movies are like siblings: both feature Reichardt’s dog Lucy and Will Oldham (aka singer-songwriter legend Bonnie “Prince” Billy); take place in/around Portland, Oregon; and focus on finding glimmers of joy amidst life’s hardships. We’re big fans of Ms. Reichardt here at Team Hard Light, and with these serene features (and especially Old Joy‘s iconic soundtrack by Yo La Tengo), we’re going to celebrating the season in style 🍂
Come join us in celebrating our birthday at our last S23 screening of the year! See y’all there 🫶
— Jay Wilson, Hard Light Cinema

Free at the University of Richmond in Jepson Hall, Room 118 from Hard Light's U of Noir series. I'll be hosting the event and introducing the film, so come and see me on the way in and say hello! Complimentary refreshments included and Q&A with film faculty to follow the film. More details here: https://hardlight.online/2026/08/22/minority-report-2002/

While the majority of the films in this series are classic noirs or neo-noirs, there’s always a place and reason to screen a Philip K. Dick and Steven Spielberg “technoir” like Minority Report. With a killer central Tom Cruise performance and shot by the great cinematographer Janusz Kaminski, Minority Report was a hit upon release but arguably hits harder in 2026 with a new Spielberg in theaters, Samantha Morton returning to the silver screen, and, of course, the paranoia of the surveillance state dominating our lives. Join us for the rare Hard Light blockbuster screening and prepare for a fun discussion after the screening!
— Warner West, Hard Light Cinema