In March 2020, Pothole Pictures was on the verge of celebrating 25 years as a volunteer-run community movie theater in Shelburne Falls when a state-wide COVID lockdown shuttered movie theaters just days before the opening night of its spring movie season. After a three-year “pandemic pause,” Pothole Pictures will re-open the historic 400-seat Memorial Hall Theater, located on the 2nd floor above Shelburne Town Hall at 51 Bridge Street, with many of those same films in its fall-winter 2023 season lineup.

“Everyone I spoke to is excited that Pothole Pictures is back,” said Pothole Pictures’ volunteer coordinator, Jim Kessler, who also serves as President of the Memorial Hall Association.

The Memorial Hall Theater remained closed for so long, not only because of the pandemic, but because of the broken elevator in the building. The town has spent time and money fixing the elevator and with an operational handicap-accessible entrance, the theater is back open to the public.

The season opener will be a special one-night showing on Saturday, Oct. 7 at 7:30 p.m. of the 1916 silent film, “Snow White,” with an original music score performed live by harpist-composer Leslie McMichael and her sister Barbara McMichael on viola. Special event admission is $15 at the door.

At its Christmas day release in 1916, this early silent cinematic romantic fantasy inspired a young 15-year-old Walt Disney to remake “Snow White” 20 years later as the world’s first feature-length animated sound film, in 1937. A half-hour of free “music at the movies” starts at 7 p.m. with eclectic folk tunes by Eveline MacDougall, John Clark and Rob Adams.

According to Kessler, “We chose this earliest film version of ‘Snow White’ for our grand re-opening movie because it epitomizes the kind of movie event that has brought people out to Pothole Pictures over the past 25 years — one-of-a-kind special event films on the big screen in a historic small town volunteer-run community movie theater.”

He added, “The ‘Snow White’ theme of re-awakening to a new life after deep sleep also seems appropriate for our grand re-opening after a three-year pandemic pause — we are counting on all our friends and neighbors — whether enchanted or not — to come out to our rescue and eat some popcorn with us.”

The regular admission fall-winter movie season follows “Snow White” two weeks later and continues with a seven-film series beginning on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 20 and 21, with the 2018 documentary, “The Biggest Little Farm”, which will feature an after-movie discussion panel of local farmers and farm advocates connecting the film to flooding impacts on local farms in the past year. The series concludes on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 16 and 17, with the children’s classic, “Mary Poppins” to launch the February school vacation week.

“It will be a really really fun season,” Kessler said.

All seven films play on Friday and Saturday evenings in Memorial Hall Theater in Shelburne Falls at 7:30 p.m., preceded by a half hour of live “music at the movies” offered by area musicians at 7 p.m. Movie tickets at Pothole Pictures remain $6 for adults and $4 for children 12 and under. Popcorn still sells for the 1995 price of $1 per bag.

Also coming back to the theater is live screenings of the Metropolitan Opera. Their first opera screening will take place on Saturday, Oct. 21. They will also screen “Dead Man Walking,” the show based on Sister Helen Prejean’s memoir, chronicling her fight for the soul of a condemned murderer.

Subsequent operas are booked about once a month through May of next year.

The full schedule for showings at the theater is available on their website at shelburnefallsmemorialhall.org.

Pothole Pictures and the Memorial Hall Association are now in the “quiet phase” of teaming up with the Town of Shelburne to launch a three-year $1.2 million capital campaign to fully renovate the entire interior of the 400-seat theater, built in 1897. To help with the campaign, contact Kessler at 413-231-2211.

“It is exciting to have movies back in Shelburne Falls and exciting to see the smiles on everyone’s faces when they walk out of the theater,” Kessler said.

Reach Bella Carmela Levavi at 413-930-4579 or blevavi@recorder.com.