Wendell Riley talks first year as executive director and the Robinson Film Center's future

In the beginning, the main goal of the Robinson Film Center was to enrich the community. In his first year as Executive Director, Wendell Riley has done that and more.

For 15 years, RFC has operated as an indie movie haven, showing international films and local filmmakers' work. When Riley stepped into the role in 2022, he had a mission to increase film literacy in the community and part of that was creating more film experiences like the Latino and upcoming Out North Film Festivals.

Riley took the reigns just as RFC was moving out of COVID restrictions.

"It gave us an opportunity to go back to our roots and ask the question 'why do we exist?' and part of that is community outreach and being a community resource and gathering place to have important conversations, bring people together and to show each other who we are through film," he explained.

Some of the notable changes at RFC include renovating the event space upstairs, creating more events for film lovers and film novices, and restructuring some of the staple events like The Robbys. Numbers-wise, RFC is currently on track to match audience numbers from 2022, but the recent "Barbenheimer" summer event could push them over the edge. Especially with people buying out whole screenings to watch the films.

"I think it's given theater owners everywhere a dose of optimism in the face of a decade's worth of gloom and doom about the demise of cinemas with the rising competition from digital and streaming," said Riley.

Part of the magic Riley and the RFC team have created for moviegoers over the last year has been bringing in some of the big box office films and creating fun events and experiences around them to entice the community to choose them over the bigger theaters while also showing cult classics and fan-favorite oldies.

"For us, the end result isn't our audience, the start is our audience," Riley explained. "We start by thinking about who our core audiences are and what they would want. I think a lot of the bigger chains the end result for them is the audience, they're just looking to get butts in seats, and they'll show anything. Whereas for us, we have the responsibility of being more selective about the programming that we bring here. It's fun to be able to really challenge our audience sometimes to try to entertain them and try to educate them."

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And there are more changes coming to RFC soon. Abby Singer's Bistro is getting a major facelift in January. The bistro is set to be remodeled to match the rest of RFC with a movie-themed makeover so it will seamlessly fit into the space.

In addition to the remodel, the community can look forward to more events like the return of the Rocky Horror Picture Show shadow cast performance this October, a Bollywood-themed event, a special screening in collaboration with the North Louisiana Jewish Federation, a Black Filmmaker Festival and much more.

According to Riley, even on the worst days, this job is a dream simply because of his love for movies. Growing up in Trinidad, his childhood was filled with spending days at the movies and now he's blown away that this is his career.

"I think what I'm most proud of, and I wouldn't personally take credit for it as the executive director, is just how much people love RFC," said Riley. "This is a 15-year love affair with Shreveport and Bossier City and the reaction I get when people ask me 'are you the executive director here?' and I say yes, and they think it's so cool and it reminds me of just how great this job is. It has nothing to do with what I've done over the past year; it really is more about the work and the tireless efforts of everybody who has kept this place going for so long. So, while I'm proud of something that I really have nothing to do with, I'm also proud that I actually have the honor of trying to move that forward."

Meredith G. White is the arts and culture reporter for the Shreveport Times. You can find her on Facebook as Meredith G. White, on Instagram and Twitter as @meredithgwhite, and email her at mgwhite@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: Executive Director at Shreveport's RFC talks about first year