Inspiration Board:
The Alamo Drafthouse’’’s Tim and Karrie League
b y l e i g h p a tt e rs on | pho to g raphy by bill sa lla ns
88
december 2013
tribeza.com
When the Alamo Drafthouse’s Tim and Karrie League say something about film, everyone listens. Like, for example, in October when Tim accidentally started a viral pop culture news story after jokingly Tweeting that Madonna was banned from their theater until she apologized for texting up a storm during a recent screening. As founders of the Texas—and now national—moviehouse institution (not to mention their distribution company Drafthouse Films, or the countless events and festivals the company has started), the Leagues have created for filmgoers a business that doesn’t just bring movies to town, but does so in a way that contextualizes them in totally innovative and fun ways, be it through food pairings, live commentary, or movie marathons. And, big surprise: try topping the collection of inspirational objects and souvenirs they shared with us. Just like the company they started, it is an assembly of relics that is equal parts nostalgic, earnest, poignant, and very weird. 2013 was a year of expansion for the Drafthouse, as they opened eight new theaters, nearly doubling their size; in the works are outposts in Brooklyn and San Francisco. Yet amid this growth, for the Leagues, the message remains the same as it was from the theater’s humble beginnings in a former parking garage on 4th St. and Colorado: “[We are] making sure we don’t lose sight of what got us into this business in the first place: to have fun at the movies,” Tim says. Fortunately there’s no shortage of that: Tim’s highlight of the year? A Fantastic Fest event called Danger Gods, where, much to the chagrin of the fire department and the Drafthouse’s insurance carrier, “Legendary stuntmen from Hollywood set themselves on fire, wrecked cars in the parking lot, and jumped off the top of the theater.”