Nearly 200 movie theaters across the United States are protesting President Donald Trump’s policies on Tuesday with a screening of the dystopian classic ‘1984,’ the event’s organizer said.
Art house theaters in 185 cities from Alaska to Arizona aim to show their resistance to a government “that manufactures [its] own facts, demands total obedience, and demonizes foreign enemies,” the organizers, United State of Cinema, said in a statement.
They said in addition to 44 states there would also be screenings in Canada, England, Sweden, Holland, and Croatia.
“The endeavor encourages theaters to take a stand for our most basic values: freedom of speech, respect for our fellow human beings, and the simple truth that there are no such things as 'alternative facts.'"
The film is adapted from George Orwell’s science-fiction novel, published in 1949, about Winston Smith, a man living under the oppressive, deceptive authority — and ever-watchful eye — of Big Brother.
The two cinema-philes behind the event, Adam Birnbaum and Dylan Skolnick, chose April 4 as the screening day in homage to the novel, which begins on the same day with this ominous line: "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.”
“Less than one month into the new presidential administration, theater owners collectively believe the clock is already striking thirteen," their statement said.
