Cool Beans -- For those of you who live in DC and don’t know about it, there’s an activity you might consider: The Key Cinema Sunday Club.   Approximately twice a month at 10:30 Sunday mornings, you can join a group of DC ‘old timers’ (probably a lot of folks for whom even the 4:30 PM movies are a stretch) and have the chance to see some excellent films before they open nationally. These are usually independent films that have appeared at various film festivals and have created some buzz among the ‘cognesceti.’  Many of them eventually make it to places like the E Street Cinema (what ever happened to the Biograph and the Inner and Outer Circle Theaters?). most of what we’ve seen are quite good.  Also, there is a discussion following the film for those interested in staying, sometimes with the director of the film or folks who care about films (i.e., Bob Mondello or another film critic).

There is a fall grouping of films and another one in the spring.  If seven films over a four month period are too much for you, you might consider sharing the club membership (the only way to see these films) with another person/couple. That’s what we do, and it works out fine. The films are shown at the Avalon Theater (saved from destruction by a community effort of neighbors, etc.) on upper Connecticut Ave., NW, near Chevy Chase Circle. The spring series will begin Feb. 1, and enrollment is now open ($115.).

See their website.