Incomplete description lead to decision to cancel film

The Panida Theater’s decision to cancel and reschedule a showing of the movie “Wild Canaries” was about our integrity in this community with regard to our advertising.

Based on all the information available to us, our promotion of this film in the weeks prior to the first showing had described the movie as a quirky cross between Woody Allen and Lucille Ball-type situations. The unrated Sundance Selects-distributed film was promoted to us as a “hipster murder mystery.” While this may be partly true, we had no advance notice of the strong language, blatant drug use and drug use in the presence of toddlers, brief sexual situations, and adult content. Each of these trigger points are enough to garner an R rating by themselves, and we had not prepared our audience for any of that in our promotions.

To our dismay, the audience at our Thursday night showing included two youth, and several other patrons who also walked out of the movie before it ended. Staff members also felt we had promoted a different movie than the one we had shown.

The Panida is happy to show movies that fit the artistic expectations of our patrons, and that sometimes includes R-rated and adult-themed content. “The Follies” is an excellent example of adult-themed content that entertains a large audience, and the Panida is very proud of providing the venue for that Sandpoint institution. We also participate in promoting “The Follies” with their appropriate advance notice of adult-themed content.

We were frankly blindsided by the content in the movie when we showed it and felt our audience that night was as well. We did not have access to an advance screening, and we believed it best to cancel and reschedule with appropriate adult content warnings. It was a difficult decision, not taken lightly, and we are sorry for any inconvenience it created. We hope that rescheduling the film will resolve any concerns that may have been raised by this action.

The movie, “Wild Canaries”, has been rescheduled to be shown on May 5-6 at 7:30 p.m. We will more accurately provide advance information regarding the nature of the content of this film, so the audience can make an informed decision about attending.

Patricia Walker White is the executive director of the Panida Theater