Dear John,

I continue to be gobsmacked by how many of you are going to theaters to see The Last Class film about my final semester of teaching.

When Elliot Kirschner, the director, and Heather Lofthouse, the producer, suggested they were going to make a feature-length documentary and were scheming up how to play in theaters across the country, I was skeptical about whether people even still go to the movies.

Now, I keep getting emails and running into people in the street who say they went to their local theater and were thrilled to find a sense of hope and community they hadn’t expected, and were desperate for. Several people said they stayed in the lobby afterwards to speak with people they just met to talk about the importance of education and democracy, and even to plan protests and other forms of community engagement.

While the film is still playing in hundreds of theaters, many of you have asked why can’t it play in my local theater? Well it can! YOU can bring The Last Class to a movie theater near you.

We’re working with a service called GATHR that supports one-off community-generated screenings of The Last Class. Using their “theatrical on demand” model, anyone can bring the film to their local theater once enough tickets are sold!

Here’s a video of Heather and me describing how it all works, in case it’s helpful:

You can invite your bookclubs, bowling leagues, and PTAs. You can host it as part of an Indivisible group, or focus on all of your friends and family. It requires selling an average of about 60 tickets, plus some organizational oomph – yet, it’s still surprisingly easy to do.

Bring The Last Class to a movie theater near you.

Thank you for working to ensure education triumphs over cynicism. We can’t wait to see where you all are going to bring the film.

See you at the movies,

Robert Reich
Inequality Media Civic Action