Since February 2024, the Putnam County Library in Cookeville has been the host to Tri-Star Trash Cinema’s movie nights. The club hosts their movie screenings monthly, with screenings dedicated to low-budget, often overlooked films.
Tri-Star Trash Cinema’s focus is to celebrate cinema that’s been discarded. Jacob Tibbs, the club founder explained. “We dig through the celluloid gutters and find works of filmic art that weren’t given the proper time, the proper care, or the proper attention. That could be films that flopped at the box office or films that received a critical thrashing, or films that have disappeared from the public consciousness.”
The idea behind a B-movie club for Cookeville came from Tibbs, a high-school teacher and self-proclaimed movie enthusiast. “I was listening to a podcast,” explained Tibbs. “The Important Cinema Club with Will Sloan and Justin Decloux. They talked about how the best thing you could do in a small town with film is to start a screening. They talked about how you can contact your local library, get a room, a projector and TV, pick a good movie, and promote it.” Tibbs did just that.
The movies are screened inside the meeting room in the Putnam County Library, which is free to reserve two weeks in advance.
Tri-Star Trash Cinema’s focus is to celebrate cinema that’s been discarded. The films selected for each night range from cheesy horror movies to sci-fi thrillers. Movies like “The Dark Power,” “Chopping Mall,” and “The Slumber Party Massacre” are among the few that have been screened at the library. The club averages a crowd of 20 people per screening.
“I love these types of movies. I like finding weird movies that not a lot of people know about,” said William Austin, a film student at Nossi College of Art and Design. “It feels like you’re in on something not a lot of other people are in on.”
The event is free and in addition to movie screenings, the club offers zines created by its members, where they can share reviews, insights, and personal reflections on the films.
“My favorite part of the club is definitely the zine,” Tibbs said. “One of the best things about watching movies is being able to write about them.”
The club also offers trivia nights with winnable prizes after the screening is over. “I really liked the trivia session at the end of the movie,” William Austin said “I won the trivia and got a 3D printed model of the murderer guy. It was cool.”
Tri-Star Trash Cinema screens movies every four to six weeks. Their latest screening was a February 3 screening of the Jackie Chan action flick, Rumble in the Bronx. For updates on Tri-Star Trash Cinema, you can follow the club on Facebook and Instagram.
