Today we’d like to introduce you to David B. Weaver
Hi David B., we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Davey B. Gravey’s Tiny Cinema was built in the Summer of 2014. The original idea was conceptualized for a festival in Oregon that never ended up happening, but I took the idea and continued to develop it until it became the Tiny Cinema on wheels it is today. Drawing inspiration from the medium of Super 8 film, a projection performance piece I had been a part of in college, and the AIR score to the restored color version of Georges Méliès’ “A Trip to the Moon,” I set out to create a intimate space to screen silent films with live musical accompaniment featuring modern sounds. It was essentially all of my artistic interests rolled into one mobile operation.
Everything that I screen in the Tiny Cinema is projected on Super 8 film. I believe there is a certain magic to this medium, an ineffable sparkle to seeing super 8 film projected. The titles I screen are a combination of oldie movies that I’ve collected over the years and original films that I have produced and directed for the Tiny Cinema. There are 3 original Tiny Movies to date- LOW NOON (2014), MOONGLOW (2016), and UP, UP AND AWAY (2023), all of which can exclusively be seen in the Tiny Cinema. A fourth original Tiny Movie is currently in preproduction.
The Tiny Cinema began its journey in Colorado in 2014 and has been based in Los Angeles since 2021. Over the last 10 years the Tiny Cinema has seen so many places and events, exhibited at countless film festivals, music festivals, county fairs, burlesque sideshows, you name it. It has toured around and visited both coasts of the U.S.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The biggest struggle for the Tiny Cinema has been the potential for burnout. It is intrinsically a solo project and can be burdensome at times due to the amount of work it takes to put on the show. Towing the trailer around, getting it placed and leveled, setting up all the projection and music gear, engaging in durational performance art for hours at a time, and then breaking everything down and re-hitching the rig at the end of the night, getting the Tiny Cinema back to its home… it’s an exhausting experience. This combined with the greater tasks of booking, web management, social media, marketing, and all the other pieces that go into running a small business add further stress and difficulty into the mix. I have run into walls of complete burnout over the years, necessitating months or sometimes even year long hiatuses. But I always find myself returning to the magic of the Tiny Cinema!
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a filmmaker and performer and specialize in the exhibition and creation of short, silent films with live musical accompaniment. For over 10 years I’ve been exhibiting Tiny Movies for tiny audiences. I have caught wind of a handful of other mobile, trailer-based cinema operations around the world but, as far as I’m aware, Davey B. Gravey’s Tiny Cinema is the only one screening shorts on super 8 film projection with live musical accompaniment. The silent film aspect and the traveling roadshow type exhibition style harkens back to the origins of the medium. It’s carnival-adjacent, and the live element makes it a much more active viewing experience than most modern cinema experiences.
Through the Tiny Cinema I have been able to explore the silent film form as a filmmaker and have created three original Tiny Movies to date. I am very proud of each one of these films and I believe they all have the capacity to surprise and delight their viewers in different ways. I have discovered fun ways to play with the medium, be it with the silent-film dialogue inter-titles or the live musical accompaniment. The original Tiny Movies offer the peak experience of the Tiny Cinema. These films can only be seen in the Tiny Cinema- I am a bit of a stickler about this exhibition exclusivity. They were all created with this venue in mind, and I believe the intimate space of the Tiny Cinema itself plays a role in the nature of these art pieces. To stream digital scans of these films with recorded music would deflate and flatten the experience to a degree that I simply cannot abide.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
Los Angeles is the city of mystery. Who could say what exciting experience, venue, taco joint, etc. could be lurking around the next corner! There are a million little pocket neighborhoods that all offer their own unique oddities and special spots. I think a person could live here for decades and still be surprised by some secret little gem in their own neighborhood.
By the same token, L.A. is intensely sprawling, which can get exhausting and overwhelming. Navigating the traffic and the sheer density can be challenging at times.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.graveystinycinema.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/daveybgravey
Image Credits
All images with visible film sprocket holes by Jake Bottiglieri
