Art Films To Find A Home In Post Falls

“Il Postino” in Post Falls?

How about “Priscilla Queen of the Desert?”

“Artsy” foreign films like “Il Postino” - which depicts the relationship between a famous poet and his mailman - or avant-garde films like “Priscilla” - about a group of drag queens on a road trip - soon could be closer to home for North Idaho residents.

North Idahoans have Larry Blair to either jeer or cheer.

Blair is co-owner of the Magic Lantern, a small movie house in downtown Spokane that features a wide range of alternative films. Blair also is part owner of Post Falls’ first theater - a sixplex being built off Seltice Way.

Post Falls’ theater - due to open in July - will be part of an entertainment complex called Nine Out, which will include a restaurant, sports bar and ice skating rink.

“I thought I would have an opportunity to bring some of those same movies I play in Spokane to Post Falls,” said Blair. The entertainment complex’s developers asked Blair to join the deal because of his extensive experience in the movie business.

Blair has been in the film distribution business since 1961, working for such companies as Paramount, 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. He also owns a fourplex in Sandpoint that plays primarily first-run movies.

Though a greater diversity of films could draw people from Coeur d’Alene, east Spokane and outlying areas, Blair said the goal is not to be a regional attraction.

“We’re just trying to be the Post Falls theater, not replace Coeur d’Alene theaters,” he said, adding that the theater also would show first-run movies.

Bob Guindon, developer of Nine Out, is slightly more ambitious. “Oh sure, I hope to draw from Spokane,” Guindon said.

Of the six theaters, Blair said, two each will seat 300, 200 and 125 people. Blair said the two smallest cinemas would house the more alternative films. He said the Post Falls theater will not be another Magic Lantern, where the smallest cinema seats 41 people.

, DataTimes