Crashing the premiere
Today please join us in welcoming the latest Flaming Hydra: writer, editor, musician, and media scholar Eli Zeger.
Hope you enjoy a beautiful weekend, everyone.
Issue No. 551
Of Montréal
Eli Zeger
Of Montréal
by Eli Zeger
Earlier this month, I went to grab dinner and a drink at a hip bar in Montréal’s Mile End neighborhood. The weather was finally getting nicer and I had just gotten paid for a copywriting gig. Plus I liked the outfit I had on that day. My plan was to eat and walk around for a while before heading back to my apartment. But when I got my check, the server asked me, “Are you here with the movie?”
What movie? “Mile End Kicks. It’s about what Montréal was like in 2011. A bunch of people from the cast were here because the premiere’s tonight.” I knew nothing about it.
Walking back down Avenue Bernard, I saw a line outside Théâtre Outremont of at least a hundred people. The poster for Mile End Kicks was displayed on the digital marquee. I asked someone at the end of the line if they were all waiting to buy tickets, and he told me the premiere was invite-only. How exclusive! Whenever I stumble upon an event like this, I always have the irrational thought: How come I wasn’t invited? After most of the line had made its way into the theater, I approached the doorman and (somewhat) lied to him that I was with the press; I said that I had gotten approval at the last minute, so my name might not be on the list.
Keep us breathing fire!
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