Owners David Cabrera (left) and Ryan Hunter Mitchell (right) at the opening of Suns Cinema. (Photo by Reana Kovalcik)

If you want to see the latest summer blockbuster, or even fancy yourself more of an independent and foreign film aficionado, Washington has plenty of movie theaters. But for cinephiles interested in something further from the beaten path, Mount Pleasant’s Suns Cinema has no peers.

Its nearest counterpart in Washington’s storied cinema history may be Georgetown’s late Biograph, a small independent theater that opened in 1976, converted from a car dealership. That closed in 1997. The poorly-designed Visions Cinema Bistro Bar, which split the once-great single screen of the Embassy Circle, operated as an independent cinema for a scant five years, from 2000-2004.

Since then, the habits of the movie-going public have changed considerably, as Suns owners well knew. “Going into this, I wondered if something like this didn’t exist because there was no need for this or no desire for it,” says co-founder David Cabrera. “But I’ve been pleasantly surprised that people want weirder things.”

Run by Cabrera and his partner Ryan Mitchell, Suns Cinema is a unique movie theater space. The entire building is smaller than even the coziest auditorium at a Regal outpost. But what Suns lacks in size it more than makes up for in atmosphere. The vibe Cabrera and his colleagues have cultivated is less art house and more your cool uncle’s house, with an approach to interior decorating that feels as novel as it does familiar.

The theater opened in May and has run ticketed evening shows from Tuesday through Sunday. Movies are typically projected from digital sources, but Suns has gone analog for events promoted by VHS aficionados Playback The Tape, and hosted a few 16mm screenings, like a print of Jean-Luc Godard’s new wave classic Breathless.

Once the final credits roll, Suns transforms from intimate screening room to neighborhood bar.

Despite its small capacity, Suns Cinema gets a great deal of support from the surrounding neighborhood, with regulars who come specifically for movies and others who are content to frequent the bar. But the real bread and butter of the operation lies in the union of those demographics, where a sense of community has begun to form.

The Suns Cinema bar. (Photo by Reana Kovalcik)

“We had some regulars who have come to a bunch of movies since we opened, and they came to see Jim Jarmusch’s Down By Law the week after the election. They told us it was the first time they had laughed since it happened,” says Cabrera. Despite the relief, post-election business took a slight drop, which the theater seems to be recovering from now.

The theater’s programming is split between Cabrera and Mitchell, who largely adhere to monthly themes. August featured several psychedelic and surf films to capitalize on the late summer vibe, while October focused on horror films, and the current month is dominated by holiday and Christmas movies. But the changing climate might see some variation to what Suns plays.

“Post-election, Ryan and I talked about programming things that are more important or timely,” Cabrera says. “But sometimes those just happened. We showed The Punk Singer, which had already been booked for a few days after the election.” In light of the results, “the film became like a feminist anthem.”

Cabrera is still finalizing January’s programming, but the titles are already trending in that direction, with more incendiary films being considered as well as the beginnings of a new series highlighting documentaries on climate change.

Suns Cinema is still carving out its own niche in the area’s film culture, but that doesn’t mean Cabrera doesn’t have an eye towards the future.

“There are already venues for it, but I always imagined this place as a hub for local filmmakers,” Cabrera says. “Perhaps to foster that we would have to be pretty intentional about doing things during the day. But as of now there’s just too much to do to make it function like that.”

But Year One has been an eventful one and Suns has developed a strong reputation as a special, cinematic oasis here in the District. Their anniversary will be here before you know it. it’ll be exciting to see where they’re at in another year’s time.

Suns Cinema is located at 3107 Mount Pleasant St. NW