Suns Cinema has been showing oddball movies in a cozy living room-esque setting for two years. (Photo by Rachel Kurzius)

By DCist Contributor Lenore T. Adkins

Suns Cinema, the arthouse theater/bar that makes you feel like you’re watching movies in your weird friend’s retro living room, is literally trying to expand into the living room of the three-story house it rents in Mount Pleasant.

Cinema owners and film buffs David Cabrera, 35, and Ryan Hunter Mitchell, 33, are in the midst of a permitting process with the District that, if successful, would let them turn the second floor of the building into another theater room with a small bar.

The expansion would just about double the cinema’s capacity—the first-floor theater seats 30 people—and the second floor would maintain the cinema’s old-school vibe and have enough chairs for 30 or 40 patrons, Cabrera says.

Under the new configuration, the partners would maintain their screen on the first floor, but primarily use the space as a bar and open lobby where people can socialize and grab a drink before heading upstairs to watch the movie. The new space would also give the owners room for events and allow them to hold two screenings a night if the demand is there.

Right now, the former roommates use the first floor for screenings and convert it into a neighborhood bar as the credits roll. Regulars know the bar is open when the curtain is up, and that a movie is in progress when the “On Air” sign is lit, but many people stumbling across the cinema don’t realize that’s how it works.

“I think the main goal for when it does change … is that people can just walk in and it’s not off-putting to people,” Mitchell says. With the venue’s current setup, “They don’t know when they can walk in and they don’t know if they’re going to interrupt something.”

Meanwhile, the business partners have beefed up the bar end of the two-year-old cinema, since slinging alcohol is the only way they can justify selling movie tickets for $5 or $10.

For one thing, they’ll soon buy a slushy machine to serve up “fun, delicious, and refreshing” boozy drinks for the summer, Cabrera says.

The duo also debuted their first cocktail menu in May, with five $10 drinks served after the movies. They’ve named the menu “Dopo Teatro,” after a rare Italian vermouth that theatergoers traditionally sipped after the performance.

“I love that idea of you have a drink after [a show],” Mitchell says. “That’s when you get a lot out of a movie is when you talk about it after, bounce ideas off each other see what someone else got, what you missed.”

True to form, Cabrera and Mitchell named three of the drinks after movies. The Averna Herzog Eats His Shoe, their take on a black Manhattan, is a play on the movie Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe.

Likewise, the Un Cynar Andalou, made with sherry and grapefruit, is inspired by Un Chien Andalou, the 1929 French silent surrealist movie co-written by Salvador Dalí.

The Smoltranstället cocktail bears the name of a 1957 Swedish film directed by Ingmar Bergman, and is made with fernet, aquavit, and strawberry jam. The film’s name translates into “wild strawberries.”

“A lot of these are puns,” Cabrera said. “Sometimes it’s more puns than Suns.”

Their Suzie Garcia, named after the mother of one of Cabrera’s friends, is their riff on a margarita. The Rootbeer Negroni that rounds out the list is their most popular cocktail, Cabrera says.

Suns Cinema, which the owners proudly call the “diviest movie house in the District,” has been a Mount Pleasant mainstay since it opened in 2016. The owners switch up movie themes every month to highlight blockbusters, vintage, indie, and foreign films.

June’s theme is water-themed movies, including screenings of Jaws and Purple Moon. Previous months have focused on Reagan-era flicks and movies directed by women.

Cabrera estimates Suns has screened between 350 and 450 movies since it opened. The cinema is a full-time gig for Cabrera, while Mitchell has a day job working as a hairstylist at a salon across the street from the cinema.

The basic philosophy behind Suns Cinema is using low ticket prices and booze to lure people who aren’t film connoisseurs to movies they wouldn’t otherwise see.

“It’s five bucks and there’s a drink and you can leave at intermission if you’re not feeling it,” Mitchell says.

Suns Cinema is located at 3107 Mount Pleasant St. NW