We recently connected with Matías Bombal and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Matías thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

Having spent my career since a teen as an art and rep house movie exhibitor, starting in the days of 35mm film until the arrival of digital in the 1990’s, the old style movie theatre and its emotional and social impact on the collective culture have been key in my work and life direction. When motion picture film was all but abandoned in the late 90’s with the switch to digital, I had to find new way to channel my skill set; I hosted an NPR Radio show, Classic Jazz and Swing, worked as an emcee all over California and Oregon, made 3 documentary films and worked on multiple audio and film restoration projects. Currently I am in the Critics Choice Association and have syndicated 90 second movie reviews each week on stations from coast to coast, “Matias Bombal’s Hollywood” All of these re-inventions as I go on in life stay close to my core discipline of old-school movie theatre management of the golden age. Now, long after the classic repertory movie theatres are all but a distant memory, the movie theatre business slowly vanishing after covid and streaming, I thought surely I would never be able to work in my initial chosen career path again, one so vital to my life. Following emceeing a 10-day film festival in Orinda, California, the operator of the theatre there, who had followed my career, posed the idea of introducing to his audiences a special series of classic movie matinees, just the way I used to do them when I started in the business. I thought I’d never be able to do what I loved the most again; that of setting the stage for memory making for the audience, recreating how movies used to be in the proper vintage setting. Though I have had countless wonderful experiences in the restoring and reopening of theatres in the past, this new chance to again do what I used to do in this modern world was profoundly meaningful for me: The Matias Bombal’s Hollywood Orinda Classic Movie Matinees, held tha last tuesday of each month, in the historic 1941 streamline moderne Orinda Theatre of Orinda, California, is my most personally meaningful project to date.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Beguiled by the cinema as a youth seeing Disney’s Fantasia; when the the Night on Bald Mountain sequence came on, it was too frightening, It was then that 3 year-old me noticed the beam of light overhead. I was captivated by it and followed the beam to the back of the theatre and I know then: the magic came from that little room with the tiny window where the light came from, I had to be part of making that light tell stories for others. Over the years I worked my way up in the theatre business even before leaving high school in my second year to go right into the theatre management without graduating: Through my early 20’s, in the late 1980’s I had the good fortune to work with a team that would eventually renovate and make the Sacramento Crest Theatre come to life after years of being closed and derelict: programming classic movies with cartoons and news reels and and hosting sold-out showings of restored films from the 1925 BEN-HUR to the 50th anniversary of GONE WITH THE WIND which sold out all shows for 3 weeks in a row. Live shows included such artists as Stan Getz, Mya Angelou, Gerald Wilson, Bobby Hutcherson, Cab Calloway, Le Sunra, Arlo Guthrie, and others… Film stars like Clint Eastwood, Alice Faye, Dorothy Lamour, Buddy Rogers, Donald O’Connor and Kathryn Grayson all came in-person to revival screenings of their films. I would go on to do this type of work and several other theatres, including Sacramento theatres Tower, Guild, Colonial, Sacramento Inn, Oregon theatres like The Bijou of Lincoln City and Elsinore in Salem and later the Paramount Oakland, FOX California in Stockton and California Theatre in Pittsburg. During this time I perfected and honed my skills as an event emcee, working in countless venues for special events outside the theatres, from fund raisers to film centric events at places like The California Automobile Museum, The Ironstone Vineyards,Harmony Wynlands Winery in Lodi and serval events in Napa. I worked in TV in Sacramento hosting the Sunday night movie on KSCH-TV 58 for a few years, where I was most proud of my hour length interview with legendary Earth Kitt, then went on to 5 years at the Sacramento NPR affiliate, where my program of vintage jazz music, CLASSIC JAZZ AND SWING was carried on 5 stations in the region, which was awarded a special commendation from Stanford University’s Archive Of Recorded Sound. There was even time to sneak in a little film extra work in movies like PINK CADILLAC, WISDOM, and an episode of HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN on network television.
With my current Matias Bombal’s Hollywood Capsule Current Cinema Reviews, available to broadcast radio and internet radio stations, I produce 90 second reviews of the latest films used by several stations, often in Friday morning drive times. Minimally each week there is one review, but at times, in the holiday and summer seasons up to five each week. I have made 3 documentary films; THE SACRAMENTO PICTURE, THE STORY BEHIND YOUR RADIO DIAL, and ALHAMBRA: SACRAMENTO”S PALACE OF FANTASY. I am often hired for film voice-over work and narration.
The recent development of being asked to curate and present a series of classic films at Orinda California’s 1941 streamline moderne Orinda Theatre wraps my experience into a perfect bow in a new way to make memories for people and recreate the past in a palpable way in the San Francisco East Bay region, and the Matias Bombal’s Hollywood Orinda Classic Movie Matinees were born. The last Tuesday of each month, at 1 p.m., the movies are shown they way they used to be shown: with short subjects, vintage previews, a stage introduction from me, and then the best from Hollywood’s past before 1960.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

To make available a rare theatrical experience mostly lost today. To present movies with showmanship, elegance and beauty in a the historic setting to sophisticated audiences that enjoys just how rare this experience is in this day and age. In essence, time travel to a stylish past that no longer exists. In an age of streaming and devices, to preserve the visual richness of the community movie experience.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

When the audience, in a joyus mood, interacts with the presentation. At a recent Matias Bombal’s Hollywood Orinda Classic Movie Matinee of the 1952 M-G-M musical SINGIN: IN THE RAIN, the large audience attending would applaud the entrance of bit players and character actors as if they were watching a live play! At the end of each musical number, they would erupt with applause as if they were seeing stars Gene Kelly and Debby Reynolds on the stage in-person. The smiles of the audience as they leave the theatre, repeating lines from the movie, or thanking me for the excellent presentation, a presentation only made perfect through the great team work with the projectionist, a member of Local 107 of the International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees, is immensely gratifying.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mabhollywood.com and for the Matias Bombal’s Hollywood Orinda Classic Movie matinees: https://www.orindamovies.com/events/6577-orinda-theatres-classic-movie-matinee-last-tuesday-of-each-month/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MABHollywood
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mat%C3%ADas-bombal-06873437/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/MABHollywood
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/user/MABHollywood VIMEO: https://vimeo.com/mabhollywood
• Other: Airchecks of radio broadcasts may be heard on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/mat-as-antonio-bombal Critics Choice Association https://members.criticschoice.com/members/mbombal/ The Association of Moving Image Archivists The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences San Francisco/Northern California Chapter Valley Broadcast Legends

Image Credits
Many are selfies, other used with permission. if you select a particular image and let me know, I can give you the specific credit.