Bluffton's Roasting Room merges cult movies, bourbon and an arthouse feel with new series

Since opening in 2014, The Roasting Room has made a name for itself as a home for connoisseurs.

The Bluffton, S.C., mainstay bills itself as an acoustically-tuned intimate listening room with a comprehensive bourbon selection. Whether your passion is relaxing to live acoustic music, or slowly sipping a range of fine bourbons, The Roasting Room has you covered.

Now the venue is trying to lure in film connoisseurs too with its new monthly movie series, "Screeners: Arthouse Cinema Nights."

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The idea first came about in 2020 but was sidelined due to the pandemic. Staff wanted to bring the feel of big city draft houses to downtown Bluffton. Two years later, The Roasting Room is ready to apply their idea of intimate music performances to intimate movie screenings.

“The people that enjoy good independent music are pretty much the same people that enjoy good films too, so it just made sense,” shared James Brown, an audio and visual operator at The Roasting Room. “We've got the seating, the lights, and the stage, so it just fell into place.”

These aren't your typical Disney movie screenings at the neighborhood pool. These are movie cult favorites — drama, action, and adventure films, which have garnered a devoted following.

The series kicked off in May with Quentin Tarantino's cult-classic, "Reservoir Dogs," a dark and humorous cop-and-robber flick. It's a serious movie, for serious fans.

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This month comes "Mainstream," a dark independent comedy starring Andrew Garfield that follows young struggling filmmakers in Hollywood.

Next month features "Blade Runner," the detective-meets-science-fiction action movie which inspired a generation of futurists and turns 40 this summer.

“The idea is to offer an alternative to the big cinema houses — whether you're into indie films, cult films, or local films, we just want to make this a place where we could showcase these films with the same intimacy and treatment that we've been doing with live original music,” Brown added.

The series is made possible thanks to local sponsors including Advanced Integrated Controls (AIC), which provided some of the equipment needed to screen the films. If there’s enough interest, staff say they hope to keep the film series running and deliver more offerings, including food from the room’s sister venture, Corner Perk Brunch Café, downstairs.

After the credits roll, Roasting Room's cinema nights are capped with an open discussion to encourage dialogue and connections between local film connoisseurs.

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And if you want to have those discussions with a bourbon in hand, that's fine too. The events also feature free popcorn and snacks for attendees. The Roasting Room is a 21-year-old and up venue, so adults only at the screenings, with tickets running $15 for the monthly movie events.

After two years of sidelined connections, the new movie series is a fresh way to bring together local film enthusiasts to share what they love about movies.

“I'm hopeful they come away with a better appreciation of the art of film,” Brown said. “We want to take our focus of an intimate connection to the artist, and incorporate that into the films and have that dialogue to really create a sense of a film community.”

For more information, visit roastingroom.live.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Savannah GA events: Mainstream plays at The Roasting Room in Bluffton