Downtown Las Vegas movie theater has a new focus

Here’s the thing about running an independent theater that screens everything from 1970s drive-in fare to classic movie musicals to some of the best of world cinema: You have to actually get access to those movies to screen them.

“It can be difficult to just try to get someone to respond to an email even,” says Kip Kelly, founding creative director and chief experience officer at The Beverly Theater. “Like, ‘Hey, we just wanna play this film. Does anybody want our money? Anybody?’ ”

That’s one of the reasons the nonprofit theater, which will celebrate its third anniversary on March 3, got into the distribution business with its Ink Films.

“It kind of was a natural fit for us, luckily, because of how much stuff that we already have to do just day-to-day running the theater,” says Kelly, who holds those same titles with Ink Films.

The company’s second release, following last fall’s “Animation Mixtape,” is “The Puffy Chair.” The seminal first feature from brothers Mark and Jay Duplass is getting the 20th anniversary treatment with a national theatrical rollout. As part of that, The Beverly will host a screening of the restored film at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, followed by a Q&A with the brothers and actress Katie Aselton.

“They’re genuinely excited about people watching it here and getting to do the Q&A,” Kelly says. “And I think that’s the most exciting thing for us. It means we’re on the right track. We’re doing something good.”

Written and directed by the Duplass brothers, “The Puffy Chair” stars Mark Duplass (now a two-time Emmy nominee for “The Morning Show”) and his now-wife Aselton as a couple who take a multistate road trip to pick up the titular piece of furniture and deliver it to his father as a birthday present.

It was one of the defining films of the mumblecore movement — that wave of DIY, microbudget, low-stakes films that often featured improvised dialogue and non-actors in pivotal roles.

Despite that, Kelly is convinced the brothers had no plans to commemorate the anniversary until Ink Films reached out. A screening and Q&A last month in L.A. did turn-away business.

“I think that probably encapsulated everything about Ink Films,” Kelly says. “Like, look at this, this thing that nobody really asked for to be in theaters again. And we brought it, and everyone’s having a blast with it.”

Up next for Ink Films is “DJ Ahmet,” the coming-of-age story of a 15-year-old boy (Arif Jakup) in a conservative remote village in North Macedonia who finds refuge in music.

The film, from director Georgi M. Unkovski, won the World Cinema Dramatic Audience Award and a special jury award for creative vision at last year’s Sundance Film Festival. Kelly plans to book it in 30 to 50 cities starting at the end of March.

“We want to be excellent stewards of the art,” he says of Ink Films. “And we want to make sure that it’s presented in a way that makes (the artist) happy.”

“There’s a lot of good things always happening here,” Kelly adds, switching to his other role at The Beverly. “Hopefully the city is enjoying what we’re doing, because we’re enjoying doing it for them.”

Contact Christopher Lawrence at clawrence@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4567.