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Welcome to the Camera Cinemas

Now Playing at the Camera One Theater
(408) 998-3300, 366 South First Street, San Jose, California, 95113

Skin Deep
NO PASSES WILL BE ACCEPTED FOR THIS ENGAGEMENT! Best Film/Actor, American Black Film Festival! Directed by Sacha Parisot, co-written/produced by former Camera Cinema Club director Ken Karn. Starring Mailon Rivera, Steve White, Kristen Shaw and Debra Wilson. In a world where love, sex, race, and betrayal are more than "skin deep", successful Silicon Valley engineer Anthony seems to have the perfect life: a beautiful home in the hills, stock options worth millions, and a lovely wife. But when his racist best friend/surrogate older brother stirs things up, events go from tragic to dangerous as racism, paranoia, and a secret mistress fuel a high-stakes mystery. "At times playing like a cinematic telling of an urban legend overheard in a bar, at others like a combustive mix of race, sex and murder from late-night cable, Skin Deep is a wonderfully entertaining, fast-paced dark comedy of errors."--BET Reviews.
Rated R. Running Time: 89 minutes (plus 8-10 mins. trailers)

SHOWTIMES

Located in the heart of downtown San Jose, at 366 S. First Street, Camera One is within walking distance of many downtown hot spots, including a host of a host of popular nightclubs, restaurants and coffee shops.

In fact, the people who started the Cameras are very much like the film buffs who support the Cameras today, except that in the early 1970s there was no place in the South Bay to see quality independent or international films. James Zuur, Jack NyBlom, and Dennis Skaggs, aspiring filmmakers and major film fans, used to make the long drive to Berkeley several times a week to see movies like Children of Paradise, 400 Blows and Casablanca. But after a few years the drive became a bore, and in 1975 Jim, Jack, and Dennis, along with two other partners, opened Camera One in downtown San Jose. Since then, they have gone on to open four more theatres--Camera 3, also downtown; the Towne 3, on the Alameda near the Rose Garden; the Los Gatos Cinema, in lovely downtown Los Gatos; and Camera 7, our newly-opened state-of-the-art multiplex in Campbell's Pruneyard Shopping Center. They have also developed, designed and built the Osio Plaza six plex in downtown Monterey, which they sold to Resort Theaters of America in 1999.

  1. The Camera One Theatre is what started it all back in 1975, when the founders pooled their savings and borrowed enough from friends and family to open the first specialty movie house in San Jose. Despite plenty of discouragement from colleagues in San Francisco and Berkeley who claimed that an "art theater" couldn't work in San Jose, the partners quickly transformed what had been an old shoe store in what was then a run-down neighborhood, into a quality 300-seat theater. On September 2, 1975, the Camera One opened with Claude Lelouch's A Man and a Woman and Bob Fosse's Cabaret to a sold-out house.
  2. Camera One has been a fixture in downtown ever since and has presented hundreds of outstanding films, hosted informal discussions with directors such as Frank Capra and Stanley Kramer, and helped initiate the renaissance of the South First Street entertainment district (SOFA). In fact, two early Camera partners, Ed Rathman and Steve Borkenhagen, cashed out in 1978 and started Eulipia Restaurant & Bar, directly next door to Camera One.
  3. Camera One completed its first major facelift in 1999, including "Pillow Back" Screening Room quality seats throughout the theater. Designed and built by furniture manufacturer Heywood Wakefield, these chairs sport coiled springs (not just foam), and contoured high backs in an intimate setting. Other features we have added or upgraded include: Improved Dolby Stereo SR sound with state-of-the-art surrounds, SoFA-style love seats, more leg room (40" from chair to chair), upholstered cup holder arm rests, improved lighting and ambiance, wheelchair and ADA transfer seating, and renovated lobby, foyer, rest rooms and acoustics in the auditorium.

After 27 years of presenting a wide variety of well-made, intelligent films -- from re-released classics to underground, independents to international -- the Camera Cinemas have become an important institution in the local film community. Over the years, the Cameras have made vital contributions to the cultural life of San Jose and have come to represent the best of what Downtown has to offer. More importantly, they've become a symbol of the very loyal and committed support of their audiences, people like you. After all, 27 years wouldn't be possible without you, thank you very much!

Camera One Theatre
366 South First Street
San Jose, CA 95113
408-998-3300