Pico sits down with Frank Uhle, film historian, projectionist, and author of Cinema Ann Arbor: How Campus Rebels Forged a Singular Film Culture. Together they explore the secret history of the projection booth — from the roaring carbon-arc lamps of the 1940s to today’s automated digital cinema. Frank walks us through the forgotten world of campus film societies, the Ann Arbor Film Festival, and the evolution of projection technology that shaped how generations experienced movies.
As AI begins to redefine filmmaking, Pico and Frank look back at what made film magic — and what we stand to lose when the light of the projector finally goes out.
See Youtube video:
📖 Frank Uhle’s book: Cinema Ann Arbor: How Campus Rebels Forged a Singular Film Culture (on Amazon)
💬 Reviews of Frank’s book: Google Search Results
👉 More Pico interviews: Japan’s New Kimono Craze (Japan Vibes Series, Ep.1)
0:00 Intro with Frank Uhle
0:18 Welcome to Pico’s World – setting up “The Projectionist”
2:08 Frank’s early love of cinema – monster movies and midnight TV
4:48 Joining Ann Arbor’s student film societies
6:25 Discovering Cinema II and life in the 1970s film scene
8:09 Ann Arbor’s campus film culture and the Michigan Theater
10:00 The Ann Arbor Film Festival and underground cinema
12:27 Becoming a film archivist and historian
13:59 Digging through archives for *Cinema Ann Arbor*
16:23 How the book evolved beyond campus film clubs
18:20 The origins of projection – from Edison to the 1920s
21:07 What makes film flammable – nitrate stock and danger in the booth
23:16 How projectionists switch reels without anyone noticing
25:13 Big lights, big auditoriums – the power of Carbon Arc
26:17 Drive-in theaters and projecting through the rain
28:34 Film sizes – 8mm, 16mm, 35mm, and 70mm
30:58 Home theaters and rare collectors’ prints
33:38 Cooling systems and the heat of projection
34:57 From film to digital – how the shift began
36:00 The evolution of television and video technology
39:33 Digital cinema and the rise of DCPs
41:48 How modern projectors work – xenon, lasers, and automation
44:07 The vanishing projectionist and fully automated theaters
45:36 70mm returns – Oppenheimer and nostalgia for film
47:10 Can you tell the difference between film and digital?
49:25 Legendary brands of projectors – from Simplex to Christie
51:30 The uncertain future of movie theaters
53:55 The decline of campus and mall theaters
55:16 AI, film education, and creative disruption
58:31 Reflections on the analog era and the magic of the theater
1:01:27 Closing thoughts – why real movies still matter
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