St. Paul's East Side has a movie theater again, something the neighborhood hasn't been able to say since the 1970s. TriLingua Cinema opened a micro-cinema at 1105 Greenbrier Street, marking the culmination of six years of pop-up screenings across the area.
According to MPR News, TriLingua Cinema Executive Director Sidney Pisano and board member Kazua Melissa Vang shared details about the new theater on Minnesota Now with Nina Moini. The nonprofit organized free pop-up screenings over six years before landing its first permanent home, according to details TriLingua shared via Eventbrite. The new space features a 5.1 surround sound system, per TriLingua Cinema's own site.
A Name Rooted in Three Languages
TriLingua Cinema is an East Side organization. Writer and East Side resident Geordie Flantz founded the organization in 2020 after moving to the neighborhood the year before and noticing it had no local movie theater despite its long working-class and immigrant history, as reported by Racket MN. Flantz launched the project after securing an initial grant from the Metro Regional Arts Council, the outlet notes.
Thursday's grand opening leaned into that community-first ethos. TriLingua scheduled a free, family-friendly movie on the lawn, with free food and refreshments, alongside opportunities for guests to check out the new micro-cinema, according to TriLingua Cinema.
A Shared Home with the East Side Freedom Library
The micro-cinema now shares a building with the East Side Freedom Library.
That pairing of cinema and archive is no accident on a stretch of the city where industrial jobs once anchored the community. The East Side previously supported thousands of movie theater seats near major unionized employers like 3M, Seeger Refrigeration, and Hamm's Brewery. Those theaters closed, and the neighborhood has been without a nearby cinema since the 1970s, per Racket MN's reporting. Hoodline has previously covered redevelopment tied to that same industrial legacy, including a height clearance for affordable units at Hamm's Brewery.
One Stop on a Longer Road
Even with its first permanent venue secured, TriLingua isn't done building. The nonprofit says it is working toward opening a theater, according to TriLingua Cinema's own materials. For now, the library space gives the organization a permanent home after years of pop-up screenings around the East Side.
TriLingua's new East Side outpost returns something the neighborhood hasn't had in decades: a place to watch a movie close to home.
