![\"img_dropcap_Bibliophile_O_white.png\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1779187153_369_.png\")
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On most summer weekends, the Douglas Fairbanks Lawn at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery is transformed from a green expanse of land in the middle of metropolitan Los Angeles to a Victorian-era communal picnic and film screening for an audience of 4,000.<\/p>\n
Since its inception, Cinespia<\/a> has become a beloved Los Angeles institution. And, for 25 years, founder John Wyatt has been spearheading the effort. \u201cI still make sure that I\u2019m at every single screening,\u201d says Wyatt. This must be part of the secret sauce \u2014 Wyatt\u2019s dedication and consistency.<\/p>\n In 2002, Cinespia \u2014 an Italian portmanteau for \u201cmovie theater\u201d and \u201ccinema spy\u201d \u2014 screened Hitchcock\u2019s \u201cStrangers on a Train\u201d at the cemetery for members of Wyatt\u2019s film club, which he ran with Richard Petit. \u201cThe whole idea was that it doesn\u2019t have to be boring. It doesn\u2019t have to be stuffy. It can be really fun,\u201d says Wyatt. Back then, the once-abandoned 62-acre cemetery was under new ownership and seeking ways to activate the space.<\/p>\n \u201cHitchcock was the perfect choice, because it draws you in,\u201d says Wyatt. \u201cMy friend was working at the LA Weekly, and he put out the teeniest little blurb. All these people showed up who weren\u2019t in our film club. It was such a moment.\u201d<\/p>\n Little did Wyatt know that this first screening was just the beginning. For the next 25 years (even during the COVID-19 pandemic), Wyatt and his team would screen over 650 films for over a million people, with no end in sight.<\/p>\n Cinespia founder John Wyatt.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been attending events at Hollywood Forever since my early 20s. A rainy Belle and Sebastian concert on the Douglas Fairbanks Lawn. A Paris Review reading in the Masonic Lodge. And, of course, countless Cinespia screenings. Along with sandwiches and a sweating bottle of orange wine, I always bring a bouquet of flowers to leave on my grandparents\u2019 graves. When my family first immigrated to Los Angeles from Soviet Belarus in the early \u201890s, we lived a few blocks away from Hollywood Forever. Both my maternal grandparents are buried there. My aunt and uncle will be too. My parents have a shared plot waiting for them, nearby. When I sit on the lawn under the stars surrounded by the ghosts of Hollywood\u2019s Golden Age and thousands of Angelenos collectively experiencing art \u2014 or an impromptu dance party, or a suspense-induced collective scream or a shared bout of laughter \u2014 I feel as if my grandparents are on my picnic blanket beside me, watching the film.<\/p>\n Cinespia has an uncanny ability to transport the audience away from modernity, away from scrolling on their phones alone in their living rooms, away from the surrounding strip malls and seemingly endless traffic, to a communal utopia. \u201cYou\u2019re not just watching a movie and leaving. You\u2019re seeing people, you\u2019re being seen,\u201d says Wyatt.<\/p>\n Ahead of Cinespia\u2019s 25th summer season, I spoke with Wyatt about Cinespia\u2019s evolution, how he goes about selecting the films, and the only time he ever felt starstruck. His passion for Los Angeles, classic films, and Cinespia\u2019s devoted audience was palpable. Tears welled in his eyes as we walked down memory lane, deep into the archives.<\/p>\n Diana Ruzova: <\/b>I know you started off with snail mail and word of mouth to promote the screenings. Do you think this slow deliberate start helped maintain the authenticity that permeates today?<\/p>\n John Wyatt: <\/b>The reason we had a snail mail list is because a lot of people at that time didn\u2019t have an email. This gave me an opportunity to make these little cards. The front of the card would be a still from the movie that we picked, and then the back would be a brief description. I remember being at the post office with bins and bins, stressing out, trying to put stamps on everything, trying to get these out. A retired military service guy was on my mailing list. When we switched to email, he wrote me a letter asking what happened to the little cards.<\/p>\n Around our second season, we got invited to go on the \u201cToday\u201d show. I thought about it for a long time. I thought it might change the nature of what we were doing. And I said no to the \u201cToday\u201d show. The producer said, \u201cHey, if you say no, we\u2019re never asking you again.\u201d And he was serious, 23 years later, they never asked us again. I was so protective of it. I think that sustains to this day.<\/p>\n DR: <\/b>Cinespia is star-studded. Ben Stiller, Jordan Peele, Ryan Coogler, Paul Reubens (Pee-wee Herman) have intro\u2019d their films, plus Werner Herzog, and lots of celebrity guests like Drew Barrymore, Harry Styles, Emma Stone and many many more. What is your relationship to celebrity?<\/p>\n JW: <\/b>I was born and raised in L.A., so it\u2019s part of living here. Some people I went to Crossroads with are now well-known celebrities. I honestly think I see the best side of people who are in the limelight. They\u2019ve always been really supportive. When [Suzy] Eddie Izzard was coming, [she] was like \u201cI want everyone to know about this,\u201d and brought Minnie Driver.<\/p>\n It was the early days. We were still just taking donations and figuring it out. I literally was setting everything up myself and testing everything. And we were doing things on 35mm, which meant bringing these massive projectors in, putting them into the back of these trucks. I\u2019d be there all night.<\/p>\n Paul Reubens and Lou Cutell took the stage with the rest of the cast of \u201cPee-wee\u2019s Big Adventure\u201d for a 30th-anniversary screening at Cinepsia in 2015.<\/p>\n Ben Stiller and Tramell Tillman surprised the audience at a screening of \u201cZoolander\u201d in 2025.<\/p>\n Ryan Coogler at a 2025 screening of his film \u201cSinners\u201d <\/p>\n Drew Barrymore was coming, and she called it \u201cthe tradition.\u201d And Paul Reubens too. Paul Reubens was like, \u201cI know everybody. I can vouch for this.\u201d And he wasn\u2019t lying. He knew everybody. I keep it really low-key. They\u2019re watching a movie with 4,000 people, and nobody\u2019s bothering them.<\/p>\n DR: <\/b>Have you ever been starstruck?<\/p>\n JW: <\/b>I don\u2019t get starstruck that often, but with Stevie Wonder, I just lost it. He was so cool. And he wanted to come for the experience. He wanted to feel everything and see what it was like. I watched people burst into tears as he walked by and I couldn\u2019t help it. I was just totally starstruck. I could barely speak.<\/p>\n DR: <\/b>Why is incorporating music important to Cinespia?<\/p>\n JW: <\/b>I was a DJ around L.A. and I\u2019m still a record collector and a fanatic about music, as well as film, and so I wanted to create an atmosphere. We are very strict: The DJ has to start the moment the gates open. So, you\u2019re walking through the cemetery towards the music.<\/p>\n The music is curated. Maybe it\u2019s not even directly related to the film. I did DJ in the very beginning, and it was really hard to do everything, and I didn\u2019t do the best job. I had to call in the professionals like Questlove, Cut Chemist and Daisy O\u2019Dell. I like to give them lots of freedom. I trust them. \u201cIt\u2019s a party.\u201d That\u2019s what I tell them. I don\u2019t want them to overthink it, but I want them to be inspired.<\/p>\n Here and below, a few of the elaborate photo booth designs from Cinespia\u2019s art team.<\/p>\n DR: <\/b>When were the elaborate set-designed photo booths incorporated? What do you think they add to the Cinespia experience?<\/p>\n JW: <\/b>About 15 years ago, we screened \u201cSaturday Night Fever,\u201d and I had this giant piece of fabric with sequins in my truck from when I worked as an art director. I was looking around at everyone dressed up. Gen X has a special connection to the \u201970s disco era. And people were wearing all these vintage clothes. I was so impressed. So, we put this giant sequin fabric thing up and I had my photographers \u2014 who were usually shooting people having picnics and things \u2014 focus on it, and I was all, \u201cI\u2019m just going to bring people in, one at a time, and we\u2019re going to shoot their picture.\u201d Everyone did a disco pose. And I was like, \u201cI got to do this all the time.\u201d And so, from there, we started building backdrops. We build everything that day and then we take down that day. Luckily, I have an incredible art team.<\/p>\n What our photo booths evolved into from the piece of fabric is a riff on the film in the form of a set. We build a little set and furnish it and decorate it. And then we bring in professional lighting, we bring in a professional photographer, and we figure out how to shoot one person alone or 18 people together. We have a high bar. People are expecting a lot. We have over 1,000 people in the photo booth per show. And we\u2019re going to keep doing it. I\u2019ve talked to people who say, \u201cI have stacks of the prints.\u201d<\/p>\n DR: <\/b>Los Angeles is constantly erasing itself. With the recent closure of Taix<\/a> and Cole\u2019s<\/a>, and the attempt to resurrect the Cinerama Dome<\/a>, to name a few examples. Was there ever a time that you feared Cinespia might be erased? <\/p>\n JW: <\/b>It\u2019s not always a given that Cinespia is going to be there. We work so hard every year to make sure that it\u2019s there. The pandemic was the big test. It was like a bull\u2019s-eye to our business. It\u2019s the only time that we\u2019ve halted the screenings at the cemetery since we started. The city would not allow it.<\/p>\n In 2020 we did our annual Valentine\u2019s Day screening, and then COVID lockdown started. So, we spent months working with the city, figuring out what we could do, and we created a series of drive-ins at Griffith Park. The city made everybody stay in their car for most of the time. You couldn\u2019t mingle. We did dozens and dozens and dozens. It wasn\u2019t easy. My crew was very faithful, risking their lives to be there.<\/p>\n It gets wild up at the very top where we were putting all the cars. It\u2019s just a giant piece of grass and wilderness. The coyotes would come down. The deer would come down. The moon would come up.<\/p>\n From the series of Cinespia drive-ins at Griffith Park during COVID lockdown. <\/p>\n In June 2021 the city told us we can start Cinespia at Hollywood Forever again. I\u2019ll never forget the first little crowd coming in. Usually, I\u2019m on the field when the gates open, seeing everyone come in. I was with Daisy O\u2019Dell. She was like, \u201cAre you OK?\u201d I didn\u2019t know if I\u2019d ever see this again. And there they all were.<\/p>\n DR: <\/b>How has the Hollywood Forever Cemetery changed over the last 25 years? After my grandfather was buried in Hollywood Forever Cemetery in 2009, I have watched the little path that leads to his tombstone go from a muddy dirt trail to neatly paved with bricks.<\/p>\n JW: <\/b>A lot of the money we were raising was going straight into restoration, a stained-glass window here, the bells in the bell tower there, a broken monument restored. And, like you said, paths and lighting. It\u2019s gone from abandoned to stunningly gorgeous. A lot of the people interred there are from the Golden Age of Hollywood<\/a>, and now it\u2019s becoming a place where filmmakers and musicians and artists are considering for their final resting place. David Lynch<\/a> is now interred there. We\u2019ve really brought it back to its glory days.<\/p>\n DR: <\/b>With the film industry in major flux due to AI, social media and our changing attention spans, why do you think Cinespia\u2019s outdoor screening model is important?<\/p>\n JW: <\/b>People still want to sit down and watch a movie with a crowd, that has not changed. And I\u2019m seeing more kids coming. They\u2019re Gen Z and younger. They\u2019re interested. They love it the same way we love it. It\u2019s kind of this eternal thing: humans love great stories, and they love being together in a place and being entertained. And everything is magnified when you\u2019re in a crowd. Laughter is infectious, and suspense is infectious. I\u2019m feeling like it\u2019s stronger than ever. And maybe that\u2019s local to L.A., we\u2019ve had not the best of times.<\/p>\n Once, a couple came up to me and told me that they met at Cinespia. It was their first date. Now they\u2019re married. I\u2019m like, \u201cthat\u2019s incredible.\u201d And then they come back and say, here are our kids. Their kids are so excited to go see these movies, and the parents feel comfortable dropping off their teenagers.<\/p>\n Things in L.A. change so fast. You turn around and a beautiful building is gone or a great deli is out of business. So, something that survives 25 years and is consistent, and is not changed in any fundamental way, is comforting. You know what you\u2019re going to get, and it\u2019s going to be good.<\/p>\n DR: <\/b>And you get to see L.A. reflected back on the big screen.<\/p>\n JW: <\/b>One of my favorite movies to show is \u201cSunset Boulevard\u201d because it\u2019s meta. There\u2019s moments where the main character is shouting out the names of all these people buried all around us. She\u2019s talking to the audience. It becomes this incredible experience that you can only have right there.<\/p>\n DR: <\/b>How do you go about picking the movies?<\/p>\n JW: <\/b>We pick the movies really carefully. We spend a lot of time on it. We do have a formula. I\u2019m putting myself in the audience\u2019s shoes. Is this going to rock your world? Is it going to entertain you? Is it gonna thrill you? Are you gonna laugh? Is it going to keep your attention? That\u2019s a big one we think about.<\/p>\n Sometimes we pick things because someone passed. Sometimes we pick things because we hadn\u2019t thought of them before. You should never underestimate an audience. I\u2019ve learned that. Early on, we had a movie that got maybe boring. An audience can cheer and they can also all boo, and I have not forgotten that.<\/p>\n Tastes change. Familiarity changes. Some of the things I would show 20 years ago, I wouldn\u2019t show now. Culture changes. Some things just don\u2019t work like they used to. Other things are eternal. Sometimes things come back around and suddenly make sense again. One thing I never thought would happen was that I\u2019d show movies that came out in the past 25 years. Those films are classics now, and some of them have really stood the test of time.<\/p>\n We\u2019re excited to show \u201cMulholland Drive\u201d this year. It\u2019s 25 years old, just like us. And it\u2019s about L.A. It\u2019s got the feeling of L.A. The mystery. It\u2019s at times challenging, and at times very entertaining. We\u2019re excited to honor David Lynch, whose final resting place is close to where we screen the films.<\/p>\n![\"Cinespia](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1779187154_208_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Collage](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1779187157_909_.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"Paul](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1779187158_708_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Drew](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1779187159_474_.jpeg\")
![\"Ben](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1779187160_820_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Ryan](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1779187161_398_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Melody](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1779187162_320_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Here](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1779187162_63_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Image](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1779187164_964_.jpeg\")
![\"Image](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1779187165_437_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"From](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1779187166_109_.jpeg\")
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