In January, the downtown Central Library started daily screenings at 2 p.m. in the Film Vault.

Central Library is housed in the former First National Bank. Established in 1906, the building was modernized before re-opening as the system’s Central Library in 2004. Features were retained such as marble, pillars, and bronze chandeliers – and a bank vault with walls of steel, reinforced concrete, and a 35-ton steel door.

In 2007, the vault was converted into a 28-seat mini-theater called the Stanley H. Durwood Film Vault. Durwood, the founder and CEO of Leawood-based AMC Theatres, was credited with inventing the multiplex theater in the 1960s.

“It’s a cool place,” says Library Assistant Cullen Roop. “It gives kind of a movie theater experience because we can turn the lights down and turn the sound up. It’s sort of cozy and intimate.”

Roop has worked at the Audio/Visual Desk for nearly seven years (and at an AMC as a teenager). They say that selecting the movies for the Film Vault is a collaborative effort – the A/V team maps out the schedule on a spreadsheet.

“We show DVDs that we have in the collection. We show stuff on Kanopy, the streaming service, sometimes,” Roop says. “It’s all based on the public performance rights.”

The Library boasts a large collection of movies and television shows. In total, there are an estimated 53,000 DVDs across the 10 Library locations – and more than half of these are located at the Central Library.

“I think that we try to have a lot of diversity – we show international films and foreign language films,” Roop says. “And we show older films, we show newer films, we show family stuff, adult stuff, we show a very wide variety of different sorts of films.”

The slate of films in March range from the family-friendly movies likeThe Little Mermaid (2023; PG) and Freaky Friday (2003; PG) to teen and adult fare, such as The Banshees of Inisherin (2022; R) and Mean Girls (2004; PG-13).

Roop adds, “There’s no real rhyme or reason to any given day – like this day is for adults, this day is for kids, this day is for drama, this day is for comedy. The month is a big, you know, sort of rainbow of different things.”

Film Fridays are also offered each week at 2 p.m. in the Central Library’s 3North Resource Center.

Look for other screenings across the Library system. The Southeast Branch is showing Thursday matinees at 1 p.m., including The Desperate Hour (2021; PG-13) in April and Tulsa: The Fire and the Forgotten (2021; NR) in May.

The A/V team at the Central Library, says Roop, is starting to brainstorm about summer programming in the Film Vault, including adding more G and PG films and planning special events for children and teens.

In the past, they say, they’ve shown new or popular movies, such as Black Panther (2018; PG-13) and filled up all 28 seats. And, Roop says, they’re usually able to accommodate a few more patrons.

“We’re happy to take extra chairs and bring them in there as long as there’s still room for folks to safely move around in the dark,” they say. “We really don’t like to turn people away.”

And, if your favorite film is not on the Library’s schedule, you can always rent the old bank vault for your own private or group screening.

Check the Kansas City Public Library’s website for movie listings. Registration is not required.