International Wildflife Film Festival purchase of Roxy theater goes through

"The Roxy is saved."

Missoula’s funky, not-quite-downtown movie theater was purchased Thursday by the International
Wildlife Film Festival, the group’s executive director said.

Movie-watching will begin in July.

By SHERRY DEVLIN of the Missoulian

"We are starting slowly," said Janet Rose, who led the private fund-raising campaign that netted all
but $150,000 of the full selling price of $340,000 by Thursday’s closing.

Beginning next month, the Roxy will show films on the first Friday of each month – to coincide with
openings at downtown art galleries and museums. Every second Thursday, there will be showings of
Wildlife Film Festival winners from the past 25 years. And on the second Sunday, Rose and
company will host family wildlife film matinees, with grown-up films in one theater and children’s
programming in the other.

Several workshops for children and youth are planned at the Roxy this summer, she said, and lots
more are in the works for the year ahead.

"The idea is really that the Roxy is saved, programs do begin now and people can use it for all kinds
of events," Rose said. "We hope the theater will be a major anchor for the Hip Strip. We want people
to rent it, use it and help us ensure its future."

It will be critical, she said, to raise the remaining $150,000 over the next six to 12 months so the Film
Festival does not have to carry a mortgage on the building. That, she said, will put the theater on
solid footing.

The Roxy closed as a movie theater in January 2000 because of financial losses, and has been for
sale since the deaths of part-owners Bob Ranstrom and Bob Sias in 1999.

To rent the theater, call 728-9380. The Roxy is located at 718 S. Higgins Ave.

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