Buffalo is full of people helping to cultivate cinema and we want to celebrate those involved. The Cultivators is a new monthly feature in which we highlight individuals who are integral to the presentation, promotion and production of film here in the queen city.
|
||||||||||
THE CULTIVATORS #009 | ||||||||||
RAY BARKER | ||||||||||
![]() |
||||||||||
Programming Director at North Park Theatre
|
||||||||||
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS | ||||||||||
I have been going to the movies since I was five years old, so I guess my love of movies has been pretty spontaneous. However, from the age of 8 to 13, I lived in a small town that had a neighborhood movie theatre within walking distance of my home and I saw SO many movies that came to town. I guess the love of film is something that gets in your blood. I have never stopped going to the movies.
Standing on the North Park Theatre stage in March 2014 (right before we re-opened) and looking out at the beautiful restoration work that had been done over the previous ten months, I felt some satisfaction that I was part of the group that had saved the most beautiful movie theatre in Buffalo and that it would be around for generations to come.
Although I was born in Buffalo, I have lived all over. I returned to Buffalo to complete a Ph.D. in History at the University of Buffalo and have been fortunate enough to be able to stay. Buffalo is a wonderful city and I enjoy living here.
While living in Memphis, I discovered the amazing steamed slider from Krystal, a fast-food chain. I am amazed that Buffalo has never had a Krystal or a White Castle Restaurant, so I’d like to see that come to town some day. The Buffalo News just reported that Chick-fil-A is coming, so you never know. But seriously, what I most want to see is more young adults able to get good jobs in Buffalo so that they can stay and be part of our resurgence as a city. I would like to see more young families be able to raise their children in Buffalo.
• Ray Harryhausen: An Animated Life by Ray Harryhausen & Tony Dalton (2004)
|
||||||||||
TOP TEN FILMS | ||||||||||
|
||||||||||
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Photo of Ray Barker supplied by subject.