Reality TV pilot spotlights Cinelounge Tiburon owners’ fight to save movie theaters

Cinelounge owners and Tiburon residents Christian and Camilla Meoli film the reality TV pilot ‘Saving Cinema’ at their 40 Main St. theater Oct. 27. The show, which is still being shopped to streaming services, would chronicle the couple’s daily lives and their efforts to keep the theater movie-going experience alive. (Francisco Martinez / The Ark)

A director who co-wrote a $34 million Netflix legal drama has turned her camera on downtown Tiburon’s Cinelounge, filming a reality TV pilot about the theater’s husband-and-wife owners and their mission to save the moviegoing experience.

Mill Valley’s Alexandra Duparc filmed Christian and Camilla Meoli for the “Saving Cinema” pilot Oct. 26-27. She is still shopping the show, which blends reality footage with scripted elements, to streaming services.

Duparc previously co-wrote “Monsanto,” a yet-to-be filmed legal drama with “The Blind Side” director John Lee Hancock, who is directing “Monsanto.” The film is set to star Glen Powell, Anthony Mackie and Laura Dern.

Friends and associates encouraged Duparc to meet the Meolis. The instant connection led her to assist with Cinelounge’s fundraising efforts as the theater works to transition to a nonprofit. She also began managing its social media.

“Then in doing that, I think I just felt deeply more in love with all of it and went like, ‘You know, I think that the world needs to know that these kinds of things are happening because for something that’s such a dying business, there’s not very many people holding the net to save anyone,’” Duparc says. “And it’s kind of freaking me out.”

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