According to Luke Sieczek, program manager for Union Theatre, the decision was made last semester to start showing strictly 35mm prints on Wednesday and Thursday nights. In the past, those nights were reserved for theme-oriented programs. Now, the new Classic series allows fans to view films that they otherwise could only see at home. “It’s a chance for people to experience in a theatrical setting films that are older but still have a kind of power,” Sieczek said. “You can experience how they were originally shown on the big screen, rather than viewing them on home video.”

The films are carefully selected by Sieczek himself, who works with distributors specializing in restored and old prints. His goal is to find films that haven’t been in the programming for some time, or new prints of older films. The titles Sieczek settles on aren’t exactly your everyday blockbusters either.

“These are films that deserve to play again, or films that are a few years old or from the ’50s and ’60s that have new prints which were recently made available,” Sieczek said. “They are classics of world cinema films that have a reputation and have withstood the test of time.

“The more recent films are ones that in our eyes deserve to be seen again. We consider them contemporary classics.”

Once Sieczek has chosen the films he deems worthy, he organizes them into a schedule based on the other films that are being shown that week.

“We try to create programs that kind of tie together,” Sieczek said. “It’s not just based on whatever is available or new, but it also has a connection that makes people think about the history of cinema as an art form.”

At 8 p.m. on Sept. 17-18,