The Rialto Cerrito Cinemas will host two special community events this coming weekend.

On Saturday, April 17, “Loma Prieta Revisited” will be screened at 11 a.m. The half-hour film was produced by the local community broadcaster KCRT in cooperation with the El Cerrito Fire Department. The event will also feature local people talking about their experiences during the 1989 quake, and will provide filmgoers a chance to learn more about El Cerrito’s CERT program – Community Emergency Response team. Come, enjoy, learn, participate – and maybe win an emergency kit or another prize. Admission is free!

On Sunday, April 18, at noon, a special program will benefit El Cerrito’s Harding Elementary School. “Enchanted,” with Amy Adams and James Marsden, mixes fantasy with reality, an animated evil queen and the gritty streets of New York, in a delightful PG-rated film

Later on:

And don’t forget the next National Theater Live presentation – “The Habit of Art” by playwright Alan Bennett, Monday, May 3 and Wednesday, May 5, at 7:30 p.m. This is a broadcast of live theater from one of London’s great theaters. The characters in this drama are composer Benjamin Britten and poet W. H. Auden. Buy tickets in advance to avoid disappointment! Adults $22, Seniors (60+) $20, Children (12 and under) $15. Visit the website, www.rialtocinemas.com.

Friends of the Cerrito Theater is thrilled that classic films will again be shown at our classic Art Deco movie theater.

Rialto Cinemas Cerrito plans a monthly series of classic films. They will be shown the second Thursday of every month – for the bargain price of only $7!

The folks at Rialto Cinemas selected the classics with help from members of Friends. We cordially invite everyone to join us for a series of delightful evenings, which will feature prizes and special events. Settle back with a meal, beer or wine or a soft drink and enjoy!

First up – “Diva,” which, the New York Times says is “like something beamed down from the planet of cool!” This 1981 French film, directed by Jean-Jacques Beineix, involves motorcycle messengers, mysterious opera stars, cops and racketeers – and features a legendary chase scene through Paris. “Every shot seems designed to delight the audience,” wrote critic Pauline Kael, who wasn’t easily delighted. The Village Voice called it “aA brash, snazzy thriller.” And Newsweek weighed in with: “Sensual, funny, outlandish, this is a movie devoted strictly to the pleasure principle.”

Thursday, April 8, 7:15 p.m. All seats, $7.

Next up: An old favorite, a movie that deserves to be seen on the big screen: Roman Polanski’s “Chinatown,” with Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway. Catch it Thursday, May 13.

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Starting April 8th Rialto Cinemas Cerrito and the Friends of the Cerrito Theater are thrilled to announce the return of Cerrito Classics! Cerrito Classics is a monthly series of presentations of film classics on the big screen the way they were meant to be seen! Join us the second Thursday of each month to revisit these great movies! All seats $7! Join us for each month for classic movies, trivia and prizes!

The classics kick off with Diva, the genre shattering, art house sensation, re-released on 35mm. This film single-handedly launched the cinéma du look, an explosion of visually stunning, punk-inspired, super- cool French movies in the early 80s.

In this exhilarating modern noir, Jules (Frederic Andrei) is a motorbike messenger who is infatuated with the glorious voice of opera singer Cynthia (Wilhelmenia Wiggins Fernandez), and surreptitiously tapes her. Because Cynthia has never allowed her voice to be recorded, shadowy agents of a Taiwanese record company seek his bootlegged tape. It also gets confused with yet another tape, this one with incriminating evidence about a high-ranking police official. Fortunately for Jules, he joins forces with a sassy young Vietnamese girl and a mysterious Zen philosopher, Gorodish (Richard Bohringer). Many dazzling plot complications ensue, along with one of cinema’s best chase scenes, in and around the Paris Metro system.

Look for Roman Polanski’s Chinatown starring Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway on Thursday, May 13th. June’s classic is the comedy Born Yesterday, in July we’ll feature Jaws, August brings To Catch a Thief, September is Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Setting the mood for Halloween October’s feature will be Rosemary’s Baby followed by a newly restored print of The Red Shoes in November and White Christmas in December.

Don’t forget: the second Thursday of each month all seats $7. Be sure to arrive early and plan to watch and dine. Nothing goes better with classic films than a wonderful meal, beer and wine!

For the Cerrito Classics ticket prices are– $7.00 for all seat. The Box Office is open daily from 15 minutes before the first feature begins until 15 minutes after the last feature has begun.

Rialto Cinemas Cerrito, located at 10070 San Pablo Avenue at Central in El Cerrito, opened as Rialto Cinemas Cerrito in July 2009 and presents first run films AND serves traditional movie concession items as well as meals, beer and wine. The Showtime hotline is (510) 273- 9102 and the website is www.rialtocinemas.com

CONTACT: Melissa Hatheway, 707-539-9771, mhatheway@rialtocinemas.com