Every semester, the Office of Student Life at the University of Texas at El Paso presents a cinematic line-up with their Get Reel series. Each Thursday and Friday of every week during the fall semester, a different movie is played at the Union Cinema, located on the first floor of Union Building East.
The selected movies for the fall 2015 semester are “Mad Max: Fury Road,” “San An-dreas,” “Jurassic World,” “Inside Out,“ “Paper Towns,” “The Gift,” “Fantastic Four” and “Minions.”
According to Mallory Garcia, event services coordinator at the Office of Student Life, Get Reel is designed to provide blockbuster movies at an affordable price and at a conven-ient location for UTEP students, staff, faculty and the general public.
“Each semester, we look at what movies have recently come out,” Garcia said. “We research audience reviews and ratings as well as awards shows such as the Academy Awards and the Emmys. We then narrow down a list of potential films and take a vote from internal offices to finalize a schedule that will be favorable to students, faculty and our community families.”
In order to screen these movies at UTEP’s movie theater, the Office of Student Life purchases the rights to each film through two companies that provide movie licenses.
“We are given the rights for the dates selected to show that movie and then sent a copy of the movie for us to play,” Garcia said.
Apart from being an affordable option for the UTEP and El Paso community, the Get Reel series is also meant to be an opportunity for students to enlighten themselves and get away from the stress that college classes can cause.
The film series also has concession items available during film screenings. UTEP Food Services will be offering hot dogs, nachos, popcorn and sodas out of the Jamba Juice and Starbucks location in Union Building East, which is near the theater.
“They also offer a $5 movie combo, which includes popcorn, a hotdog and a soda, which is usually our biggest seller,” Garcia said.
The ticket price for a movie is $2 for students, staff, faculty and alumni with a valid Miner Gold Card and $3 for a general admission ticket.
Season passes are also available for purchase. This pass offers access to eight movies for the price of six movies. The season pass is $12 for faculty, staff, student and alumni with valid Miner Gold Card and $18 for the general public.
“All tickets for the showing must be purchased through the University Ticket Center,” Garcia said.
The University Ticket Center has two locations. The main location is located at Mesa St. by the Don Haskins Center, and the second one is located at the Union East Building by the Union Cinema.
“I have gone, it is a good option when you don’t get to see a movie at the movie theater,” said Eduardo Carrasco, senior civil engineering major at UTEP. “The screen is not too big, but the movie can be watched very well and the sound is great. My only complaint are the seats that are somewhat uncomfortable, but the popcorn is really good.”
The Get Reel series also is ADA accessible and features closed captioning on all films.
If viewers do not have a UTEP parking permit, free parking is available at the UTEP Sun Bowl Parking garage and at the S-1 parking lot.
For a list of all films and their screening times, visit sa.utep.edu/osl/ or visit the Office of Student Life Facebook page, facebook.com/UTEPOSL.
Fernanda Leon may be reached at the [email protected]
