The Egyptian Theater will not be continuing their tradition of showing independent and foreign movies this fall due to a broken film projector.

The theater, run and staffed entirely by volunteers from a group called the Preservation of the Egyptian Theater, is waiting for donations to be able to fix their projector and to purchase more modern video equipment.

The theater used to show independent, foreign and anime films for a period of six weeks every fall up until last year. The old fashioned carbon arch projector the theater used stopped working periodically, and last fall the film series stopped.

“There’s nothing more frustrating than watching three quarters of a movie and then it stops,” said theater manager Carrie Brantley.

The loss of this projector was unfortunate because of its practical use and because it represented a piece of the theater’s history. Many theaters began updating their projectors from carbon arch to more modern versions after the sixties, Brantley said, but P.E.T. chose not to.

“We opted to keep it because it’s a brilliant picture,” said Brantley, “And because it’s old fashioned, it also has historical significance.”

Even though this projector hasn’t been working for more than a year, students at NIU still miss it.

“I loved watching the independent movies at the Egyptian,” said junior mechanical engineering major Bryan Venhorst. “It’s the only place around here that really offers something like that.”

P.E.T. is trying to raise funds so the projector can be fixed, but because the theater does not have any ongoing support from any organizations, any money P.E.T. receives must go to fund the maintenance of the theater building.

The organization is also hoping to invest in more modern video equipment. The cost of such an investment would be anywhere from $70,000 to $75,000, Brantley said.

“The goal is not insurmountable, but since this is an entirely volunteer-run effort, it will be hard,” she said.

P.E.T.’s goal is to be able to begin showing films again as soon as possible.

“We loved the film series,” Brantley said. “But we are still looking for fundraising.”