Volunteer spotlight: Andrew Ranta

When he's not volunteering for Filmworks, Andrew Ranta enjoys watching horror movies, especially if they're horror movies about horror movies.
When he’s not volunteering for Filmworks, Andrew Ranta enjoys watching horror movies, especially if they’re horror movies about horror movies.
April 2014 volunteer spotlight: Andrew Ranta

Occupation: Andrew runs a construction and hotel liquidation company called Equity Building Materials.

What are some of your hobbies? “I watch a lot of movies and travel.”

What is your favorite genre of movie? “I probably have a weak spot for bad horror movies.”

Is there a specific one that really sticks out to you, a favorite? “No, I have a hard time picking favorites. I watch a little bit of everything. So I have some that I’ll like of this, some that I’ll like of that. The new remake of “Evil Dead” was pretty cool, though. And “Cabin in the Woods” was a great meta-horror movie. It was cool because it was a regular horror movie, but at the same time it deconstructed all of the classic tropes and played with them. It was almost like a discussion of horror movies. Not quite a parody, but it pokes fun at horror movies while using them to be a little more literate than a typical horror movie.”

How long have you been volunteering for Filmworks and how did you get involved? “I’ve been volunteering for almost three years now and I was just looking for stuff to do. I had gone to a couple of shows and thought, ‘Hey, I’ll volunteer.’ I get a free movie out of it and I like The Tower Theatre. It’s a nice theatre and it’s nice to just to hang out there.”

What has been your favorite Filmworks screening and why? “I think probably the most memorable one was the 2010 Fresno Film Festival, which ended with “The White Ribbon” and the film fell off of the platter with 15 minutes left in the movie. It was the very last film on Saturday, so everyone who was there was kind of already punchdrunk, and it was a very tense movie so nobody wanted to leave without the ending. So everyone just hung out for 20 minutes while they were fixing the movie and it was just like this weird, almost humorously tense, awkward waiting period for the film to come back on. It was funny, but the movie itself was also really good.”

Are there any specific types of films or movie genres that would you like Filmworks to show more of? “Personally, I think it would be awesome if they had a whole bunch of cool Korean horror movies/thrillers/revenge movies because in the last couple years those are the types of films that I’ve been really interested in. But I don’t really think that that’s their thing. I don’t think most people who attend Filmworks events would go see that, although “Omar” at the 2014 festival did have a pretty brutal ending.”

What do you enjoy most about Filmworks in general? “I suppose it’s the same thing that everyone says, but just the opportunity to see films that I would never have the opportunity to see on the big screen unless I went to cities like L.A. or San Francisco.”

Filmworks thanks all of our April 2014 volunteers: Avigdar Adams, Jackie Aldern, Claudia Arguelles-Miller, Gabriel Baltierra, Sarah Barker, Cleo Bauer, Dominic Bedrossian, Rita Bell, Leslie Bjerke, Nene Casares, Celeste DeMonte, Rebekah Eropkin, Katrina Garcia, Fae Giffen, Rebecca Horwitz, Neal Howard, Carl Johnsen, Kathyrn Johnsen, Ryan Jones (discussant), Monica Marks-Rea, Peter McDonald, Don Olson, Dominic Papagni, Sara Poss, Andre Provencio, Andrew Ranta, Gene Richards, Susan Rogers, Bill Rovin, Eva Shanoian, John Shanoian, Brijesh Sharma, Joan Sharma, Sky Sweet, Phil Unruh, Analise Villalobos (intern), Suzanne Watkins, Kao-Ly Yang (discussant).

Past volunteers in the spotlight: March 2014: Loraine Tomerlin • February 2014: Antonio Garcia • January 2014: Fae Giffen • December 2013: Cleo Bauer and Dominic Papagni • November 2013: Kathryn and Carl Johnsen • October 2013: Linda Hernandez • September 2013: Susan Rogers • August 2013: Joan and Brijesh Sharma • July 2013: Jon Veinberg • June 2013: Richard Stone • May 2013: Sarah Nixon • April 2013: Alyssa Rendon • March 2013: Nené Casares

Contact our volunteer director, Gloria Burrola, to volunteer at a future screening.