CityView Magazine

CAMEO 10 years of bringing independent films to town | By Jaymie Baxley APPEARANCE Over the last 10 years the Cameo has introduced Fayetteville to hundreds of films that might otherwise have gone unseen here. That tradition continues with some of the movies scheduled to be screened in coming months, including: 127 Hours T Black Swan 127 Hours Black Swan Somewhere Somewhere he Tourist The Tourist The King’s Speech are darting from store front to store front, candy spilling out of their pails. A child disguised as Superman pauses in front of the theater and excitedly points at a poster advertising the education documentary “Waiting For Superman,” which tickles Chris. “He thinks it’s really about Superman,” he observes. The centerpiece of tomorrow’s event will be a special presentation of the legendary I The King’s Speech Opposite | Chris and Nasim Kuenzel (left) with business partner Eric Lindstrom 1922 German vampire film, “Nosferatu.” In addition to being a fitting selection for Halloween, Nosferatu was also the inspiration for the very first film the Cameo played, 2000’s “Shadow Of The Vampire.” Nearly 400 films later, the couple recalls what inspired them to open the Cameo, which over the past ten years, has become one of downtown Fayetteville’s flagship establishments. One major inspiration was the 1988 Italian feature “Cinema Paradiso” “It’s a film about growing up with cinemas and theaters and how important this one theater was to this little town,” explained Nasim. “Also, I think every downtown simply needs a movie theater,” added Chris. The Kuenzel’s began location scouting in 1996, hoping to find a building with a distressed “historic look.” They eventually settled on the former location of the Dixie Theater downtown, Fayetteville’s inaugural movie house. “We were a little naive,” confessed Nasim. “We thought ‘how hard could it be?,’ financing was lot harder than we thought, booking was a lot harder than we thought, finding help was a lot harder. We didn’t have the luxury of corporate support but, once you love something so much, there is no other option. You have to do it.” Chris and Nasim purchased the building in 1997 and, after three long years of restoration and planning, the Cameo opened it’s doors in October of 2000. CityViewNC.com | 49 t’s a chilly Friday evening and Cameo Art House Theater owners Nasim and Chris Kuenzel are taking a well-deserved break from organizing their theater’s tenth anniversary celebration, which is scheduled to start in less than 24 hours. The couple are sitting at a black mesh table outside the now decade-old establishment, cheerfully greeting patrons and watching trick or treaters, most of whom are younger than their theater, shuffle down Hay Street. Toddlers dressed as big screen icons like Darth Vader, Indiana Jones and Spider-Man

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