Celebrate the Rental Revival at the Heights Theater

The Heights Theater, Sloppy Discs, Ant Hill Video, Saturn Video & Cafe, and The Video Store Mpls are joining forces for a community gathering ahead of The Heights' screening of Event Horizon on April 24, 2026.

Twin Cities cinephiles and physical media fans are invited to come meet the people behind these four rental revival projects — operating and launching across North, Northeast, and South Minneapolis — socialize, sign up for their mailing lists, and be in the running for some sweet giveaways.

The evening culminates with The Heights' screening of Event Horizon. The 1997 sci-fi horror film was a box office flop, but found its real audience on home video; its initial DVD release sold so well that Paramount contacted director Paul W.S. Anderson about restoring deleted footage, only to discover it had been lost or destroyed. It has since been reassessed as a cult classic, influencing countless sci-fi and horror films and appearing on best-of horror lists ever since.

Friday, April 24, 2026 | The Heights Theater

Tabling opens at 8:30pm · Preshow at 9:30pm · Movie at 9:45pm

Ant Hill Video is a member-supported rental service founded by Sarah Huisken (she/her), offering DVD, Blu-ray, and VHS rentals for $3/month with no checkout or late fees. Born out of the Cult Film Collective, it operates on a fully remote pick-up/drop-off model through Moon Palace Books, with a library leaning into horror, sci-fi, and animation. heyanthill@gmail.com

Saturn Video & Cafe is an in-development community video rental store and café being brought to life by film editor Sierra Evans-Parham (she/they). Its library will center world cinema and films by underrepresented directors — LGBTQIA+, women, BIPOC, and disabled filmmakers — alongside hard-to-find titles, with a café and programming space for local filmmakers and members. Currently fundraising toward a spring/summer 2026 opening, Saturn is a fiscally sponsored project of Springboard for the Arts. @saturnvideo.cafe on Instagram

The Video Store Mpls is a nonprofit, soon-to-be movie rental store, founded by movie-graphic-tee-wearer, Eric Knobel (he/him). The Video Store aims to bring back the joys of indie video store culture and subvert corporate streaming services through the power of physical media, offering members local, easy access to a big, diverse library of excellent movies and (hopefully soon!) a cool store to roam around. Fundraising will start summer 2026. @thevideostorempls on Instagram | thevideostorempls.org