The Teen Arts Council will host a movie night as its first event of the year at 7 p.m. on Friday at the Mitchell Park Teen Center.
The featured film for this year’s annual movie event will be “The Princess Bride.” Admission is free, but concessions will be sold at the event as a fundraiser for the TAC.
While there is no official theme this year, the infamous date of Friday the 13th will play a role in the evening’s decor.
“Movie night does fall on Friday the 13th,” movie night event co-organizer and Palo Alto High School junior Alexandra Dinu said. “The place will be set up to sort of reflect the eerie and suspenseful mood that is so well known with that date.”
“The Princess Bride,” told from the perspective of a grandfather reading a fairytale to his grandson, details the story of Buttercup, a former farm girl who has been chosen by Prince Humperdinck to be his bride. However, Buttercup is still in love with a man named Wesley, who was lost at sea. Pirates, thieves, giants, royalty and a kidnapping all come together in this classic romantic comedy.
According to junior Publicity Coordinator Nandini Relan, the TAC is comprised of a group of teenagers from the Palo Alto area who have a passion for art and wish to share that enthusiasm with the student population.
“We plan all sorts of events throughout the year, [such as] recurring open mics and poetry slams,” Relan said. “All of these events are run almost entirely by high school students.”
In addition to its focus on the arts, the TAC wishes to provide a place for students to decompress through events such as this upcoming movie night.
“We provide a safe space for teens to come and de-stress,” Relan said. “It’s a super happy environment to be in.”
The event was originally planned for finals week, but was moved to this weekend to improve student attendance.
“We decided this year that it may be easier to just do it [this Friday] when everyone can just relax more fully and seniors are mostly done with applications,” Dinu said.
The TAC encourages students of all backgrounds and interests to come.
“A lot of the time, people think it’s just us in Teen Arts Council or just our close group of friends,” Dinu said. “But a huge reason why we have this event [movie night] is to bring people from different backgrounds together to meet and just relax together and have a fun evening.”
For those who can’t make it to this Friday’s event, the TAC will also be hosting a poetry slam on Jan. 27, and an open mic night on Feb. 10, according to Relan.