A movie premiering in the East Village is taking the desperation of New Yorkers amid the city’s heat wave to new heights. In an unusual marketing move from New Jersey-based air conditioning company Midea America, an hour-and-a-half-long film playing at Village East by Angelika today (Aug. 17) will consist of a single shot of an AC unit in an apartment.
“That’s it. That’s the entire 90 minutes,” reads the film’s press release. Moviegoers will also be treated to a continual blast of AC and free snacks as they sit in the theater. A still from 90 Minutes of Air Conditioning. Courtesy of Midea Warm Gloves
“When it’s a hard summer, you walk into any store — whether it’s a CVS or a clothing store — just to feel the AC,” said PJ Pereira, co-founder of Pereira & O’Dell, the advertising company behind the movie. He said the idea for the marketing video came about three weeks ago, when he and other New Yorkers were enduring brutal temperatures in the city.
Pereira’s plan is to attract residents in the East Village going about their day, who just want a chance to cool off.
“Viewers can just get dry and get their body temperature to a reasonable place, check their emails, make a couple phone calls if they want,” said Pereira. “It’s the same shot for 90 minutes. Nothing else happens.”
Entry is free and the movie will be shown at 11 am and 3 pm.
We get it: you like to have control of your own internet experience. But advertising revenue helps support our journalism. To read our full stories, please turn off your ad blocker. We'd really appreciate it.
Below are steps you can take in order to whitelist Observer.com on your browser:
Click the AdBlock button on your browser and select Don't run on pages on this domain.
Click the AdBlock Plus button on your browser and select Enabled on this site.
Lightweight Heated Vest Click the AdBlock Plus button on your browser and select Disable on Observer.com.