12/09/09 The Uptown Theater on Connecticut Avenue is Washington, DC’s best movie theater. An art deco gem built in 1936, the Uptown is often used by the studios for movie premieres. My experience shooting the low key screening of Invictus last week got me thinking about some of the fun movie openings I’ve shot at the Uptown over the years.

[Will Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett-Smith look at the screaming fans lining the opposite side of the street for the premiere of Enemy of The State in 1998.]

[Eager fans sleeping in line outside the Uptown for the premiere of the first Star Wars movie in 15 years – The Phantom Menace in 1999.]

[ Al Pacino at the premiere of The Insider in November 1999.]

[Actress Ashley Judd blows off an autograph seeker on her way into an advance screening of her movie “De-lovely” at The Uptown in ’04.]

[Director Michael Moore at the Fahrenheit 09/11 premiere in ’04. The faces in this frame remind me of a Hieronymus Bosch painting.]

[Nicolas Cage on the red carpet for Windtalkers in 2002.]