What’s playing in weeks to come at Clark County’s indie theaters

While “Enormous” will be in wide release at local chain theaters, don’t forget that it’s also playing at Clark County’s two independent cinemas: the Liberty in Camas and the Kiggins in Vancouver.

Those cinemas spent the past year enduring a double whammy: add a total shutdown to the ongoing struggle of being small, independent outfits without deep corporate pockets. Both launched streaming services, but those never generated much revenue, managers said. The Kiggins still streams but the Liberty stopped trying.

Now, both cinemas are back at full capacity and eager to welcome moviegoers, and The Columbian is embarking on this occasional preview of their offerings.

What’s coming to our local indies in July? Here are some quick picks, but there’s lots more to choose from, so check out the cinema websites: kigginstheatre.com and camasliberty.com. General admission at the Kiggins is usually $10 (sometimes more for special events and screenings) while prices at the Liberty vary.

• “The Third Man,” one screening only, 7:30 p.m. Monday, at the Kiggins. A new restoration of the 1949 suspense thriller that was voted the all-time Greatest British Film by the British Film Institute. Set in cynical, crumbly, postwar Vienna, “The Third Man” stars Orson Welles and Joseph Cotten, but its real stars just might be underground tunnels and haunting zither music. Perhaps the best-ever example of “film noir,” this screening is part of Kiggins’ ongoing Noir Nights series, set for the second Monday of every month.
• “Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain,” opens July 16 at the Kiggins. “Bourdain” rhymes with urbane, and nobody was more urbane — suave, sophisticated, curious and kind — than the globetrotting chef, gourmand and author. Bourdain’s suicide in 2018, at the height of his celebrity, came as a shock. This documentary retraces not just his culinary adventures but his larger-than-life personality — never satisfied, always hungry.
• “Witches of the Orient,” starts streaming July 16 via the Kiggins. Hailed as one of the best sports documentaries in recent years, “Witches” follows the unlikely tale of Japanese factory workers who formed a women’s volleyball squad in the 1950s and went all the way to the 1964 Olympics. Considered superheroes in Japan, the women even got their own animated TV series.
• “ ‘Grease’ Sing-A-Long,” one show only, 8 p.m. July 17, at the Kiggins. Dig up those black leather jackets and poodle skirts and get ready to do the hand jive, live! Pre-show by The Denton Delinquents, a “shadowcast” group that usually spices up midnight screenings of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” Film begins around 8:30 p.m.
• “Summer of Soul,” opens July 23 at the Liberty. Everybody knows about August 1969’s Woodstock music festival, but did you know that the Harlem Cultural Festival was happening the same summer? “Summer of Soul” is a music documentary featuring never-seen performances by B.B. King, Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Mahalia Jackson, Mavis Staples and many more. Directed by “The Tonight Show” bandleader Questlove.
• “The Loneliest Whale,” tentative opening July 30 at the Liberty. One whale appears to sing at a different frequency than all the others, and scientists are determined to find out why. Their quest for what they dub “the 52 hertz whale” becomes a quest to understand why living things need one another.