Trainspotting 30th Anniversary!

Trainspotting returns to the big screen at Paramount and Stateside Theatres on Thursday, July 23, as part of the Paramount Summer Classic Film Series. It's the 30th anniversary of the film, which came out in 1996, so it's a good time to see it in a theater again rather than on a small screen at home.

Directed by Danny Boyle, Trainspotting is a darkly funny adaptation of Irvine Welsh's novel. It follows Mark Renton, a Scottish heroin addict, and his misfit mates, whose lives are cut to an iconic soundtrack of techno, rock, and Brit-pop. The film was a major breakthrough for Boyle, producer Andrew Macdonald, and screenwriter John Hodge, and it's still one of the most recognizable films of the nineties. The cast is just as well-remembered: Ewan McGregor leads the group, with Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller, Kevin McKidd, Robert Carlyle, and Kelly Macdonald.

The screening is at the Paramount, which has stood on Congress Avenue in downtown Austin for over 100 years. It opened in 1915 as Austin's oldest surviving theater, starting out as a Vaudeville and variety house. It's a City and State Landmark, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and one of the few remaining 'hemp houses' in the country. These days, it's where Austin's red-carpet film premieres happen, and it's part of SXSW and the Austin Film Festival, as well as the home of the Moontower Comedy Festival. The Paramount operates alongside the State Theatre next door under The Austin Theatre Alliance, a 501(c)(3) non-profit.

So, if you've seen it a dozen times or never caught it on the big screen, this is your chance. The screening is Thursday, July 23, at the Paramount and Stateside Theatres in downtown Austin.