Center Theatre’s movie screenings to benefit medical efforts in Ukraine

DOVER-FOXCROFT — The Center Theatre in Dover-Foxcroft will host two screenings of the film “Red Dawn” next weekend, with admission by donation, which will benefit an international nonprofit providing aid to Ukraine.

One of the theater’s local donors, who asked to remain anonymous, suggested the idea to show the movie as a way to raise funds for relief efforts, Executive Director Patrick Myers said.

The donor covered the cost of movie royalties and rental fees so donations can go directly to Doctors Without Borders, he said. The organization provides medical care during humanitarian crises around the world.

“Red Dawn” will be shown at 1 and 7 p.m. Sunday, March 13, at Center Theatre, 20 East Main St. The film premiered in 1984 and tells the tale of a small group of high school students in Colorado who resist a fictional invasion of the United States by the Russian army.  Although the theater doesn’t expect the screenings and donations will have a colossal effect, it’s a small community’s way of doing something positive in response to the crisis in Ukraine.

“I think a lot of us here in rural Maine wish we could do more,” Myers said. “Even being able to do this small thing means a lot to us locally.”

Myers has contacted a couple hundred theaters across the country to share the idea. A few dozen, from places such as Vermont and Colorado, have responded, expressing curiosity and interest, he said.

“Who knows what’s going to happen,” he said, adding he hopes for as big of a turnout as possible. “I would be surprised if we didn’t start seeing showings around the country.”

Médecins Sans Frontières, or Doctors Without Borders, was first founded in Paris, France, in 1971, and its headquarters are based in Geneva, Switzerland. It has offices in countries across the world.

The organization is dispatching teams to Poland, Moldova, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia to help Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war. Emergency teams are already at the Ukraine-Poland border, getting essential supplies to people in need and trying to reach those in Ukraine, according to its website. Doctors Without Borders is also prepared to respond in Russia and Belarus.

“Our teams at the Ukraine-Poland border checkpoints are seeing people cross over on foot, in cars and on buses — many of them tired and exhausted, and some with children as young as 25 days old,” the website said.

After spending long hours, sometimes days, in line to cross the border, many Ukrainian refugees are arriving dehydrated and suffering from hypothermia, the organization said.

In Mariupol, a city in eastern Ukraine, Doctors Without Borders teams have distributed medical kits to treat war-wounded people, according to the website. Teams have also provided telemedicine training for trauma care for 30 surgeons in eastern Ukraine.

To donate directly to Doctors Without Borders, visit the website.