Living in Los Angeles, it can be easy for UCLA students to get overwhelmed with all the possibilities of the entertainment world. With premieres in Westwood and celebrity sightings in Hollywood, the glamour and glitz can make it easy to forget that sometimes perks can be found right on campus.

Melnitz Movies, which is run by the Graduate Student Association at UCLA, offers movie screenings at least once a week at Melnitz Hall. Funded by the Associated Students of UCLA’s Student Interaction Fund, Melnitz Movies is free for all students and faculty at UCLA and the rest of the surrounding L.A. community. It offers the chance to see sneak previews, premieres and lesser-known art movies, often followed by a Q&A session with someone directly involved with the film.

The series saw new changes this year with the establishment of a publicity assistant position and greater promotion through social media, which Samuel Prime, director of Melnitz Movies, said he hopes will help to increase the campus’s participation in the screenings.

“Our goal is to build the Melnitz Movie audience from both graduate and undergraduate students. We’ve created a new Facebook page and listserv … to foster discussions of the films (we show) and to create a community,” he said.

According to Andrew Hall, who served as Melnitz Movie director for the 2009-2010 school year, the series has always been able to attract a good percentage of viewers but often not from the UCLA campus itself.

“On the whole we averaged about 170 people per screening or so. There were a lot of members of the community at large and cinephiles in LA who are aware of the series, … (but) frequently that attendance didn’t include as many students as we would like. The challenge is to get this diverse student body with different interests and to connect with that group,” Hall said.

According to Michael Weismeyer, the director of GSA, Melnitz Movies is working to create more partnerships with other groups and organizations on campus to reach different segments of the campus population. He hopes the efforts will bring increased attendance from the student body.

According to Prime, in the past Melnitz Movies has mainly focused on screening independent and art house films. Although those will continue to be a part of the repertoire, he said he has been working to provide both a wider variety and the chance to offer more sneak previews and L.A. premieres.

“It gives us a legitimacy and a mark of quality on our program that we are the first to get a film. Five (of our) films this year have been L.A. premieres. (It shows that) we are not only recognized here in L.A. but from a worldwide community that people are honored to have Melnitz Movies debut their film,” said Prime.

This quarter’s selection of films includes a David Cronenberg double feature (“The Fly” and “Dead Ringers”) and a sneak preview of the film “Outrage” by Japanese director Takeshi Kitano. Screening tonight will be a sneak preview of “Tyrannosaur,” directed by Paddy Considine, a film that, according to Prime, had an emotional impact.

“It’s one of the most stunning pictures I’ve seen in recent memory, and one of the most powerfully and emotionally affecting films. I was basically in tears in the first 10 minutes, and I knew I had to bring it to campus,” Prime said.

Prime said most screenings also feature a following Q&A session with a member of the crew . Though they have historically leaned toward interviewing directors or actors, Prime said he is trying to incorporate a wider variety of people, including cinematographers and producers.

For Hall, the Q&A sessions have often been his most memorable and powerful experiences with Melnitz Movies.

“We did a screening of ‘The Most Dangerous Man in America’ … and the Q&A lasted for over an hour. Over 200 people stuck around and participated in this discussion about the importance of political engagement in our current time, and it was so exciting to see people excited not just about the film, but about issues that are impacting all of us,” he said.

“On the whole we averaged about 170 people per screening or so. There were a lot of members of the community at large and cinephiles in LA who are aware of the series, … (but) frequently that attendance didn’t include as many students as we would like. The challenge is to get this diverse student body with different interests and to connect with that group,” Hall said.

According to Michael Weismeyer, the director of GSA, Melnitz Movies is working to create more partnerships with other groups and organizations on campus to reach different segments of the campus population. He hopes the efforts will bring increased attendance from the student body.

According to Prime, in the past Melnitz Movies has mainly focused on screening independent and art house films. Although those will continue to be a part of the repertoire, he said he has been working to provide both a wider variety and the chance to offer more sneak previews and L.A. premieres.

“It gives us a legitimacy and a mark of quality on our program that we are the first to get a film. Five (of our) films this year have been L.A. premieres. (It shows that) we are not only recognized here in L.A. but from a worldwide community that people are honored to have Melnitz Movies debut their film,” said Prime.

This quarter’s selection of films includes a David Cronenberg double feature (“The Fly” and “Dead Ringers”) and a sneak preview of the film “Outrage” by Japanese director Takeshi Kitano. Screening tonight will be a sneak preview of “Tyrannosaur,” directed by Paddy Considine, a film that, according to Prime, had an emotional impact.

“It’s one of the most stunning pictures I’ve seen in recent memory, and one of the most powerfully and emotionally affecting films. I was basically in tears in the first 10 minutes, and I knew I had to bring it to campus,” Prime said.

Prime said most screenings also feature a following Q&A session with a member of the crew . Though they have historically leaned toward interviewing directors or actors, Prime said he is trying to incorporate a wider variety of people, including cinematographers and producers.

For Hall, the Q&A sessions have often been his most memorable and powerful experiences with Melnitz Movies.

“We did a screening of ‘The Most Dangerous Man in America’ … and the Q&A lasted for over an hour. Over 200 people stuck around and participated in this discussion about the importance of political engagement in our current time, and it was so exciting to see people excited not just about the film, but about issues that are impacting all of us,” he said.