SALA packs May calendar with films, community events, local launches

SALA Los Alamos Event Center is turning its May calendar into a downtown draw, with films, faith-based gatherings, teen programming and two standout special events at 2551 Central Avenue.

The biggest immediate pulls are the launch of LosAlamos.com and a special premiere weekend for The Cosmic Trigger. The LosAlamos.com event is set for Wednesday, May 6, at 5 p.m., with a Zoom portion at 5:15 p.m., and the launch page describes the site as a new community platform for Los Alamos. Allan Saenz, Margarita Ryan of Beehaus and Kevin Holsapple of Places and Spaces are scheduled to share the vision behind the project, which the site sums up as “Where History, Science, and Nature Meet.”

A few days later, SALA will host The Cosmic Trigger for a special Los Alamos premiere on Friday, May 8, at 7 p.m., and Saturday, May 9, at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. SALA’s ticket calendar bills it as “The Cosmic Trigger — Special SALA Premiere + Q&A with Filmmaker Larry L.,” making the weekend more than a standard screening. The added discussion gives the documentary a local event feel and positions SALA as a place where film and conversation can happen in the same room.

Beyond those marquee items, SALA’s May calendar is built around repeat programming that broadens the venue’s role in county life. The schedule includes New Reels, Classics, Faith and Community Series, National Theatre Live, Teen Movie Night, Public Event and Special Event categories, along with listings for High Desert Church, Atomic City United Pentecostal Church and Free Palestine Spring Series events. That mix puts religious groups, civic gatherings and arts programming under one roof at the former Reel Deal Theater site.

SALA says the transformation from Reel Deal Theater to the current member-supported event center was spearheaded by Allan Saenz and Sammi Owens. The membership model, which includes discounted tickets, concessions, rentals and nonprofit support credits, helps explain why the venue can support such a wide-ranging calendar. For Los Alamos County, where schools, clubs and nonprofits do much of the work of building community, SALA’s May lineup gives residents a recurring place to gather, watch, talk and come back again.