Book launch party at Art Escape Sonoma

Children’s book author Jennifer Churchill describes classic black and white films as “moving art.”

“I love the way actors talk in old movies, the witty banter, the clothes they wear and the aesthetic of beautiful black and white images,” she said.

Churchill will be reading from her book “Movies are Magic” at a book launch party at Art Escape on Saturday, Dec. 8.

Churchill’s partner, Kenta Gilmore was born and raised in Sonoma and graduated from Sonoma Valley High in 2002. They now live in the Agua Caliente with their young son Weston, who attends Old Adobe School in Sonoma and will be a student at Flowery Elementary next year when he starts kindergarten.

“He’s the inspiration for the character of the same name in my book,” said Churchill.

Churchill said that she has been a classic film fan since she was a toddler.

“My mom loved old movies and pre-cable TV - we’d watch them on Sunday afternoons on the PBS station,” she said. “Back then, classic movies weren’t as accessible as they are now, with cable, YouTube and streaming. So they sort of had an air of mystery to them, and they provided this glimpse into what life was like in the 1930s and 1940s.”

Churchill took film history and film appreciation classes in college and discovered that on Turner Classic Movies, “there was this amazing place where – without commercial interruption – I could watch classic movies all day and all night.”

Every year for the past decade, she has attended the TCM Classic Film Festival, and over the years, made dozens of classic film friends, some of whom work at TCM.

“We fear that future generations won’t have the same affection and love for classic movies, and that the fan base will die out,” she said. “I wrote this book because there is no other book like this, and I wanted not only my own son to be introduced to these movies and where they came from but to introduce (all) little ones to film history.”

Thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign two years ago, Churchill was able to pay an illustrator and publish the book. The book features a heartfelt introduction by Ben Mankiewicz, the host of Turner Classic Movies.

The book is available on Amazon and also through the Turner Classic Movies website at shop.tcm.com.

The Art Escape party is from 5 to 7 p.m on Saturday.

Movie-themed wines from the TCM Wine Club will be served as well as tamales from El Brinquito. Kids can make motion- and visual-focused kids’ projects in the craft room and watch a classic film on the big screen.

Parking is available on site or next door at Flowery Elementary School.