It's Thursday afternoon and the cost of a critically acclaimed movie at a local Bismarck theater is $2.

No, this isn't a time-travel moment into the bowels of the box offices of 20th century decades past.

Today and the next Thursday and the next and so on through most of April.

The Cinema 100 spring series - 11 movies for $22 - started Thursday at the Grand Theatres, 1486 Interstate Loop.

Like it has every year for a long time.

Way back, in the 1950s, a volunteer group started to bring films into town that weren't available at local theaters - those critically acclaimed small, independent American and foreign films that might make viewers grow, stretch, think.

Sometimes, over the years, there have been uncomfortable moments because of it. Films viewed as controversial or disturbing have sometimes resulted in people getting up and leaving, recall long-time Cinema 100 subscribers.

Or resulted in protests. Bringing the French film "Hail Mary," to Bismarck one year resulted in a public protests, with people and signs on Main Avenue in front of where the film was being shown, said Brian Palecek, a college instructor and current president of Cinema 100.

But long-time Cinema 100 devotee Don Hastings, 74, a retired veterinarian, says the series has brought to town "some beautiful and interesting films." And if a movie is a bit much, "not my cup of tea," he would feel OK about walking out at the price of $2. Something that would be harder to justify if one had just spent $8.

Marlene Anderson, Cinema 100's treasurer, as well as director of library services for Bismarck State College, said there are topics that are disturbing, "things go on in the world that people don't like thinking about - violence, people living lives of fear or being involved in lives of prostitution. Those things can be hard to watch."

But Anderson said she goes to movies not really to be entertained but because she's curious about the world and wants movies that will take her to places she'll probably never go, and to times in history she'll never be a part of.

For people who want to see a particular movie in the series, but don't want to subscribe to the whole series, there is the opportunity, Hastings said. They just have to pay regular price for the movie at the Grand Theatres box office.

Ed Dyer, a Bismarck attorney, is a 10-years-plus subscriber: "My carcass has been seen there quite a few times." He said he has enjoyed most of the movies, and the ones he hasn't liked - like the one that had "grunge musicians calling each other the 'f' word for an hour or two," he's been able to stick through to the end. Films such as one about a past Guatelmalan civil war has given him a chance to see things from the perspective of that particular society or culture.

"It's an educational experience," he said.

He thinks it would be a big loss for him if Cinema 100 ever ended. "I normally don't go to many other movies," he said. "Most of what I see coming in theaters I wouldn't pay seven bucks to see."

Bismarck did lose Cinema 100 for a while, years ago. The 1950s start-up, with films shown in a deteriorating pre-renovated Belle Mehus City Auditorium, and then shown in the Provident Life Building's small auditorium, wheezed to a halt in the 1960s due to lack of community interest.

But Cinema 100, called that because the name reflected the group's goal of selling 100 season tickets to finance the series, was revived in 1973 when Palecek made it happen along with others - such as driving cinema force, Arnie Lahren, a BSC associate professor of history, now deceased.

And decades later, Palecek is still here and so is a core group of about 10 volunteers and so is the series. Cinema 100 typically draws a crowd of about 400 people, members and off-the-street viewers, each Thursday.

For the spring series, volunteers usually pull together a variety of films that include acclaimed classic films, foreign films and documentaries. The smaller fall series, started several years ago, usually has a theme, such as having a line-up of only documentaries.

Anderson said each year the volunteers come up with a list of about 30 movies and then Jerry Brekke, owner of Grand Theatres, who donates his theater space and staff's time, tries to find some of them.

"Some of these films come from faraway places," Brekke said. And sometimes there are few prints of the movie. And often, the movie's booking agent wants a one-week showing of the movie, not the one-day showing that Cinema 100 can afford.

"We just tell them it's an art series … try to convince them that way," Brekke said.

But once again, this year, after some challenging negotiations, a volunteer effort has pulled off bringing to town a variety of critically acclaimed films.

This year's spring series started with 3 and 5:30 p.m. Thursday showings of an acclaimed African movie, the 2004 "Moolaade" that Cinema 100 has tried to get for three years. They finally did it this year. The film, still not on DVD, and with limited prints, was a major challenge to snag. Other films in the series probably could be found in some video stores or through the mail, but Cinema 100 devotees contend a television screen watched in solitude doesn't begin to compare to a big-screen group experience.

And after the movie, viewers are invited to the optional opportunity of gathering at a local restaurant to discuss the movie.

Cinema 100 devotees' focus is growth - of the inner kind.

"Our members are trusting us," Palecek said. Trusting not that the 11 films will necessarily be "11 nice films … but 11 films that will be a stretch," he said.

For more information, call 224-5578 or visit cinema100.com.