Independent film is coming to the Duxbury Performing Arts Center. The PAC has formed a working relationship with the Coolidge Corner Theater of Brookline and will be showing films on Saturdays, starting on July 11 and continuing through August.

Denise Kasell, executive director of the theater, said that her organization was approached by PAC General Manager Tony Kelso about bringing art house theater to the South Shore. As luck would have it, only the weekend before Kasell, who is new to the area, jumped in her car to explore the area and wound up in Duxbury. When Kelso described the PAC, it seemed like a natural fit.

“We went to look at the space and thought it was quite beautiful,” Kasell said.

Kelso said he’s always wanted to bring professional movies to Duxbury, but didn’t have the technological know-how.

“I’ve always wanted to show movies in the PAC, but I knew nothing about how to do it professionally,” he said. “It just seemed like this summer was the perfect time to try this.”

The PAC rented theatrical equipment such as a projector, a movie quality screen and sound system, said Kelso.  If the movies prove to be successful, Kelso said he may look into installing more permanent movie-viewing instruments.

“There’s nothing on the South Shore that’s showing the independent non-mall plex type movies,” he said. “I think people are looking for stuff that’s nontraditional, an interesting mix of stuff.”

Kasell said that the theater has several other partnerships with groups outside Boston, the idea being that demand for independent film exists, but community groups like the PAC may not always have the connections with distributor networks to bring the films to town.

“We thought, we should start sharing that with organizations that don’t have that asset,” she said.

The first movie of the partnership will be “Throw Down Your Heart,” a documentary that follows banjo virtuoso Bela Fleck to Africa to research the roots of his instrument. Fleck will be in Duxbury, and will answer questions from the audience as well as perform after both the 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. screenings. (see sidebar.)

Other films include “Food, Inc.,” a look inside the nation’s food industry, and “Every Little Step,” a film about the long-running Broadway show “A Chorus Line.”

Kasell hopes the films at the PAC will spread awareness of indie cinema to a new community.

“That’s part of our mission as an art house, to promote the independent film community,” she said. “It’s really all part of this collective experience.”

Kelso said he saw Coolidge Corner as the perfect partner for the PAC.

“I’ve always loved their selection of films,” he said. “The only way to do this is to partner up with someone who really knows the business.”

As less people travel into Boston for entertainment due to the economic downturn, bringing quality movies to the South Shore could be a smart business decision as well as an artistic one.

“It’s a very economical ticket, and even in hard times, people find that they can afford to go to the movie theater,” Kasell said.

Kasell said Coolidge Corner would be open to the partnership expanding, although she said she’s not sure what that means yet. Kelso said he’d like to continue to show films during the summer and at other times of the year as well, although the PAC’s schedule gets considerably tighter during the school year.

Above all, both the leaders of the PAC and the theater have the overriding goal of bringing entertainment to the masses.

“We are in the business of entertaining and informing,” Kasell said. “We’re hoping they’ll stand up and give a round of applause ... and they’ll be able to say what a fabulous end to a summer day.”

Q&A with Bela Fleck

The first movie shown as part of the Duxbury Performing Arts Center’s collaboration with the Coolidge Corner Theatre will be “Throw Down Your Heart,” a documentary about banjo virtuoso Bela Fleck’s journey to Africa to research the roots of his instruments. The screenings will be on Saturday, July 11 at 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. After both screenings, Fleck will answers questions from the audience and perform a song. He will also introduce the movies. He took time this week to answer some questions from the Clipper via e-mail.

Q: You’ve been playing the banjo for many years. What was the impetus for returning to Africa to seek out the instrument’s roots now?

A: I have wanted to do this for many years. I just needed the right time and situation. Gradually everything fell into place, as the time opened up and it was now!

Q: What do you feel the greatest lesson you learned in Africa was, for you as a musician, and you as a person?

A: My world view opened up quite a lot, and I learned to have more faith that things will work out. There were a lot of leaps taken on this trip, some leaps of faith and some intuitive leaps. Sometimes I just knew what to do, and couldn’t explain why, and sometimes things fell in our lap that we weren’t expecting. Musically, I soaked up as much as I could and I certainly hope this will influence all my future music making. It already has altered me.

Q: As someone whose normal medium is performance, how do you feel your music, and the music you encountered throughout this process, comes across in film?

A: I think film is more like live performance than making records, for instance. Film and live performance are very forgiving in that, if you can see it happening in front of you, everything makes sense. When you close your eyes and hear just the recording, without seeing it, you can suddenly hear that something may not be perfectly in tune or time. But the musicians were so good and the project itself so interesting, that it seems to work on record just as well in this instance. I just love getting to watch players play, and you can understand the musical choices people make when you watch their faces.

Q: What do you hope people in Duxbury take away from the film and from your appearance here?

A: I know they will fall in love with this music, it is very hard to resist. Also for those who may have followed me over the years and never heard me say anything, the question/answer part of the showing provides a great opportunity for interaction. I actually can talk! I also expect to sign CDs and hang out afterwards.