ROCKLAND — The Strand Theatre announces The Criterion Series, a new year-long film series sponsored by The Criterion Collection.

The series opens with The Player (1992), which will be presented on Sunday, Jan. 21, at 1 p.m., and continues with monthly screenings throughout 2024. The films will be hosted in person by TCM (Turner Classic Movies) film presenter, and Strand Board member Alicia Malone.

The Criterion Collection was established in 1984, with a mission to preserve important classic and independent films from around the world and making them available to watch in analog and digital formats, including the Criterion Channel streaming service. In 2017, Criterion launched a series of original programming for the Criterion Channel called Art-House America, to showcase independently run arthouse theaters around the U.S and highlight the people and community that keep them alive. This series was turned into a fundraising campaign in the wake of the COVID pandemic in 2020, raising much-needed funds to provide financial relief to small arthouse theaters.

“Now, with their support of the Strand Theatre in Rockland,” said Malone, in a Strand Theatre news release, “Criterion is furthering their support of community movie theaters, by sponsoring a year-long series of films that will allow the Strand to screen a wide range of acclaimed, hard-to-see movies for the local audience, and turn these screenings into a fundraising event for the much beloved 100 year old theater.”

In The Player, a Hollywood studio executive with a shaky moral compass (Tim Robbins) finds himself caught up in a criminal situation that would be right at home in one of his movie projects, in this biting industry satire from Robert Altman.

Mixing elements of film noir with sly insider comedy, The Player, based on a novel by Michael Tolkin, functions as both a stylish murder story and a commentary on its own making, and it is stocked with a heroic supporting cast (Peter Gallagher, Whoopi Goldberg, Greta Scacchi, Dean Stockwell, Fred Ward) and a lineup of star cameos. The film is rated R.

Upcoming films in the Criterion Series include The Watermelon Woman (1996), screening on Feb. 4; and Harlan County USA (1976) on March 17.

Tickets are $8/Matinee Admission, $7/Strand Members, and will be available at the box office 30 minutes prior to show time. For more information, visit www.rocklandstrand.com  or call (207) 594-0070 EX 3. The Strand Theatre is located at 345 Main St., Rockland.