After decades of financial advising for movie theater chains, Georgia’s own Brandt Gully has decided to break into the entertainment industry in a big way with the opening of The Springs Cinema & Taphouse, formerly the LeFont Theater, in Sandy Springs.

Here, Gully talks his new role, preserving the theater’s legacy and more.

How has your financial background prepared you to run your own theater?
BRANDT GULLY: I have the benefit of having worked with almost every significantly sized movie theater chain, so I get to travel to cities like Chicago and Los Angeles, and see the different concepts and innovations that others are doing.

You’re heavily involved in charity work. How does The Springs Cinema & Taphouse tie into that?
BG: I have three daughters, one of which was diagnosed with leukemia a couple years ago, and it just changes your perspective. She’s healthy now, so we’ll be using the venue to host events, especially for children’s cancer charities, such as Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, and the Rally Foundation for Childhood Cancer Research.

How do you plan to preserve the legacy of the LeFont Theater?
BG: We’re still going to show the foreign and independent films that made the

LeFont Theater so beloved, alongside the blockbusters. We already had the best movies; now we want to have the best experience. Why is the preservation of these types of theaters so important to you?
BG: The audience here trusts this place; they trust that whatever movies we show are movies they’re going to like, and that’s what I want as a consumer, so that’s what I want to provide to Atlantans. 5920 Roswell Rd., springscinema.com