On Monday, Oct. 26, Houston, TX’s Aurora Picture Show had its microcinema broken into and several pieces of valuable equipment were stolen. The organization has put up a Wish List of replacement items and are looking for donors for the specific pieces or asking for people to make just cash donations or to sign up for new memberships.

For those who don’t know, Aurora is a nonprofit cinema dedicated to screening non-commercial films at both its own microcinema and at other locations around Houston. On the Underground Film Journal, I’ve recently started listing some of these screenings with notices going up a couple days before each one. Aurora also has an 800 title non-circulating video library that visitors can watch for free on the premises.

Also, Aurora has its own DVD label. Most recently, they put out the amazing Cinemad: Almanac 2009 short film compilation curated by Mike Plante. Other titles they’ve put out are: The Best of SLANT: Volume One; Lost Broadcasts: Video Works by Eileen Maxson; and A Film Is a Burning Place: Works by Enid Baxter Blader. DVDs can be purchased directly from their website.

As you can tell, they’re a fantastic organization and this is a lowdown, crappy thing to have done to them. Although I’ve been trying to keep up with their screenings lately, I totally missed the news of this event when it happened. But, I’m trying to get the word out there now. So, please, help ’em out if you can.