David Kosakowski, longtime board treasurer for FLICS, unveils a surprise star in his honor outside the Fox Theater on Feb. 12. Photo by Jennifer Baldwin

FLICS, Bakersfield’s nonprofit international cinema society, donated $5,000 to the Fox Theater Foundation for a star in honor of board treasurer David Kosakowski. Photo by Jennifer Baldwin

Editor’s Note: David Kosakowski passed away on March 18, 2010.

By Jennifer Baldwin

If it weren’t for longtime board treasurer David Kosakowski’s penny-pinching style and hopeful encouragement, Bakersfield’s nonprofit foreign film society, FLICS, might not have made it.

“About 21 years ago, we literally had $27 in our checking account,” said FLICS founder Phil Neufeld. “Now we’re celebrating our 28^th season.”

They’re also celebrating Kosakowski’s dedicated volunteerism and love of foreign films. Last Friday, Feb. 12, FLICS board members and supporters surprised Kosakowski by unveiling a star with his name on it on the sidewalk outside the Fox Theater, where the local society has been showing films on Friday nights for 13 years.

Frail from terminal pancreatic cancer, Kosakowski pulled the black sheet off of the star while seated on a chair. His wife, Dorise Bitton, and sister-in-law Carole Pazzi hugged him and clapped along with the audience of about two dozen.

“My star got a star,” said Bitton, who met her husband at a FLICS showing back when the society was housed at the Beale Memorial Library.

Inside the Fox, over cake and punch, Kosakowski reminisced on his love of foreign films and his wife.

“She was in line and I saw her from a distance and it took us a while to click,” he said. “She’s French and it happened to be on a French movie night. We’ve been together almost 15 years now, married for 13 ½.”

With the help of volunteers, Neufeld founded FLICS (which stands for Foreign Language International Cinema Society) to bring foreign films to Bakersfield audiences. Kosakowski, a librarian at California State University, Bakersfield, was there from the start. They began showing the films at Bakersfield College, then moved to CSUB, Harvey Auditorium and the library. When the Fox Theater Foundation invited the group to show their films at the restored, historic theater, they were flattered.

“It was a quantum leap to go from the 16 mm films we were showing at the library to the 35 mm required at the Fox,” Neufeld said.

For one thing, the films were more expensive to show. But Kosakowski was a wonderful asset, Neufeld said, and “pinches pennies like they’re his own.”

Not only has FLICS been able to grow its audience and its coffers, the society now raises so much from donations and its $5 admission charge, it’s able to give back to the community. FLICS donates to the Fox Theater Foundation, which is tasked with the preservation and restoration of the theater, as well as to the Kern County Library. Last year it donated $7,500 total.

“David is a great part of that,” Neufeld said. “He has a great mind for figures and films.”

For Kowakowski’s star, FLICS donated $5,000 to the Fox Theater Foundation. The “Bakersfield Walk of Stars” includes about 20 dignitary stars ranging in donations from $5,000 to $25,000, said Foundation board member Jim Waldron.

“I just figured I was just doing my part in keeping FLICS going, just doing my job,” Kosakowski said. “I just feel simultaneously so honored and so humble. I never expected anything like this.”

His wife played a part in the surprise, telling him she needed to run an errand downtown, then driving him by the group of bystanders outside the theater.

“He said, ‘Look at all the people!’ And then my sister opened the door,” Bitton said.

“To see everybody here … tears are coming to my eyes,” Kosakowski said after the ceremony.

The conversation flowed from the film selection process, to favorite titles over the years, to trying to reach a diverse community in Bakersfield. And then Kosakowski made this all-important announcement:

“And we’re still the cheapest bargain in town!”

FLICS, Bakersfield’s International Cinema Society

Next film: “Love Comes Lately”

Synopsis: A charming old Jewish writer constantly mixes his fiction with his real life

When: 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 19

Where: Fox Theater, 2001 H Street

Admission: $5

Details: Call 428-0354, e-mail flics_guy@flics.org, visit www.flics.org