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Art House Convergence Announces Agile Ticketing Solutions Sponsorship

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 29, 2023

Contact: hello@arthouseconvergence.org

Phone: 708.655.5928


ART HOUSE CONVERGENCE ANNOUNCES AGILE TICKETING SOLUTIONS SPONSORSHIP

Chicago, Illinois – Art House Convergence (AHC) is pleased to announce that it has entered into a sponsorship agreement with Agile Ticketing Solutions (ATS) to support core AHC programming and membership functions. 

Under the agreement, Agile will underwrite a year of benefits for current and new AHC members and provide AHC with platforms for constituent management, event registrations, member services, and customer support at no cost to the organization.

“Agile has been a crucial supporter of AHC through all its iterations,” said Lela Meadow-Conner, President of the AHC Board of Directors. “Their generosity and commitment to the success of our organization has been instrumental, particularly during our transitional phase, and we are so grateful for their continued engagement.”

Richard Steward, Agile CEO, noted, “Agile Ticketing Solutions has been a long-time committed partner of AHC and its constituency for more than a decade and our commitment continues to deepen. We are truly excited to be a part of this new dynamic organization and help carry the mission and vision forward.”

In 2006, a group of fourteen independent cinemas were brought together by the Sundance Institute’s Art House Project to discuss independent film and independent film exhibition, opening dialogues and lines of communication between cinemas around the US. In 2008, this group formally cohered into the first iteration of Art House Convergence (AHC), an organization that grew into a year-round entity that hosted an annual conference, regional seminars, Art House Theater Day, the Visiting Members Program, and other key initiatives that connected the art house exhibition industry. 

Thanks to the support of Sundance Institute, as of 2023 the current iteration of AHC operates as a fully independent and incorporated organization with approximately 2,000 members across North America and Western Europe that serve 30 million patrons annually. AHC is managed by a member-elected Board of Directors.

 

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Art House Convergence (AHC) is a coalition of independent exhibitors that connects, amplifies, and advocates for its community. AHC  provides networking opportunities, resources, and best practices for the AHC membership while promoting inclusivity, sustainability, and equity within our industry.

 

AHC Announces New Board Officers, Plans to Relaunch Annual Conference

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ART HOUSE CONVERGENCE ANNOUNCES BOARD OFFICERS

Plans underway to relaunch annual conference in 2024 

Chicago, May 4, 2023 – Art House Convergence (AHC) announces the election of its inaugural officers of the newly formed Board of Directors. Steering the organization into its new iteration, alongside the rest of the board, is Lela Meadow-Conner, President (mamafilm), Alicia Kozma, Vice President (Indiana University Cinema), Ben Godar, Treasurer (Varsity Cinema) and Javier Chavez, Secretary (AFI Silver). 

“The AHC board is collectively committed to helping art house and community-based theaters thrive in an increasingly precarious exhibition landscape. Key to that commitment is AHC’s role in facilitating progressive industry development and sustainability while working in tandem with our sister organizations” said Meadow-Conner. “It’s paramount that we continue to keep art house and community-based cinemas at the forefront of the ever-evolving conversation about the future of cinema exhibition, equity, accessibility, and inclusion. These spaces play a crucial role in the ecosystem of both mainstream and independent film, film festivals, and community building. Sustaining art house cinemas is critical to the perpetuation of film culture and theatrical exhibition as an industry.”

The AHC board has been meeting since October of 2022, focusing on key initiatives to build organizational stability after 3 years of transitional status within the organization and the industry at large. The Board recently wrapped-up their first in-person retreat, kindly hosted by the AFI Silver Theatre, where they delved into AHC’s purpose and mission while planning for organizational sustainability and service to membership.

“Though we haven’t gathered in person for three years, our community remains vibrant, with an active listserv, an expansive membership, and a strong desire to collectively chart the course for independent exhibition in an industry that is vastly different than just a few short years ago,” said Kozma. “To that end the board is happy to announce that AHC will invite our community to come together once again in June 2024 for the AHC annual conference.” A location for the annual conference has not been announced; the Board is currently exploring location options that will best serve its membership and the overall art house community.

AHC was founded in 2006 as a project of the Michigan Theater Foundation in partnership with the Sundance Institute’s Art House Project. What began as an annual meeting of fourteen independent exhibitors transformed into a national organization with year round activities including Art House Theater Day, the Visiting Members Program, and regional conferences that attracted hundreds of attendees from theaters, film festivals, distributors, vendors, and allied organizations.

In 2020 AHC became a fiscally sponsored project of the Sundance Institute, and in 2022, AHC’s inaugural Board of Directors was elected. The group is tasked with transforming AHC, including unwinding AHC from its previous fiscal sponsorship, setting up the organization as an independent 501(c)(3), and determining the best form and function of membership, resources, and programming for the art house community.

The AHC Board of Directors is composed of 14 independent cinema professionals from across the country. In addition to the executive committee, the board of directors at large includes Matt Bolish (Film at Lincoln Center), Yasmin Chin Eisenhauer (Amherst Cinema), Ben Delgado (FilmScene), Deirdre Haj (Film Streams), Arin Liberman (Ragtag Film Society), Garineh Nazarian (Vanera Films), Asha Phelps (IFC Center), tt stern-enzi (Over-the-Rhine International Film Festival), Emelyn Stuart (Stuart Cinema), and Stephanye Watts (Be Reel Black Cinema Club).

 

Officer Bios:

Lela Meadow-Conner
Lela Meadow-Conner is a Creative Producer and Founder of mama.film – where storytellers, changemakers and nurturers come together to champion humanity through a maternal gaze. mama.film curates films that center women, identity and the human experience. In 2020, mama.film launched rePROFilm, a virtual monthly film series advocating for reproductive justice. In 2021 & 2022 mama.film served as a Satellite Screen for the Sundance Film Festival in Kansas and now operates as a nomadic cinema experience. Meadow-Conner has 20 years of experience in independent cinema exhibition, most recently serving as the Executive Director of Film Festival Alliance from 2017-2022. Her filmmaking credits include Chasing Chasing Amy (Tribeca, 2023) Run Amok (2024) and The Spice Poet, currently in development with Priyanka Chopra’s Purple Pebble Pictures. She also sits on the board of the Vidiots Foundation, soon to relaunch in the historic Eagle Theater in Eagle Rock, CA, and is a member of the Brown Girls Doc Mafia.

Alicia Kozma
Alicia Kozma, PhD, is the Director of Indiana University Cinema, an art house cinema dedicated to using film and cinema studies for intellectual development and cultural enrichment. An educator, writer, and researcher, her work is focused on practical and interventional analyses around the labor of underrepresented populations in the entertainment industries with an emphasis on gendered labor in the neo-art house and below the line production work. She also works on evaluations of emerging media technologies on the business of theatrical distribution and exhibition particularly focused on the impacts to independent theaters.

Ben Godar
Ben Godar is the co-founder and executive director of Des Moines Film, as well as the programmer for Varsity Cinema. Before creating the nonprofit, Ben was a filmmaker, college instructor and journalist. He earned an MFA in Screenwriting from Chapman University.

Javier Chavez
Javier Chavez is Associate Film Programmer at the AFI Silver Theatre in Silver Spring, Maryland. He is part of a team that curates over 700 films annually at the theater, from first-run to repertory to several festivals, including the AFI Latin American Film Festival and AFI European Union Film Showcase. He has served as a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Grant Panelist for Media Arts and was formerly Associate Director of Coral Gables Art Cinema for six years. Outside the world of cinema, he is a self-taught computer programmer who hopes to automate his entire workday – a task not yet accomplished. Born in Santa Clara, Cuba, he holds a BFA in Dramatic Writing from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

 

Art House Convergence (AHC) is a coalition of independent exhibitors that connects, amplifies, and advocates for its community.

 

Thank You, and Goodbye

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Hello Art House friends and colleagues,

I hope you are doing well and caring for yourselves through these difficult times.

I am writing this to let you all know that the time has come for me to move on from Art House Convergence and the Michigan Theater. My last day with both organizations will be Friday, October 29.

The absolute best part of this job over the years, what kept me going on tougher days, has been getting to know you all and your cinemas. I do not know what is next for me yet but I am certain that wherever I end up, one of your screens will be right down the road.

The torch of AHC will continue to be carried by the extraordinary Transitional Working Group, who have been shepherding this organization with care and intention over the past year. I am so excited for the new and brighter future they are building for our sector.

If you would like to keep in touch, please reach out to me at my personal email makenziepeecook(AT)gmail.com.

Thank you all — for everything.

With so much love,
Makenzie Peecook


 

A Message From the Transitional Working Group

Hello Art House Convergence community,

The Art House Convergence Transitional Working Group (AHC TWG) has been working over the past year and a half to transform the Art House Convergence, which has operated as a project of the Michigan Theater Foundation since its inception, into its own independent organization. Following a public process to nominate/self-nominate for service in the AHC TWG, a volunteer body — comprised of existing AHC members and new colleagues not previously affiliated with AHC, but active in the arthouse cinema sector and committed to reimagining AHC as a diverse and inclusive organization reflective of the community — has spent time working towards the goal of making the AHC a new organization that is distinct from the Michigan Theater Foundation.

In recent days, we have learned that AHC Events and Operations Manager Makenzie Peecook will be stepping away from her role at the end of October. All of us at the AHC TWG want to thank Makenzie wholeheartedly for her wisdom and grace throughout this whole process, and the AHC community is forever indebted to her leadership during this difficult time. Makenzie has embodied everything that we hope that our future organization will stand for — transparency, empathy, collective leadership — and we’re excited to see what she does next to make the independent film industry a stronger, warmer, and more engaged community. We want to also acknowledge the AHC TWG members who have had to step away from this work in the past 18 months — Carolyn Chen, Beth Gilligan, Shakira Refos — and are ever grateful for the contributions they have made toward these efforts.

Though with Makenzie’s departure there are no longer any staff members directly managing AHC operations on an ongoing basis, the AHC TWG is committed to ensuring that basic services such as the community Google Group and other organizational assets remain whole as we work toward finalizing a new organizational structure and home.

We know that this announcement will leave you with a lot of questions. We may be able to answer some, but please know that at this time we are still working out details. We expect that by the end of the calendar year, we will make a fuller announcement about the transition of AHC into a separate entity, initially with a 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor until such time as we establish ourselves as our own independent 501(c)(3), and present our plan of action to create a new governing Board accountable to the AHC community. While we will not be producing an in-person event in Utah in January, we look forward to gathering with you sometime in 2022 at a relaunched and reimagined conference, after the new Board and independent organization are in place.

Sincerely signed,
Art House Convergence Transitional Working Group:
Camile Blake Fall
Brett Bossard
Chris Collier
Logan Crow
Gina Cuomo
Ira Deutchman
Rebecca Fons
Jessica Green
Eugene Hernandez
Dan Hudson
Jan Klingelhofer
Gary Meyer
Stephanie Silverman
Dylan Skolnick
Emily Long Vito
Kyle Westphal
Ronnie Ycong

COVID-19 Preparedness Resources

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During this challenging period, art houses around the world are working together to innovate and develop film programming and education for their audiences. Art House Convergence strongly encourages film lovers to invest in their local art house now so that theaters can continue to serve them in the future. 

General
Closures and Reopening 
Administration & CARES Act
Advocate for Arts Funding and Support
Online Platforms and Solutions
Prevent the Spread of Misinformation & Racist Rhetoric
Resources for Individuals
COVID-19 Overview 
Development 
Fundraising
Member Benefits
Revenue Opportunities
Education
Bringing Education Online
Marketing
Communications
Operations
Reopening Operations
Accessibility
Human Resources & Staffing
Operations
Reduce Expenses
Programming
Reopening Programming
Virtual Cinema: FAQs
Virtual Cinema: Platforms
Virtual Cinema: Live Events 
Alternative Programming

More Resources

General Resources

Closures and Reopening

  • Theaters should always comply with public health guidelines and enhance precautions when appropriate in order to ensure the safety of staff and guests. 
  • Before reopening, identify and assemble key stakeholders and board members and establish a task force to address the ethical, legal, and financial concerns associated with reopening.
  • Consult with your insurance broker and legal representation. Identify risks associated with reopening and scope of insurance coverage. 
  • Establish regular communications with local and state departments of health.
  • Work with human resources to provide a forum for staff and front of house staff to share their thoughts and concerns about returning to work.
  • Work with communications to create a survey to assess community sentiment. IU Cinema: Reopening Survey, FilmScene: Summer 2020 Camp SurveyIndieWire: Risks and Rewards of Reopening.
  • Assess if it is possible for your theater to reopen safely. Art House Convergence: Operations AssessmentArt House Convergence: Public Health Assessment.
  • Reopening: OperationsReopening: Programming

Administration & CARES Act

    • Review updated tax provisions. Tax return filing dates have been extended to July 15, 2020 and corporate tax payments are delayed until October 15, 2020. Read more here.
    • The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act
      • Resources: Small Business Owners GuideInside Charity: How Nonprofits Will Receive CARES Act Funding
      • Paycheck Protection ProgramBusinesses with under 500 employees may qualify for federally guaranteed loans to cover the cost of payroll and may be eligible for loan forgiveness equal to the amount spent on costs including payroll, rent, and utilities. Small businesses are eligible to apply if they were harmed by COVID-19 between February 15, 2020 and June 30, 2020. Starting April 3, 2020, small businesses and sole proprietorships can apply. Starting April 10, 2020, independent contractors and self-employed individuals can apply.
      • Emergency Economic Injury Disaster LoansThis program provides emergency advances of up to $10,000 to small businesses and non-profits harmed by COVID-19. EIDLs are low interest loans of up to $2 million. These grants are available between January 31, 2020 and December 31, 2020. Resources: Application.
      • Small Business Debt Relief Program. This program provides relief to small businesses with non-disaster SBA loans, in particular 7(a), 504, and micro-loans. SBA will cover all payments on these loans including principal, interest, and fees for six months.
      • Employee Retention Credit. This provision provides a refundable payroll tax credit for 50% of wages paid by eligible employers to certain employees during COVID-19 crisis. The credit is available to employers, including non-profits, whose operations have been fully or partially suspended as a result of a government order limiting commerce, travel or group meetings. This credit is not available to employers receiving assistance through the Paycheck Protection Program. More information available here.
      • Delay of Payment of Employer Payroll Taxes. This provision would allow taxpayers to defer paying the employer portion of certain payroll taxes through the end of 2020, with all 2020 deferred amounts due in two equal installments, one at the end of 2021, the other at the end of 2022. Payroll taxes that can be deferred include the employer portion of FICA taxes, the employer and employee representative portion of Railroad Retirement taxes (that are attributable to the employer FICA rate), and half of SECA tax liability. This deferral is not available to employers receiving assistance through the Paycheck Protection Program.
      • Seeking support from a business counselor? Find a local resource partner here.
    • Contact your landlord or lender, renegotiate payments schedules and terms.
    • Review your insurance policy and contact your insurance provider to determine if your business interruption and liability insurance include any coverage for an outbreak in your community. Even without explicit coverage for pandemics of communicable diseases, theaters can file a claim.
    • Review existing contracts and check force majeure and cancellation clauses to ensure that they include protection during epidemics and pandemics. Communicate with your board and key stakeholders about financial risks and liability.
    • Contact you vendors and suppliers, anticipate changes in demand and respond accordingly.
    • Protect your liquidity. Assess how long you can operate during a period of temporary closure and identify expense reductions that can extend this period. Make financial plans for variable outcomes ranging from 1-12 months of potential interruptions.

Advocate for Arts Funding and Support

Online Platforms and Solutions

Prevent the Spread of Misinformation and Racist Rhetoric

  • Do not ignore racist remarks, condemn racist rhetoric and actions when they occur.
  • Do not use images or terms that reinforce negative stereotypes like “Wuhan virus.”
  • Discuss and enforce anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies with volunteers and staff.
  • Monitor social media platforms for racist behaviors.
  • Craft your own public statement. Resources are available from the Association for Asian American Studies and Asian American Journalists Association.

Resources for Individuals 

COVID-19 Overview

COVID-19 is a respiratory disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. It is spread through person-to-person transmission. 

  • Between people who are in close contact with one another (within approximately 6 feet).
  • Through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or talks.
  • Some recent studies have suggested that COVID-19 may be spread by people who are not showing symptoms.
  • It may be possible that a person can get COVID-19 by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose, or possibly their eyes. This is not thought to be the primary source of transmission.
  • Current research shows that COVID-19 is spreading “very easily and sustainably between people”.

Development

Fundraising

  • Continue to celebrate your mission. Arts and culture still matter, continue to make your unique mission central to your conversations with donors.
  • Tell your story. Explain what support will be used for and personalize your asks.
  • Every dollar counts. Encourage patrons to donate the value of their ticket instead of requesting a refund.
  • Pace yourself. Because of uncertainty about the duration of closures, roll out fundraising initiatives slowly.
  • Mobilize your Board. Encourage Board members who are able to pay dues in advance.
  • Renegotiate Grants. Request that funders re-designate restricted funds for general operating costs.

Member Benefits

  • MUBI, a curated streaming service for art house and independent films, is offering 3 months of free streaming access to your art house’s members complete with a bespoke landing page for your theater. Email knewmark(at)mubi.com for details.
  • Music Box Direct, a streaming service featuring films including Transit and Frantz, is offering one month of free streaming access to your art house’s members. Email bschultz(at)musicboxfilms.com for details.
  • Engage filmmakers, professors, and staff to host special virtual happy hours and film conversations as member benefits.

Revenue Opportunities

  • Magnolia Selects and Spotlight Cinema Networks are offering art house theaters 100% of the subscription fees when their patrons sign up for Magnolia Selects. After July 1, fees will be divided on a 50/50 split between the theater and Spotlight/ Magnolia. Read more here.
  • Facebook Boost Grants. Facebook is offering small grants to eligible businesses.
  • Gift Packages & Swag. FilmScene: Concessions Bundle, Texas Theatre: Home Cinema Survival Kits, Sidewalk Cinema: Curbside Concessions, Frida Cinema: QuaranZine, The Little Theatre: Popcorn Pass.
  • Sponsorship. Encourage sponsors to support your new initiatives and virtual programs. Offer email logo placement as a sponsor benefit.
  • Reach out to local community foundations and emergency grant programs.
  • Remain active and keep your supporters updated about progress.
  • Virtual Fundraisers. Seed&Spark:Art House Crowdfunding.

Education

Bringing Education Online

Marketing

Communications & Marketing 

Operations

Reopening Operations

  • Prior to reopening, states should carefully review federal, state, and local public health guidelines and restrictions.
  • Include a public announcement about steps your theater is taking to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
  • Art House Convergence: Reopening Safely, Gina Cuomo (Denver Film), George Myers (Amherst Cinema).
  • Art House Convergence: Reopening Approaches and Questions, George Myers (Amherst Cinema), Beth Gilligan (Coolidge Corner Theatre).
  • Encourage social distancing. Lines, seating, and staffing should allow for 6 feet of between individuals.
  • Enhance cleaning efforts: prepare cleaning checklists, stagger screenings to allow more time for cleaning between shows, regularly clean surfaces and touch-points (knobs, railings, touchscreens, dispensers).
  • Work closely with staff. Develop plans around sick time and absenteeism, establish communication channels, provide training on PPE.
  • Provide personal protective equipment, including gloves, sanitizer, and masks for staff.
  • Schedule fewer screenings to avoid crowding in lobby and other common areas.
  • Discourage sick patrons from attending screenings. Offer full refunds to sick patrons.
  • Make hand sanitizer, napkins, tissues, and soap readily available to guests.
  • Make trash cans readily available for the disposal of tissues and napkins. Change trash regularly.
  • Post hand washing instructions at sinks.
  • Minimize touching customers phones, credit cards, and tickets. If possible, allow customers to swipe or insert cards themselves or make their purchases in advance.
  • Event Safety Alliance: Reopening Guide

Accessibility

Human Resources & Staffing 

  • Remain in regular communication with staff. Leadership should establish clear communications plans to help team members understand workflow and decision-making.
  • Counter stigma by disseminating accurate information about how to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Speak out against negative behaviors, and maintain employee confidentiality.
  • Establish compassionate and clearly communicated staffing protocols to account for workplace disruptions. Plan for work redistribution, flexible schedules, and increased absenteeism.
  • If staff need to perform work onsite, schedule them to avoid overlap and provide additional supplies to regularly clean workspaces (alcohol-based hand sanitizer, Clorox wipes, tissues, hands-free waste receptacles).
  • During furloughs or layoffs, assist staff with applying for unemployment.
  • Create opportunities for staff engagement like weekly check-ins or Netflix viewing parties.
  • Ensure that your sick and leave policies are consistent with public health guidelines and that staff are informed about these policies. Offer paid sick leave.
  • All employee health information is confidential, even during a crisis. Employers should not reveal the identities of infected employees.
  • In most circumstances, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits employers from asking employees about health conditions. However, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) does allow for some exceptions to mitigate the negative impact of pandemics in the workplace. The EEOC recommends that employers follow CDC guidelines and has provided additional guidance about employer actions during an influenza pandemic.

Operations 

  • Carefully annotate your building closing checklist. Make sure multiple staffers have the tools and information they need for data backups, bank deposits, building security, and reopening.
  • Care for your building while closed. Download our checklist here.
  • Prepare your projectors and servers for an extended shutdown. Instructions from Boston Light & Sound are available here.
  • Arrange for at least one staff member to visit the building regularly.
  • Check concession stands for perishable items. Arrange to sell or donate items.
  • Communicate closure to distributors, Deluxe, and Cinevizion.

Reduce Expenses

  • Cancel all non-essential subscriptions, including software, advertising (print, social media, digital), concessions ordering, and shipping.
  • Adjust your thermostat.
  • Contact your landlord about rent relief. Research business eviction protections in your city or town.
  • Contact your bank or lender about mortgage or loan payment relief.

Programming

Reopening Programming

  •  Art House Convergence: Virtual BORs & Reopening Programming, Rebecca Fons (Film Scene & The Iowa Theater).
  • Reopening Programming Offers:
    • IFC Films: The Indie Theater Revival Project.
    • Paramount: Repertory titles can be developed into custom programs, or book preexisting programs through the Back to the Big Screen Program. Full list here.
    • Searchlight: Offering select titles beginning June 1 for a limited fee including Isle of Dogs and Jojo Rabbit.
    • Sony Pictures Classics: Offering select repertory titles including Only Lovers Left Alive and All About My Mother.
    • United Artists Releasing: $125 flat for select catalogue titles, $40 donated to Will Rogers Relief Fund.
    • Universal Repertory: Offering 25 themed combo drives of titles from Blumhouse, Dreamworks, Focus Features, and Illumination. Full list here.
    • Warner Bros: WB Classics Program : 5 TIERS

Virtual Cinema: FAQs

  • What are virtual cinema screenings? Virtual cinema screenings are ticketed screenings of films unavailable on any other VOD platform that viewers can enjoy from the privacy of their own home. Once a customer purchases a ticket they will receive access to a temporary film rental.
  • How can viewers enjoy a virtual screening? Audiences can buy tickets through their local art house cinema.
  • How does this support independent theaters? Virtual screenings allow theaters to keep programming films, even when their doors are closed. A portion of each ticket sale will go directly to the buyer’s local art house cinema.
  • What films are available to book? We recommend theaters contact their regular bookers and/ or distributors to stay on top of current titles available. Dear Producer list of available titles.
  • How many films should my theater book at once? We recommend theaters offer the same number of films they usually do. If you regularly book four films and have capacity to market, promote, and discuss four, then you should adhere to your established model.
  • How do we help our patrons navigate the tech? Offer a FAQ. a/perture cinema: FAQCoolidge Corner Theatre: FAQJacob Burns Film Center: Virtual FAQ.

Virtual Cinema: Platforms

Virtual Live Events (and Security)

  • Staff as you would any special program.
  • Keep your event secure. For Zoom, this means never post your link publicly, and adjust settings to make sure the host has control over the meeting.
    • Participant Video (Off)
    • Join Before Host (Off)
    • Mute Participants Upon Entry (On)
    • File Transfer (Off)
    • Screen Sharing (Off)
    • Allow removed participants to rejoin (Off).

Alternative Programming

More Resources

Last updated at 2:00 PM ET on August 17, 2020.

The Films of Agnès Varda

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la-agnes-varda-20131108-006 (1)March 29, 2019 marked the passing of Agnès Varda (1928 – 2019), an influential, curious, and exceptional filmmaker whose career as an artist and filmmaker spanned over sixty years. She has often been called the “grandmother of the French New Wave,” and worked alongside fellow left bank filmmakers Chris Marker and Alain Resnais. Her films include the feminist portrait Cléo from 5 to 7, the bohemian Lions Love (…and Lies), tender portraits of her husband Jacques Demy, and thoughtful, essayistic examinations of her own life including Beaches of Agnés. As the art house community pays tribute to a filmmaker who touched our hearts, enlivened our cinemas, and helped us see the world with greater empathy and interest, we have prepared a guide of where to find some of her films so that you can share them with audiences and loved ones.

La Pointe Courte (1954)  “The great Agnés Varda’s film career began with this graceful, penetrating study of a marriage on the rocks, set against the backdrop of a small Mediterranean fishing village. Both a stylized depiction of the complicated relationship between a married couple (played by Silvia Monfort and Philippe Noiret) and a documentary-like look at the daily struggles of the locals, Varda’s discursive, gorgeously filmed debut was radical enough to later be considered one of the progenitors of the coming French New Wave.” Contact: Janus Films, booking(at)janusfilms.com

Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962) “Agnés Varda eloquently captures Paris in the sixties with this real-time portrait of a singer (Corinne Marchand) set adrift in the city as she awaits test results of a biopsy. A chronicle of the minutes of one woman’s life, Cléo from 5 to 7 is a spirited mix of vivid vérité and melodrama, featuring a score by Michel Legrand (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg) and cameos by Jean-Luc Godard and Anna Karina.” Contact: Janus Films, booking(at)janusfilms.com

Le bonheur (1965) “Though married to the good-natured, beautiful Thérèse (Claire Drouot), young husband and father François (Jean-Claude Drouot) finds himself falling unquestioningly into an affair with an attractive postal worker. One of Agnés Varda’s most provocative films, Le bonheur examines, with a deceptively cheery palette and the spirited strains of Mozart, the ideas of fidelity and happiness in a modern, self-centered world.” Contact: Janus Films, booking(at)janusfilms.com

Uncle Yanco (1967) “In her effervescent first California film, Agnès Varda delves into her own family history. The short documentary Uncle Yanco features Varda tracking down a Greek emigrant relative she’s never met, discovering an artist and kindred soul leading a bohemian life in Sausalito.” Contact: Janus Films, booking(at)janusfilms.com

Lions Love (…and Lies) (1969) “Agnès Varda brings New York counterculture to Los Angeles. In a rented house in the sun-soaked Hollywood Hills, a woman and two men—Viva, of Warhol Factory fame, and James Rado and Gerome Ragni, who created and starred in the rock musical Hair—delight in one another’s bodies while musing on love, stardom, and politics. They are soon joined by underground director Shirley Clarke, playing herself as well as functioning as a surrogate for Varda. Lions Love (. . . and Lies) is a metacinematic inquiry into the alternating currents of whimsy and tragedy that typified late-sixties America.” Contact: Janus Films, booking(at)janusfilms.com

Black Panthers (1968) “Agnès Varda turns her camera on an Oakland demonstration against the imprisonment of activist and Black Panthers cofounder Huey P. Newton. In addition to evincing Varda’s fascination with her adopted surroundings and her empathy, this perceptive short is also a powerful political statement.” Contact: Janus Films, booking(at)janusfilms.com

Daguerréotypes (1975) “A compassionate portrait of Parisian shopkeepers.” Contact: Cinema Guild, tom(AT)cinemaguild.com

One Sings, the Other Doesn’t
(1977) “
Agnès Varda’s unsung feminist anthem is both a buoyant chronicle of a transformative friendship and an empowering vision of universal sisterhood. When seventeen-year-old Pauline (Valérie Mairesse) helps struggling mother of two Suzanne (Thérèse Liotard) procure the money for an abortion, a deep bond forms between the two, one that endures over the course of more than a decade as each searches for her place in the world—encountering the dawning of the women’s movement, dreamy boho musical numbers, and an Iranian adventure along the way. Initially divisive for its sunny, idealized view of female liberation, One Sings, the Other Doesn’t now seems all the more radical—and all the more vital—for its unabashedly utopian spirit.” Contact: Janus Films, booking(at)janusfilms.com

Mur Murs (1981) “After returning to Los Angeles from France in 1979, Agnès Varda created this kaleidoscopic documentary about the striking murals that decorate the city. Bursting with color and vitality, Mur Murs is as much an invigorating study of community and diversity as it is an essential catalog of unusual public art.” Contact: Janus Films, booking(at)janusfilms.com

Documenteur (1981) “This small-scale fiction about a divorced mother and her child (played by Agnès Varda’s own son) leading a quiet existence on L.A.’s margins was made directly after Mur Murs, and though Documenteur is different in form and tone from that film, the two are complexly interwoven, with overlapping images and ideas. This meditative portrait of urban isolation overflows with subtle visual poetry.” Contact: Janus Films, booking(at)janusfilms.com

Vagabond (1985) “Sandrine Bonnaire won the Best Actress César for her portrayal of the defiant young drifter Mona, found frozen to death in a ditch at the beginning of Vagabond. Agnès Varda pieces together Mona’s story through flashbacks told by those who encountered her (played by a largely nonprofessional cast), producing a splintered portrait of an enigmatic woman. With its sparse, poetic imagery, Vagabond (Sans toit ni loi) is a stunner, and won Varda the top prize at the Venice Film Festival.” Contact: Janus Films, booking(at)janusfilms.com

Jane B. for Agnès V (1987) “I’ll look at you, but not at the camera. It could be a trap,” whispers Jane Birkin shyly into Agnès Varda’s ear at the start of Jane B. Par Agnès V. The director of Cleo From 5 to 7 and Vagabond once again paints a portrait of a woman, this time in a marvelously Expressionistic way. “It’s like an imaginary bio-pic,” says Varda. Jane, of course, is the famed singer (“Je t’aime … Moi non plus”), actress (Blow Up), fashion icon (the Hermes Birkin bag) and longtime muse to Serge Gainsbourg. As Varda implies, Jane B. Par Agnès V.abandons the traditional bio-pic format, favoring instead a freewheeling mix of gorgeous and unexpected fantasy sequences.

In each, Jane inhabits a new character, playing a cat & mouse game with Varda as they explore the role of the Muse and the Artist, all the while showcasing the multifaceted nature of Birkin’s talent. “I’d like to be filmed as if I were transparent, anonymous, like everyone else,” says Birkin. But her wish to be a “famous nobody” is impossible to achieve; Birkin is simply too magnificent, too mesmerizing. Here, Varda’s signature mix of aesthetic innovation and generosity of emotion results in a surreal and captivating essay on Art, Fame, Love, Children and Staircases. For its first-ever U.S. theatrical release the film has been newly-restored from the original 35mm camera negative, overseen by director Varda herself. (In French with English subtitles.)” Contact: Arbelos Films, info(at)arbelosfilms.com

Kung Fu Master(1987) “A lovely, bittersweet companion to Jane B. Par Agnès V. from director Agnes Varda and star/muse Jane Birkin, Kung-Fu Master! has nothing to do with martial arts – the film’s title comes from an arcade video game played obsessively in the film by a teenaged boy, Julien. Birkin delivers one of her finest performances as a lonely 40-year old woman who finds herself shattering taboos by falling in love with the 14-year old Julien – but is it romance, or a desperate attempt to turn back time in the face of middle age? Kung-Fu Master! is truly a family affair: Varda’s son with the late director Jacques Demy, Mathieu Demy, plays Julien – and Birkin appears here with her two real-life daughters: Charlotte Gainsbourg (from Lars von Trier’s Melancholia) and Lou Doillon, her child with well-known filmmaker Jacques Doillon. Briefly released in the late 1980s in the U.S. and long unavailable here, Kung-Fu Master! has been beautifully restored from the original 35mm camera negative. “It’s a film in which all the younger actors are the children of the director and lead actress” says Varda. “It was like a picnic, you know?” (In French with English subtitles.)” Contact: Arbelos Films, info(at)arbelosfilms.com

The Gleaners and I (2000) “Along the French roads she travels, Agnès meets with many gleaners. These people, men or women, are gatherers, recyclers, genuine treasure hunters. Out of necessity, chance or choice, the gleaners deal with what others have discarded. Their world is an astonishing one that has nothing to do with that of the ancient gleaners: these peasant women who gathered the wheat left behind after the harvest. Agnès is a gleaner too and her documentary film is a subjective one. There is no age for curiosity. Making films is also a sort of gleaning.” Contact: Janus Films, booking(at)janusfilms.com

Cinévardaphoto (2004)  “A triptych of short films exploring the power and vitality of the photograph. In Ydessa, The Bears and Etc., Varda discovers a haunting exhibit of found photos, each showing a teddy bear. With Ulysses, she deconstructs a picture from her early career as a photographer. While the exuberant Salut les Cubains uses still photos to capture the spirit of the Cuban revolution’s early days.” Contact: Cinema Guild, tom(AT)cinemaguild.com

The Beaches of Agnès (2008) “A reflection on art, life and the movies, The Beaches of Agnès is a magnificent film from the great Agnès Varda, director of The Gleaners and I and Cleo from 5 to 7, a richly cinematic self portrait that touches on everything from the feminist movement and the Black Panthers to the films of husband Jacques Demy (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg) and the birth of the French New Wave.” Contact: Janus Films, booking(at)janusfilms.com

Agnés Varda: From Here to There (2011) “A five part documentary series that chronicles the indefatigable filmmaker’s travels around the world, meeting friends, artists and filmmakers for an expansive view of the global contemporary art scene. Whether in Los Angeles or St. Petersburg, Lisbon or Mexico, Varda finds herself talking with Alexander Sokurov, sharing a meal with sculptor Christian Boltanski and his partner artist Annette Messager, visiting with Chris Marker at his home, or dancing with Manoel de Oliveira. Each encounter is infused with the director’s characteristic insight, inquisitiveness and wonder….A joyous celebration of life, art and people.” Contact: Cinema Guild, tom(AT)cinemaguild.com

Faces Places (2017) “89-year old Agnes Varda, one of the leading figures of the French New Wave, and acclaimed 33 year-old French photographer and muralist JR teamed up to co-direct this enchanting documentary/road movie. Kindred spirits, Varda and JR share a lifelong passion for images and how they are created, displayed and shared. Together they travel around the villages of France in JR’s photo truck meeting locals, learning their stories and producing epic-size portraits of them. The photos are prominently displayed on houses, barns, storefronts and trains revealing the humanity in their subjects, and themselves. Faces Places documents these heartwarming encounters as well as the unlikely, tender friendship they formed along the way.” Contact: Cohen Media Group

MUBI is presenting The Beaches of Agnés, Jacquot de Nantes and Salut Les Cubains as part of the loving homage Adieu Agnés Varda “A small tribute to a grand figure who has just left us at the age of 90: Agnès Varda. Godmother of the French New Wave, prolific auteur, nimble innovator, and constant inspiration as an artist and a person, Varda was one of the most important artists of the cinema. During her expansive, illustrious career, she made an endlessly eclectic array of feminist cinema, ranging from playful documentaries to subversive fictions.”

** This is a particularly sad farewell for many members of the community, please be patient as distributors respond to your requests.
** We are still seeking information about theatrical rights for Jacquot de Nantes, The Young Girls Turn 25, A Hundred and One Nights, and The World of Jacques Demy, if you handle U.S. distribution for these films please contact us.

AHC Conference Hosts Filmmakers Cristina Ibarra and Alex Rivera

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On the eve of the world premiere of their new film The Infiltrators in the NEXT section at the Sundance Film Festival, filmmakers Cristina Ibarra and Alex Rivera attended the 2019 Art House Convergence annual conference for a conversation about cinema, the U.S./Mexico border, and Latino-identity.

The Infiltrators, a formally inventive hybridization of narrative and documentary that combines footage of the real-life Dreamers who go undercover in detention facilities with dramatic reenactments of their efforts, received the NEXT Audience Award and NEXT Innovator Prize at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.

This conversation took place in the final days of a prolonged partial-shutdown of the U.S. federal government (the longest in the country’s history) spurred by a political stalemate over the construction of a border wall.

Collectively, Ibarra and Rivera have been making films about the border and its cultural, economic, and technological reverberations for over twenty years. They were founding members of the artist-run Latino distribution collective SubCine, and have participated in community based cinema programming through the ITVS community cinema program and Science on Screen respectively.

Information about booking The Infiltrators is forthcoming. However, their earlier documentary and narrative films about the production of the border as a place and idea are currently available for booking.

Las Marthas (Cristina Ibarra, 2013, 69 min.) Book this film.

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Unlike any other, the annual debutante ball in Laredo, Texas is part of a lucrative month-long festival honoring George Washington’s birthday. LAS MARTHAS follows two young women as they prepare for this elaborate rite of passage: Laurita, a 13th-generation debutante descended from Laredo’s original Spanish land grantees who questions debutante society’s class system geared toward girls like herself; and Rosario, a high-achieving, Mexican-raised and U.S.-schooled outsider struggling to understand the elite society’s unspoken rules.

Tracing the event’s origins back to 1898, the film works to unravel why a town like Laredo – with a population that is 98% Mexican – feels such affinity for America’s Founding Father. Despite history and all odds, the celebration perseveres and flourishes thanks to the Mexican American girls who wear this gilded tradition in the form of elaborate colonial gowns. LAS MARTHAS is a beautifully drawn and sometimes humorous, coming of age portrait of these two young women as they navigate this complex tradition in a time of economic uncertainty and political tension over immigration and border relations between the US and Mexico.

The Last Conquistador (Cristina Ibarra & John J. Valdez, 2008, 60 min.) Book this film.

Renowned sculptor John Houser has a dream: to build the world’s tallest bronze equestrian statue for the city of El Paso, Texas. He envisions a stunning monument to Spanish conquistador Juan de Oñate that will honor the contributions Hispanic people made to building the American West. But as the project nears completion, troubles arise.

Native Americans are outraged — they remember Oñate as the man who brought genocide to their land and sold their children into slavery. As El Paso divides along lines of race and class in The Last Conquistador, the artist must face the moral implications of his work. A co-production of Independent Television Service (ITVS). A co-presentation of Latino Public Broadcasting, Native American Public Telecommunications and KERA Dallas/Fort Worth.

Sleep Dealer (Alex Rivera, 2008, 90 min.) Book this Film

Sleep Dealer is approved for Sloan Foundation-funded Science on Screen programs

SleepDealer

Sleep Dealer is a Sundance award-winning sci-fi thriller packed with stunning visuals and strong social and political themes.

Memo Cruz (Luis Fernando Peña) is a young man in near-future Mexico. When his family is victim of a misguided drone attack he finds himself with no option but to head north, towards the U.S./Mexico border. But migrant workers cannot cross this new world border – it’s been sealed off. Instead, Memo ends up in a strange digital factory in Mexico where he connects his body to a robot in America.

Memo’s search for a better future leads him to love, loss, and a confrontation with a mysterious figure from his past.

The Los Angeles Times writes “Adventurous, ambitious and ingeniously futuristic, Sleep Dealer is a welcome surprise. It combines visually arresting science fiction done on a budget with a strong sense of social commentary in a way that few films attempt, let alone achieve.“

 

An Open Letter from Art House Convergence regarding “Screening Room”

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The Art House Convergence, a specialty cinema organization representing 600 theaters and allied cinema exhibition businesses, strongly opposes Screening Room, the start-up backed by Napster co-founder Sean Parker and Prem Akkaraju. The proposed model is incongruous with the movie exhibition sector by devaluing the in-theater experience and enabling increased piracy. Furthermore, we seriously question the economics of the proposed revenue-sharing model.

We are not debating the day-and-date aspect of this model, nor are we arguing for the decrease in home entertainment availability for customers – most independent theaters already play alongside VOD and Premium VOD, and as exhibitors, we are acutely aware of patrons who stay home to watch films instead of coming out to our theaters.

Rather, we are focused on the impact this particular model will have on the cinema market as a whole. We strongly believe if the studios, distributors, and major chains adopt this model, we will see a wildfire spread of pirated content, and consequently, a decline in overall film profitability through the cannibalization of theatrical revenue. The theatrical experience is unique and beneficial to maximizing profit for films. A theatrical release contributes to healthy ancillary revenue generation and thus cinema grosses must be protected from the potential erosion effect of piracy.

The exhibition community was required to subscribe to DCI-compliance in a very material way – either by financing through VPF integrators (and those contracts have not yet expired) or by turning to other models which necessitated substantial time and commitment. Those exhibitors who were unable to make the transition were punished by a loss of product. The digital conversion had a substantial cost per theater, upwards of $100,000 per screen, all in the name of piracy eradication and lowering print, storage and delivery costs to benefit the distributors. How will Screening Room prevent piracy? If studios are concerned enough with projectionists and patrons videotaping a film in theaters that they provide security with night-vision goggles for premieres and opening weekends, how do they reason that an at-home viewer won’t set up a $40 HD camera and capture a near-pristine version of the film for immediate upload to torrent sites?

This proposed model would negate DCI-compliance by making first-run titles available to anyone with the set-top device for an incredibly low fee – how will Screening Room prevent the sale of these devices to an apartment complex, a bar owner, or any other individual or company interested in creating their own pop-up exhibition space? We must consider how the existing structures for exhibition will be affected or enforced, including rights fees, VPFs and box office percentages.

A model like this will also have a local economic impact by encouraging traditional moviegoers to stay home, reducing in-theater revenue and making high-quality pirated content readily available. This loss of revenue through box office decline and piracy will result in a loss of jobs, both entry level and long-term, from part time concessions and ticket-takers to full time projectionists and programmers, and will negatively impact local establishments in the restaurant industry and other nearby businesses. How many of today’s filmmakers started their careers at their local moviehouse?

There are many unanswered questions as to how this business model will actually work. The proposed model, as we have read in countless articles, suggests exhibitors will receive $20 for each film purchased. At first glance, an exhibitor may think it represents a small, but potentially steady, additional revenue stream. But how will this actually be divided among the number of theaters playing the purchased title; will exhibitors who open the title receive more than an exhibitor who does not get the title until several weeks later (based on a distributor’s decision); who will audit the revenue to ensure exhibitors are being paid fairly; does this revenue come from Screening Room or from the distributor… these are just a few of the issues yet to be explained.

Similarly, Screening Room promises to give each subscriber two free cinema tickets with each film purchase. Yet to be disclosed is how an exhibitor will recoup the value of those tickets from Screening Room so they can then pay the percentage of box office revenue owed to the distributor of the film. Yet to be explained is who will manage the ticket program details such as location choice, method of purchase, and so on. Will all exhibitors be expected to honor Screening Room free tickets, or will some exhibitors receive preferential treatment over others?

We strongly urge the studios, filmmakers, and exhibitors to truly consider the impact this model could have on the exhibition industry. We as the Art House and independent community have serious concerns regarding the security of an at-home set-top box system as well as the transparency and effectiveness of the revenue-sharing model. Our exhibition sector has always welcomed innovation, disruption and forward-thinking ideas, most especially onscreen through independent film; however, we do not see Screening Room as innovative or forward-thinking in our favor, rather we see it as inviting piracy and significantly decreasing the overall profitability of film releases.

At this time and with the information available to us we strongly encourage all studios to deny all content to this service.

The Interview

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Network of leading independent cinemas support freedom of expression with request to screen controversial title

Art House Convergence, the national coalition of independent art house cinemas in America has set up a petition for independent exhibitors to pledge their support of Sony for a theatrical release of THE INTERVIEW.

“Your Art House motion picture colleagues wish to support you and your company,” said Russ Collins, Director of the Art House Convergence, in his open letter to Sony’s Michael Lynton and Amy Pascal. “Circumstance has propelled THE INTERVIEW into a spotlight on values, both societal and artistic, and in honor of our support, we want to offer our help in a way that honors our long tradition of defending creative expression.”

The petition, which can be found at http://www.change.org/p/sony-we-the-undersigned-support-sony reads as follows:

We, the independent art house community, specifically the theaters below, express our support for Sony Pictures and all of its employees worldwide in this difficult time. We want to share our encouragement and appreciation for Sony and the great contributions it has made to the film industry, especially to our sector of art houses and independent cinemas.

On December 16th, the Terrorist Organization, “The Guardians of Peace,” escalated their threats by promising terrorist attacks against cinemas showing THE INTERVIEW.  “The world will be full of fear,” their message read, “Remember the 11th of September 2001. We recommend you to keep yourself distant from the places at that time. (If your house is nearby, you’d better leave.)”

With this threat, the issue became larger than any film, larger than Sony and larger than the entertainment industry: societal and artistic values are in peril. We are at an important crossroads with an opportunity to reaffirm clearly our dedication to the value of freedom and the absolute necessity to keep our film industry free of restriction, censorship and violent intimidation. We implore our fellow exhibitors and our nation of moviegoers to stand up in recognition that freedom of speech and artistic expression are vital not only to the entertainment industry but for all art and commerce worldwide.

We stand in solidarity with Sony and offer our support to them in defense of artistic integrity and personal freedoms; freedoms which represent our nation’s great ability to effect change and embrace diversity of opinion.

We understand there are risks involved in screening THE INTERVIEW.  We will communicate these risks as clearly as we can to our employees and customers and allow them to make their own decisions, as is the right of every American. Understanding those risks, the undersigned, independent cinema owners and operators of America under the banner of the Art House Convergence, do hereby agree to support Sony and to support theatrical engagements of THE INTERVIEW should Sony, at its sole discretion, decide to release it to theaters.

About the Art House Convergence:

In 2008, the first Art House Convergence, an industry educational program designed to empower and inform independent cinemas nationwide, was presented. It grew out of a collaboration with the Sundance Institute Art House Project in 2006. Now in its eighth year, the growth of the Art House Convergence and its development of research, surveys and year round communication among art house theaters affirm that the organization has evolved into a leading national resource for the support of independent exhibitors and the promotion of film culture in local communities.  For more information about Art House Convergence visit www.arthouseconvergence.org

 

 

An Open Letter to Sony

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Michael Lynton, Chairman and CEO Sony Entertainment, Inc.
Amy Pascal, Co-Chair Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group

Dear Mr. Lynton and Ms. Pascal

Your Art House motion picture colleagues wish to support you and your company at this difficult time. We empathize with the ruthless attack your company suffered and we want to help in our small but powerful way.

The enormity of the attack your company has suffered and the difficulty of the decisions you have been forced to make in recent days are nearly unimaginable; similarly is the monumental nature of the business disruption your company has endured in recent weeks. Your life, and possibly your judgment, has been disrupted beyond comprehension. The financial bottom line impact will be, frankly, unfathomable for an independent Art House to comprehend. However, in life and art, values are the ultimate “bottom line” and striving for freedom and goodness are the sometimes conflicting, but paramount values of enlightened societies.

We understand that “The Interview” is on one level “just a movie,” meaning, in terms of human history, a probably facile entertainment and business investment. But circumstance has propelled this work into a nexus of values, both societal and artistic. It is also, as an artistic and national community, an opportunity to respond clearly to the behavior of an international bully opposed, by word and deed, to the value of freedom.

We, the independent Art House community, will gladly exhibit “The Interview” as a special, one-day showing without pecuniary expectation, or as a regular part of our cinema programming. We do this to express the value and power of freedom and to support you, our artistic and business colleagues, during a time of great vexation.

Best wishes to you and all your Sony Entertainment colleagues as you endeavor to restore normalcy (if that is possible in show-business!) to your work-life and your business.

Most Sincerely — Russ Collins, Director, Art House Convergence

Six Steps to a Successful Art House

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[Excerpted with permission from a keynote speech by Stephanie Silverman, Belcourt Theatre, at the 2014 Art House Convergence]

You have been my teachers; we have been each other’s teachers. I wanted to take this moment, the closing of another remarkable convergence, to name what I think makes us special and where we have room for growth. Because these are the things I learned from you….

  1. Start at home.

Care most about programming for your community, and do it with exceptional creativity. We all love a tent pole, and there have been some magical ones over the last few years. Great filmmaking exists, and we are the lucky ones who get to share it with our audiences — but building a theatre that’s sustainable in years when the tent poles are pup tent size, rather than circus tent proportion — or when the big guy down the road decides he wants to be more “creative” — is not simple. You have to be able to survive, but that survival may just be where you find your programmatic voice — and is absolutely where you build audience trust, where you begin to teach your community to check in on you every week just to see what’s going on.

  1. Teach your children well.

Film organizations like ours are in a remarkably unique position to engage young people creatively —because kids love movies. Take it from someone who came from the contemporary dance world. Kids do not love modern dance as much as they love movies. We are an art form that is both accessible and challenging — and one that can tell stories which hit close to home, or make connections across the globe. Yes, we need to raise young people to be the engaged film audiences of the future, but even bigger and more important, we need to raise young people whose eyes are wide open and whose world views are informed and broad — even if it’ll be years before they get to move far past their front porch in Nashville, Tennessee or Omaha, Nebraska or Anchorage, Alaska, all of which have great art house cinemas.

  1. Run a damn good business.

Know how to make your year successful, and know that those transactional relationships whether via a ticket, a popcorn purchase, a membership purchase or a contribution — those are where the gold lies. In the world of the art house, those people are your tribe. They trust you to do right by them, and of course, it starts with the films — but it has to exist in every other detail in your institution. How we gracefully and warmly navigate each interaction is how trust is built…how recommendations are made…and why audiences are drawn back to us. Even if they’ve never heard of the film…

  1. Work with amazing people.

I have never, in my professional life, been surrounded by better colleagues than I am every day at the Belcourt. They are exceptional. I feel the freedom to brag about this freely here because I know I’m not alone. I also know, though, that there’s a place for us in the national conversation about hourly wages.  Different communities have different stories — and, in our theatre, we certainly don’t have the ability to instantly address what I personally believe to be a substantive issue for our part time staff. But within the film exhibition world, we are the institutions who could start to improve pay for our hourly workforce. I don’t know about yours, but mine lowest paid employees are largely from the much-heralded creative class, most of whom have college degrees and know more about film that I ever will. The value of those people being on our front lines is extraordinary — and it is my goal, at least, to begin to pay them more what they are worth.

  1. Fight for your place in your cultural community.

Evangelize your philanthropic community, your tourism board, your chamber of commerce. Know them, talk to them, and remind them endlessly that a great film house is as important on any community’s cultural map as a symphony hall or a museum. And in some communities where symphony halls and ballet companies are not possible, it’s the film house that can step up and bring great symphonic music and world-class ballet to those communities.

And here’s the point that is closest to my heart. It’s the one that frustrates me the most and galls me the most in terms of the national narrative about art houses.  It’s this:

  1. Aggressively refute the myth of the dying art house.

The typical story I’ve been called on to address by the media (barring some of the smarter publications sitting in this rooms) is a straight up Goliath vs. David narrative. Only it seems like there’s a predisposed desire that Goliath wins. Seriously—I was interviewed for three or four articles in the height of the economic downturn. And when I’d mention that we were having amazing years……end of conversation.

We, as a community, have weathered some tremendous storms from shifting formats to digital conversion. And there are only more to come. It’s the nature of this business and the nature of life — but unless a bomb drops on the Zermatt in the next few minutes — fantastic film exhibition is not going anywhere, and in fact we are healthier and more vital than ever.

There could not be a better time to be in our world, either in the year round exhibition business or the festival business. I love being here now, and I love having all of you as my colleagues, mentors and friends. Cheers to all of us. We are doing something special in communities around this country and around the world. You all inspire me to keep being better and I thank you for that every single day.