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Across the U.S., community-based art house theaters screen independent films for
appreciative audiences—even at a time when home entertainment centers and video
downloads have become the norm.
From glamorous historic movie palaces to down-home beer and pizza pubs, art house
theaters are anything but cookie cutter, and the people that run and support them are
anything but blasé about film.
Inside Indies contributor Elizabeth Meyer spoke with folks around the country who are
working to keep these theaters alive.
Multiplex theaters have become a fixture of the suburban American landscape. And like their
neighbors, big box stores and strip malls, the multiplexes offer pretty much the same fare
from one locale to the next. Hollywood blockbusters screen next door to one another in
theaters boasting as many as 20 screens.
In Montgomery, Alabama, Martin McCaffery has been running the single-screen Capri
Theatre in the city’s historic Cloverdale district for 25 years. At one time a segregated
theater, the Capri was the first to bring the works of both Spike Lee and Ang Lee to the state
of Alabama. “Mike Leigh too,” McCaffery notes. In 1989, his theater’s screening of The Last
Temptation of Christ brought picketers and condemnations from the mayor, city council and
even the governor of Alabama.
Describing the difference between watching a movie at the Capri and going to one of the
nearby multiplexes, McCaffery says, “It’s the difference between going to a restaurant and
going to McDonalds. We know about film; we know what we’re doing.”
The Capri is the only theater in Alabama where viewers can see Swedish vampire flick Let
the Right One In and Israeli animated war pic Waltz with Bashir. Other 2009 offerings include
Milk and Che: A Revolutionary Life. The theater is also supporting regional filmmakers
through the Southern Circuit exhibition program. And while the big theater chains may offer
more screens, McCaffery is hopeful his micro-scaled operation will sustain itself, even
through the economic downturn: “We’re too small to die…and too stupid to quit.”
Saving Art House Theaters
Russ Collins is co-chair of the Sundance Institute’s Art House Project, a national partnership
working to build audiences and develop a community of theater owners committed to
independent film. To date, 12 theaters around the U.S. have been selected for the Art House
Project, a major perk of which is having exclusive access to films from the Sundance Film
Festival.
The Art House Project hosts a convergence, which Collins chairs, in conjunction with
Sundance’s annual festival. The January 2009 convergence drew representatives from 50
theaters around the country. A major theme, says Collins, is the need for communities
everywhere to acknowledge and support local, community-based, mission-driven movie
theaters as cultural resources, along the lines of regional playhouses, museums and
libraries.
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“We’re too small to die…and too
stupid to quit.”
—Martin McCaffery, the Capri
Theatre, Montgomery, AL
1950s-era movie concession counter
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2. Collins also runs the Michigan Theater, “the place for serious movie lovers,” a historic movie
palace in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Like a growing number of theaters around the country,
including McCaffery’s Capri, the Michigan is a not-for-profit enterprise, sustained by
memberships, donations, grants and corporate sponsorships.
There are at least 500 independent community-based art house theaters in the U.S., and
Collins surmises that there may even be thousands. “There will be more and more every
year,” he prophesies, “because film is arguably the most important art form created in the
20th century.”
Collins points to the baby boomer generation, exposed to film societies and film studies
during their college years. As this generation increasingly provides the philanthropic lifeblood
that sustains community and regional arts endeavors, their interest in film is vital to art house
theaters. These types of theaters, which screen harder-to-find indie works, foreign films and
even early silent movies, simply can’t rely on box office to stay afloat.
But boomer nostalgia won’t be enough to sustain some theaters. In Montgomery, McCaffery
has seen a significant decline in attendance and revenue in recent years. His 2008 box office
was down 24 percent and projections for 2009 are even bleaker. While 46 percent of his
budget comes from membership dues and donations, he relies on attendance for the
remaining 54 percent.
Watching his clientele age, McCaffery laments that young people are not coming to his
theater. During speaking engagements at his local college, McCaffery regularly asks
students how many have ever, in their lives, watched a movie in a theater. Only half raise
their hands. Read more >>
Michigan Theater, Ann Arbor
Pipe Organ at the Michigan Theater
Photo: Steven Ball
Art House Theaters
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