Film Journal January 2018

ma—art house cinema—it’s the same thing.
The purpose of the Art House Convergence
is to increase the quantity and
quality of art-house cinemas in North
America. Every year, about 900 movies
are released into the North American
market—and each art house is a curator
to a certain degree. How do we match the
films available with the interests and tastes
of the communities we serve? That doesn’t
always mean showing them the films that
they “want”; sometimes, it’s showing them
the films they need to see—so we have to
be a little ahead of the community’s curve
in terms of taste, but we can’t be too far
ahead, because if we do we can leave the
audience behind. It’s a tricky balancing act.
Quality has also to do with operating
the theatre. How well do we inform our
community about the films we’re playing?
How good is our customer service? How
good is the image on the screen? How
good does the audio sound? Are we being
a good curator? Are we thinking about that
long arc of quality—and not just the short
term? Do we know—and are we responding
effectively to—our community? Those
are the qualitative aspects we’re focusing
on. In terms of quantity, we’re convinced
the number of independent cinemas is increasing
and attendance is stable—but success
is in the hands of the local art-house
operators and in how effectively their communities
support them.
On being not-for-profit
There can be certain fiscal advantages
to being a nonprofit, mostly because you’re
compelled to engage with your community
and have your community engage with
you. But if someone becomes a nonprofit
simply as a tax dodge, they typically won’t
succeed, ultimately.
If you look around the country, many
places don’t have an independent or arthouse
cinema, so I think there’s a lot of
opportunity for growth. The thing that
independent cinema can and should do
best is to think about themselves as a community
cultural institution—even if they’re
a commercial business. That requires them
to get involved in their community—be
members of the Chamber of Commerce,
volunteer for community service projects,
serve on boards, be thought of as a community
leader. All of that helps people see
them not just as the local movie house, but
as someone who is thinking carefully about
the quality of the community and how the
cinema can broadly benefit the community.
That’s how they can remain vital.
In the “digital cinema panic era,” many
small for-profit and not-for-profit cinemas
discovered their communities really loved
them because when they said, “We’re
going to go out of business because we
can’t afford a digital projector,” in many
places around the country their community
stepped up and supported them. The
cinemas were surprised. But I think that’s
how an independent cinema can continue
to thrive—by being connected to their
community.
On what constitutes success
for art-house cinemas
Maintaining your passion and paying
your bills are important, but an independent
theatre should be run with passion;
it has to be motivated by passion before
profit. It’s not that you don’t want to make
money; every business—whether it’s forprofit
or not-for-profit—has to end up
taking in more money than it spends. But
art-house cinemas are businesses of passion
and they can succeed in any town, large
or small, if they have the right group of
people who are smart about business—and
dedicated to their community.
On the difference
between large chains
and small independents
If you’re a national chain, you make your
money by applying a formula broadly across
a wide geographical area. There are national
chains in all kinds of businesses—not just
cinema—and they’re run by smart businesspeople.
But there are also very successful
local businesses and they usually distinguish
themselves by being uniquely connected to
their community. My boss is my community,
it’s not someone in an office in some
major city. I don’t think that makes me a
better cinema, but it does mean that I can
operate by a different business model.
My uncle ran a hardware store in a
small town in southern Missouri at a time
when Walmart was putting local hardware
stores out of business. He did just fine in
the face of their challenge because if people
had an issue, they knew they could talk
to my Uncle Bill. He knew them, he could
relate to their problems, he was involved
in his community. He’d be fair, but he was
also a good businessman. Large cinemas
do fine, but some people really want that
special local connection—and we also play
many movies they can’t really find anywhere
else.
On the importance
of learning the language
of film
Young people today are much more
savvy in terms of cinema repertoire because
such a vast array of films are available for
them to watch on Blu-ray, DVD, at their
local library and via streaming. Two-yearolds
have Disney movies memorized from
watching them on iPads. Even people who
like to go to the cinema typically see more
movies at home on their TV or computer
screen than they see in a theatre. That’s
been true for many years. Still, most people
are generally ignorant about the nature of
cinema language. It’s like they’ve had a lot
of stories read to them but they’ve never
learned to read or understand English
grammar. Generally, people understand the
stories movies tell, but they don’t understand
how the art form is composed or the
techniques used to tell the story.
That cinema “grammar” is often taught
in colleges, in film-appreciation courses,
but a small minority of students take
those—and it’s really too late. Because
most people get most of their information
from audiovisual media—TV, phones,
computer and theatre screens—we should
be teaching the grammar of that media
at a very young age. Children need to understand
how that media tells its stories,
communicates its messages, convinces
them to make decisions. They need that
understanding to make intelligent choices
not just in the movies they see, but in the
way they live their lives.
On the future
Cinema—and the media in general—
are mature businesses, so we have to be
constantly aggressive and thoughtful and
imaginative about how we pursue our
business so we can stay in the market and
continue to be an effective service to our
customers. But human beings are creatures
of stories; our brains are organized around
stories and there’s something primal and
profound in sitting in a darkened room full
of strangers and having a story presented
by flickering lights. It’s primal desire. Cinema
fulfills that desire. Plus, people like to
go out and one of the best places to experience
quality stories is in a well-run movie
theatre. I like to think that the Art House
Convergence enables and encourages both
that primal desire and the chance to get
out of the house and escape our day-today
lives for a few hours. And that’s a very
good thing!
JANUARY 2018 / FILMJOURNAL.COM 47
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