Boxoffice Pro - January 2020

ART HOUSE CONVERGENCE 2020
There have been two big initiatives
that AHC has tackled in recent years:
Sustainability and Diversity, Equity,
and Inclusion. Could you update us on
some of your recent—and upcoming—
projects on that end?
With regard to “going green,” I think
it is an essential moment for ethically
oriented, mission-driven enterprises to
respond to our current climate emergency
by committing to making our communities
livable. Right now we are also very
concerned with changing the ecosystem of
the conference and reducing the amount
of waste it produces. I am thrilled to see
so many colleagues initiating composting
programs and offering reusable beverage
glasses. These first steps might feel small,
but they are worth celebrating.
The world is incredibly diverse, and
it is imperative that this diversity of
experiences and perspectives is present in
art house cinemas. I prefer not to use the
term “initiative” because it presumes a
leadership that is including more people
instead of acknowledging the many
participants working together to create
conditions for equity. Dozens of people
involved with the conference and Art
House Convergence are doing incredible
work to oppose racism, reshape arts institutions,
remove cultural and infrastructural
barriers to participation in filmgoing,
and challenge hierarchical presumptions
about how change occurs.
Three years ago Taylour Chang of the
Honolulu Museum of Art and Courtney
Sheehan, formerly of Northwest Film
Forum, established a working group called
Alliance for Action dedicated to equity
in the art house. It is notable that many
of this group’s activities have focused
on asking questions: How does your
theater reflect your community? What
is the history of your neighborhood?
What are its sources of pride? Who feels
welcome at your theater? In subsequent
years as Art House Convergence has had
the opportunity to host facilitators like
Tammy Johnson of Art/Work Practice
and Shontina Vernon of Visionary Justice
StoryLab, questioning the status quo and
our own biases and impulses has remained
essential. It is essential that we keep asking
questions and holding ourselves accountable
when the answers are hard to hear.
Another recent initiative I’ve found
very appealing is Art House Theater
Day. Could you tell us more about that
and describe some of the highlights of
the 2019 edition?
Art House Theater Day is an annual
celebration of the role that art house cinemas
play in their communities. Art houses
throughout North America and abroad
are invited to participate, screen special
film prereleases, and share special swag.
Any mission-driven, indie theater can sign
up through our website. In 2019 the Art
House Theater Day lineup, programmed
by Rocío Mesa of LA OLA and Dan
Hudson of the Grand Illusion Cinema,
included Putney Swope and Peter Strickland’s
In Fabric, wonderfully weird films
that are genuinely surprising. Over 100
theaters participated, and people around
the country attended the celebration.
Do you have any concerns regarding
the Department of Justice’s recent
decision to repeal the Paramount
decrees? How do you think this could
affect the arthouse community in
the U.S.?
I strongly disagree with the Justice
Department’s assertions that the decrees’
“existence may actually harm American
consumers by standing in the way of
innovative business models.” In fact,
practices like block booking and circuit
dealing hamper innovation by preventing
theaters from entering into relationships
with small distributors, developing eclectic
screening series, and initiating programs
in service of their local economies.
The film industry has changed since
the 1930s. Instead of major motion
picture studios, a small group of conglomerates
now hold a tremendous amount of
control over media industries. We have
already been feeling the consequences
of the erosion of the enforcement of the
decrees. During the 1980s, studios made
forays into the exhibition business, and
over the course of the last decade there
have been multiple lawsuits about licensing
and clearances. This isn’t evidence that
antimonopolistic regulation is outdated,
it’s evidence that it needs to be updated,
because we need it now more than ever.
We’ve heard a lot of complaints from
exhibitors concerning Disney’s decision
to make legacy Fox titles unavailable
for repertory runs. How big of an
impact has this had on the art house
community?
Art houses are going to curate
amazing repertory programs, but restricted
access to the Fox catalogue hurts
audiences by obstructing access to an
important part of our cultural heritage.
The catalogue includes hundreds of titles
from the silent period to the present
(including gems from the golden age of
Technicolor) that were intended to be
theatrically exhibited. Pulling them from
circulation diminishes their place in the
public consciousness. Some theaters are
still able to screen Fox repertory titles,
and our position is that access should
be protected and expanded. It is clear
that making films theatrically available
enhances the public’s excitement for a
film library to the benefit of audiences,
exhibitors, and rights holders.
What are the biggest challenges and
opportunities for the art house community
in the coming decade?
It is clear that just screening media
isn’t enough. People can watch media
on a variety of surfaces and screens. Art
houses have to be places where people
want to gather. They are organizations
that take film presentation seriously,
cultivate trust by screening films they
are passionate about, and work for and
with people. We can’t try to replicate the
model of large chains; instead we have to
find our own way by centering innovation
and audience.
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