Long live independent cinema! Good news for New Yorkers, the city is getting a couple of extra screens in the next few years that will be dedicated to showing more and more indie / art house / foreign / doc films. Two separate reports on Indiewire announce details about two theaters: the Metrograph, a two-screen art house being built at 7 Ludlow Street (at Canal Street); along with the IFC Center on 6th Ave, which will be expanding from 5 screens to 11 screens. "To bring glamour, excitement, and prestige back to the exhibition experience has been my longstanding goal," said Metrograph founder and NYC filmmaker Alexander Olch.
The Metrograph is a brand new chain that will open its tiny cinema on Canal Street in February, 2016. It will feature a "restaurant, cinema-dedicated bookshop, café and lounge", and will host (of course) "world-class independent and international movies, repertory films and exclusive premieres." I am looking forward to checking it out once the doors open. Years ago we wrote about a new theater being built entirely for docs, but that has yet to open. The IFC Center is already a very well-established indie cinema in New York City, even allowing in under-17 teens to R-rated films when they feel the MPAA has overstepped their bounds. After 10 years with five screens (three when they opened!), they're expanding (again) to double that amount.
Vanco added, "After years of being the top-grossing venue in the country for many terrific specialized films like 'Boyhood,' 'Citizenfour,' 'Blue Is the Warmest Color' and each annual edition of the 'Oscar-Nominated Short Films,' as well as hosting the nation’s largest documentary film festival, DOC NYC, it’s become clear that the audience for IFC Center's programming keeps growing, so to accommodate them, IFC Center needs to grow, too."
The new plan for the expanded IFC Center is to utilize a vacant lot behind the existing building, extending back from their current location to Cornelia Street. The addition of the six screens will not change the location of the entrance, and the IFC Center's iconic marquee will remain where it is. This expansion was just announced, and they have officially applied for a construction permit though no work has really started yet (via Yimby). As a New Yorker who appreciates every last cinema in this city, this is great news. The more movie theaters, the better, especially more art houses that actually care about the art, the experience, and the people that love movies. We'll be following developments on both of these projects closely. Stay tuned.
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