Growing up in Memphis as a fan of off beat independent film, I was often envious of the venues of our peer cities. The Belencourt in Nashville, The Plaza Cinema in Atlanta, Zeitgeist Multi- Disciplinary Arts Center in New Orleans. These are all non-profits that are dedicated to showing off beat, independent, foreign films many of which never make their way to Memphis. It is a sad fact that in 2012 Memphis lacks a dedicated Art-house cinema.
A little history is in order. A group of film lovers attempted to open a dedicated art-house in the Circuit Playhouse just prior to Malco opening in Midtown. Malco openly opposed the parking lot near the proposed cinema, which would have been necessary for the Circuit to be successful. In the face of Malco’s opposition the idea was dropped.
Every Memphis film lover knows that The Studio On The Square was built “to be a gift to the city of Memphis showcasing independent and foreign films”. The advent of Muvico downtown delivered a nail in the coffin of this art-house strategy. In an effort to be competitive with Muvico, Studio on the Square became a mainstream house that occasionally shows independent cinema and not the other way around. Malco’s “gift to the city” is now a place to watch the latest Jim Carry mainstream film. The sad fact is that Midtown, the area of Memphis that should be able to support a non-profit independent film venue lacks such a venue.
There are those that are attempting to help bring independent film to Memphis.
Brooks infrequently shows very worthy films, Ridgeway Four shows independent fare but Malco has stated that with the new remodel more mainstream fare will start to appear. So we are stuck with a few venues but not a true dedicated space whose sole mission is independent film.
We have locals who might be willing to help build and fund a local dedicated art-house. Craig Brewer, Justin Timberlake and even Fred Smith who has produced several films might be willing to help get a non-profit art-house off the ground. Indie Memphis could even program the venue (many film festival in major cities operate their own cinemas i.e. New York Film Society and the San Francisco Film Society). I would even suggest that perhaps the new Artspace project being built in South Main as housing for artist could house a screening room that could both show local student work and studio produced independent cinema. Indie Memphis could operate it as a non-profit.
Why not have a one-screen cinema be part of Overton Square? You might hear that Malco is already there but the whole concept for the Square is multiple theaters. Both live and filmed performance. There are many films that Malco would just simply never book that are worthy. Often these cinemas are called calendar houses. They change out films every other day and print a calendar for the month of what is showing.
Here is a link to a group that helps independent art houses. They help provide start up knowledge.
http://www.arthouseconvergence.org/2012-sponsors/
Great post, Mark. And so true. Malco overpromised with the studio and now it’s even eroded Ridgeway Four’s special place in showing SOME of these films. We need something like the old Guild Theater from decades ago. They are still making money in other cities and theater owners might be surprised at what we want to see if they give us the opportunity.
I’m planning to include a theatre to screen the work of local filmmakers in the proposed Memphis Art Park, an arts center in downtown: http://www.memphisartpark.org/. There’s no reason why we couldn’t screen indie films as well.
OK so heres something I want to see. It has playdates in every major and most smaller markets but of course no memphis playdate
http://www.zipporah.com/crazyhorse