The IFC Center, located on Sixth
Avenue and West 3rd Street in New York City's Greenwich Village, has been a big
success. This photo of the Center, which opened in 2005, was taken in
early 2007. (Photo courtesy IFC Center/Rainbow Communications)
By Omar P.L. Moore |
The Popcorn Reel
August 6, 2007
With
theaters showing independent films from around the globe in New York City such
as the Quad Cinema on 13th Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues, Film Forum on
West Houston street, Cinema Village on 12th and Second, Anthology Archives on
Second Avenue near Second Street, Landmark's Sunshine Cinemas on East Houston
Street,
the Angelika Film Center on West Houston Street, the Film Society of Lincoln
Center on 65th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, the Museum of the Moving Image in
Astoria, Queens, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music's BAM Rose Cinemas, one could
not be blamed for thinking where in the world the IFC Center, a relatively new
edition to independent film and repertory cinema in the Big Apple, would fit in.
That said however, the IFC Center has fit in more than adequately, with
moviegoers hungry for more sophisticated, challenging, thought-provoking,
intimate adult fare flocking in large numbers to the Center, which is located on
Sixth Avenue at West Third Street in the heart of Greenwich Village. The
Center opened in June of 2005, replacing the Waverly Theater -- which was once a
church in a building structure which has stood for over 200 years -- a long-time
staple of cinema in this downtown area of Manhattan.
The Waverly Theater shut down its operations in 2001, leaving a marquee that
soon looked worn. Eventually the theater was boarded up, and a plethora of
stickers and placards kept the structure company. IFC took over the rights
to the building, tore it down and rebuilt it into a three-screen theater.
IFC also took over the building next to the Waverly. The IFC Center is
adjacent to the West 4th Street Manhattan subway station. Close by is the
revitalized Washington Square Park, as well as prestigious New York University.
But where the Waverly, owned at one time by the Canada company Cineplex Odeon
Cinemas group (which no longer owns theaters in the United States), played
primarily Hollywood films, IFC Center concentrates on a diverse group of
specialty films. The Center is a distinctly unique film venue, the only
one of its kind in the world. And despite the alternative of numerous
other film venues for the discerning cineaste, John Vanco, the vice president
and general manager of the IFC Center, does not view other local art house movie
theaters in New York City as a competitive concern.
"Ultimately our competition isn't other theaters, it's the couch. We need
to give people a good reason to not just dial-up a movie on their television,"
said Vanco. The IFC is the only theater he knows of, he says, that shows
short films before each and every feature. "If I could show newsreels and
a b-picture as well, I would," he said. Vanco's goal has been to make the
experience of venturing to the movie theater a rich and exciting one for
audiences, many of whom may be jaded with what some might view as the cold and
sterile multiplex experience. With DVD, TiVO, on-demand programming, the
Internet (where relatively recent films can now be downloaded), the emergence of
day-and-date releasing on DVD, cable television and theaters of recent
independent films such as "Bubble", directed by Steven Soderbergh, "Color Me
Kubrick", and the recent "Fay Grim", directed by Hal Hartley, the IFC Center has
its work cut out for itself.
Despite the challenge, it appears that IFC Center has thrived during its first
two years, according to Vanco.
"We've done extraordinarily well with new independent films as well as some
revivals of classic films and older films that hadn't previously got
recognition." Mr. Vanco cites the example of the 1977 film "Killer Of
Sheep" by Charles Burnett, an American film which flew under the radar and had
music rights issues and print difficulties that prevented any appreciable film
distribution anywhere, until brand-new, restored 35mm prints by UCLA emerged
earlier this year. The film enjoyed "an incredible 12-week $150,000
grossing run" at the Center, said Vanco. More contemporary American
independent films such as the Academy-Award nominated "Transamerica", which
starred Felicity Huffman, also play at the IFC Center, providing a more
entertaining counter-balance to serious or more thought-provoking fare.
The IFC Center also shows foreign language films as well as documentaries.
The recent passing of filmmaking legends Ingmar Bergman and Michelangelo
Antonioni will be responded to with an appreciation of their work in exhibition.
In the past, IFC Center has showcased Bergman motion pictures by Janus Films,
which distributes many of the late director's films. The Center will show
a brand new print of Bergman's 1953 film "Summer With Monica", which will have a
revival run there this Fall, Vanco mentioned. For a good number of
Antonioni films, the legal rights and print situations, Vanco explained, are "a
little more complex".
New releases like "This Is England" and "The Devil Came On Horseback" have
been playing at the IFC Center in New York City. ("England"
photo: Optimum Releasing/UK Film Council via IFC Films; "Devil" Photo:
International Film Circuit)
The vice president and general manager of the IFC Center anticipated however,
that before too long an Antonioni series would see the light of day in New York.
He mentioned that their close neighbor Film Forum, which books its film
repertory series weeks and months in advance, may be the theater that shows the
series. "It might be them, it might be us, it might be the Brooklyn
Academy of Music," Vanco said, but he was confident that a retrospective on
Antonioni, who directed such films as "Blow-Up" and "The Passenger", the film
which Jack Nicholson now owns, would be done at some point, perhaps in the next
few months.
The IFC Center debuted with "Me, You and Everyone We Know", directed by Miranda
July. As well as long theatrical runs of these types of independent films,
came repertory series, in-person appearances -- "probably more than any other
theater in New York", Vanco said. To begin the month of August for
example, veteran filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker appeared at the Center to talk about
his new documentary on Bob Dylan.
Before too long, everyone that IFC Center knew (plus many movie lovers in this
West Village area and elsewhere) flocked to the Center, which has three screens
with seating capacities of 210, 114, and 61 respectively. The Center has
35mm and digital projection, with pre-shows that run on digital servers,
including the trailers. With the revitalization of this part of New York
City's theatrical motion picture scene, an expansion of the movie house was
cultivated. An example of this expansion, the IFC Center contains two
editing suites where local independent feature filmmakers come to cut their
films.
The restored Charles Burnett 1977 film "Killer Of Sheep" enjoyed a highly
successful run at the IFC Center this spring, and the recent film "You Kill Me",
is another IFC Films release, starring Tea Leoni.
(Photos: Milestone Films; IFC Films)
The name IFC should be familiar to many who watch American independent films, as
the film distribution house specializes in distributing numerous types of
smaller-budget "art-house" films and documentaries. IFC Films and its
sister arm IFC First Take has released recent documentary films in the U.S. like
"The Devil Came On Horseback" and slightly older documentaries like "Fahrenheit
9/11". The recent feature film, "You Kill Me", a romantic comedy starring
Ben Kingsley and Tea Leoni, the French-language comedy "Mon Meilleur Ami" ("My
Best Friend"), starring Daniel Auteil, opened in the U.S. within the last two or
three weeks, as did the hard-hitting British film "This Is England", from
director Shane Meadows.
The health of its audience is also something that IFC Center takes seriously.
The Center has certified organic popcorn. "We use Canola Oil . . . we try
to keep it as basic and simple and clean and organic as we can, because living
here in the Village there are a lot of people who care about that kind of thing,
so it's kind of a no-brainer to basically have natural snacks here," Vanco said.
So after just two years, the IFC Center's success draws a logical question for
Mr. Vanco: are there plans to duplicate the Center elsewhere in the world?
"We might expand and do others or we might expand the facility here, there
aren't any concrete plans at this point." In the meantime, Vanco expresses
the desire to keep the singular IFC Center "packed to the gills" with the three
p's: patrons, programs, and pictures (that's movies to non-U.K based readers.)
For more information, visit The IFC Center's website:
www.ifccenter.com
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