Cinema Spaces: NYC Avant-Garde Cinemas 1960-70s
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Film Forum

Picture
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Cinema name : Film Forum
Address : 256 W 88th Street
Neighborhood : Upper West Side
Years of occupancy : 1970 - 1975
Screens (seats) : 1 (50)
Active individuals : Peter Feinstein and Sandy Miller (founders); Karen Cooper (Director 1972)

Cinema name : Film Forum
Address : 15 Vandam Street
Neighborhood : West Village
Years of occupancy : 1975 - 1980
Active individuals : Karen Cooper (director)

Cinema name : Film Forum
Address : 57 Watts Street
Neighborhood : West Village
Years of occupancy : 1980 - 1989
Active individuals : Karen Cooper (director)

Cinema name : Film Forum
Address : 209 W. Houston Street
Neighborhood : West Village
Years of occupancy : 1990 - presentScreens (seats) : 3 (472)
Active individuals : Karen Cooper (director); Bruce Goldstein (programmer)

Quotes & Notes

256 W 88th Street from 1970-1975, 15 Vandam Street from 1975-1980 (the Thalia Soho would take the space in 1984), and 57 Watts Street from 1980-1989 (a twin). Since moving to its current location at 209 W. Houston Street, Film Forum has remained the foremost revival house in New York City

In 1970, The New Yorker covered a new alternative theater in a walk-up loft space on West 88th Street, describing its charming sideburned host, imaginative programming, 16mm projector and "snappy" folding chairs.
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052748704022804575041243384304102

In 1975 New York magazine reported that four revival houses in the city offered movies full-time, but Film Forum is now one of only a handful in the U.S. screening repertory films seven days a week.
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052748704022804575041243384304102

"I think it would be hard," says Ms. Cooper when she is asked whether a venture similar to Film Forum could be launched today, or if it could only have emerged from the unique film culture of the 1960s and '70s, when cinephilia was rampant and alternative screening spaces sprang up around New York. "The economics of film are such that you're selling something for a very low price. It's not the opera; it's not ballet; it's not theater. And you have to sell a lot of tickets. So you have to do it on a certain scale to make it financially feasible."
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052748704022804575041243384304102

Image Credit: http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/14194   (1980s 57 Watts St location)
http://www.bronxbanterblog.com/2013/08/12/million-dollar-movie-381/ (209 W. Houston St location)

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