Film Forum Celebrates Its 40^th Anniversary in 2010

Founded in 1970 with 50 folding chairs and a 16mm projector hardly bigger than a breadbox, Film Forum today celebrates its 40th anniversary as a home for New York premieres of American and foreign-made independent films, including documentaries, fiction and animation. During the past four decades, many beloved New York City movie houses have come and gone. Film Forum, conceived as a nonprofit cultural institution, has persevered, true to its founding mission to present films of the highest quality from around the world, emphasizing originality and intellectual rigor above the immediate concerns of box office success.

Karen Cooper took over Film Forum in 1972 and in the course of several decades grew the enterprise from a weekends-only screening room on West 88th Street (1970-75) to a one-screen cinema on Vandam Street (1975-79); a twin cinema on Watts Street (1980-89); and to its current location, since 1990: a 3-screen, full-time movie house with nearly 500 seats, 280,000 admissions annually and a $4.4 million budget. In late 1986, she was joined by Bruce Goldstein who established an ambitious repertory program of unparalleled caliber. Goldstein is also the editor of the quarterly repertory calendar and oversees repertory publicity. Cooper and Mike Maggiore (who started in 1994) jointly program the theater’s selection of NYC premieres and Maggiore also acts as head publicist for this work.

Despite its modest beginnings, Film Forum has become one of the nation’s leading venues for the release of independent films. Movies launched by Film Forum often go on to play nationwide.

In the past 23 years, Film Forum’s repertory screen has established itself as the nation’s leading showcase for major film restorations and classic re-releases in long-run engagements of revivals. In doing so, Film Forum has created an incentive for distributors to make new prints and has helped put an estimated 700 new 35mm prints into general distribution. The theater’s unique long-run revival policy has had a tremendous impact on the overall quality of film prints in circulation and has revitalized the repertory business. Some of the genres that Goldstein has popularized through his many comprehensive film series include “Pre-Code” movies, Film Noir, silent comedy, classic 3-D, science fiction and “gimmick movies” of the 1950s, and French crime films.

Film Forum Director Karen Cooper, left, with filmmaker Agnès Varda in October 2000 at a party for Varda’s film THE GLEANERS AND I. Photo by Geraldine de Haugoubart.

Daniel and Patricia Ellsberg, subjects of THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN AMERICA: DANIEL ELLSBERG AND THE PENTAGON PAPERS at a party for the film’s opening in September 2009. Photo by Geraldine de Haugoubart.

Vogue Editor-at-Large André Leon Talley, left, with Matt Tyrnauer at a Q&A for Tyrnauer’s film VALENTINO: THE LAST EMPEROR in March 2009. Photo by Theodore Alexandre.

Asked how Film Forum has survived and flourished during good times and bad, Cooper states: “During the past several decades, so many wonderful independent cinemas have disappeared from the New York scene. Critical to our longevity has been the consistently high caliber of every movie we show. Mike Maggiore and I select work with rigorous care, and we rarely accept pre-selected film packages or make compromises. We put a premium on originality, intelligence, craft and passion.

“In the late 1980s, repertory cinemas often played poor-quality prints, frequently in 16mm. Bruce’s program changed all this. His first series was devoted to CinemaScope with all prints in 35mm. This show revealed the decimation of Scope films on videotape and television via ‘panning & scanning.’ It created a standard for the print quality Film Forum consistently requires for re-releases.

“Film Forum does its own publicity for everything we play. This hands-on approach to marketing is part of why our films receive significant attention. We actively engage myriad outlets to spread the word about movies that would otherwise fly under the radar. Reviews, feature stories, interviews with filmmakers and their subjects, blogs, Facebook, e-newsletters, a Web site that is updated daily, and an e-mail database of more 47,000 names are all essential parts of our strategy.

“As a nonprofit enterprise, we receive support from the public sector (the NYS Council on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs) and from foundations, corporations and generous individuals who believe that movies are an art form to be cherished.”

Filmmaker Kelly Reichardt at a November 2008 party for her film WENDY AND LUCY. Photo by Geraldine de Haugoubart.

Marcia & Amos Vogel, left with filmmaker Werner Herzog at a party for the premiere of his film, MY BEST FIEND, in November 1999. Photo by Geraldine de Haugoubart.

Poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko, left, with Warren Beatty at the Film Forum premiere of THE KINDERGARTEN in 1986. Photo by Robin Holland.