Tag: Uptown Film Center

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And the Graffiti Comes Down!

  • Graffiti on the landmarked facade. Photo: Randy Enochs

What a milestone! Thanks to the support of New York Landmarks Preservation Commission, Uptown Film Center was able to remove years-old graffiti from the landmarked Art Deco façade of its home at Broadway and 99th Street on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

The graffiti had been a highly visible presence on the building for a number of years and a longstanding neighborhood concern. Its removal allows the building’s distinctive façade to stand out along Broadway.  It also marks the first visible step in the development of Uptown Film Center as a new five-screen arthouse cinema and cultural center.

Because of the façade’s landmark status and historic materials, the graffiti removal required a highly specialized treatment to protect the façade and its distinctive architectural details. Uptown Film Center’s architects, Voith & Mactavish, worked in coordination with the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission to ensure the protection of the terra cotta.

PRESS COVERAGE:
West Side Rag
I Love the Upper West Side
WABC News (below)

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Light Up the Uptown: 30 Volunteers, 330 Donors, and $62,758 Raised!

Campaign captains for the Light Up the Uptown peer-to-peer fundraising campaign were celebrated at our final outdoor screening in Riverside Park.

What happens when 30 people who believe in the Uptown Film Center ask their friends and family to believe in it, too? An incredible $62,758 raised from 281 new donors and 49 repeat donors!

This summer, 30 Uptown supporters stepped forward as Light Up the Uptown campaign captains, each committing to raise a modest $500 by asking friends and family to make a gift of $20 or more. While the original overall goal of the campaign was $20,000, the captains more than tripled that number—and almost everyone exceeded their personal goal, with most raising more than $1,000.

The idea for the campaign came from Natalie Dawe, an Upper West Side volunteer and Uptown’s lead marketing consultant.  She knew that a personal invitation would be much more powerful than a generic fundraising appeal.  “Anytime I tell someone in my network about the Uptown Film Center and talk about how passionate I am about it, the excitement is infectious.”

Campaign co-chair Raquel Munive (right) with campaign captains Frederique Henriot and Susan Goodman

Natalie proposed a peer-to-peer campaign that would give supporters their own personalized fundraising pages and the tools to share the Uptown story with their personal networks. Raquel Munive, another Uptown volunteer, joined the effort as co-chair. Together, she and Natalie created a toolkit to make it easy for first-time fundraisers to get started, providing information about the Uptown, sample emails and texts, social media posts and photos. Each “captain” also had a personalized donation page where they could watch their fundraising progress and receive regular updates.

The result was an extraordinary outpouring of support!

The captains ranged in age from 17 to 85; many had never raised money before. But because the ask was just $20, they say they felt comfortable reaching out to their friends and family.  And then the gifts started coming in.  One fundraiser identified a leadership donor; others kept raising their goals as they surpassed them.

It’s a family effort! Co-captains Nicky and Kristen Dover with their next generation cinephile! 

By mid-August, after the eight-week campaign, the 30 volunteers had raised $62,758—three times the original overall goal.  Just as important were the 281 new donors who joined the Uptown community by donating through the campaign.

“A broad base of community support matters enormously to a project like ours,” says Beth Krieger, Uptown Vice President/Development and Communications.  “Foundations, government funders and individual major donors want to see evidence that our project has the support of the community it will serve.”  The influx of donors from the summer campaign, she says, has brought the total number of donors to 1,400.

(L-R) Campaign captains Corinne Constantine and Lorraine Zamora

“I hope the captains feel a lot of pride because they did something significant for their community,” adds Natalie. “The Uptown belongs to all of us—and these 30 volunteers showed just how much can happen when a community comes together to build it.”

Raquel notes that several captains have asked to continue their fundraising efforts through crowd-funded Name a Seat campaigns, working toward the $5,000 need to name a seat in one of the Uptown’s future theaters.

Natalie and Raquel hope to repeat the Light Up the Uptown campaign next summer.  A call for volunteers will go out next May in our newsletter, so if you are interested, be sure you sign up for Uptown mailings at uptownfilm.org/mailing-list.

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Uptown Launches Second Season of Science on Screen® Pop-Up Series

Uptown Film Center launches the second season of its Science on Screen® pop-up series, on Monday, October 5, 7pm, with Peter Weir’s sci-fi film, The Truman Show, starring Jim Carrey and Laura Linney.

Science on Screen® is a nationwide initiative of the Coolidge Corner Theatre in partnership with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation that uses film to engage audiences with science, technology, and the questions they raise in our everyday lives. The series reflects Uptown Film Center’s commitment to science literacy and the kind of thoughtful, educational programming it plans to offer regularly when its permanent home opens. All screenings will take place at the Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theater at West 95th Street, west of Broadway

“What makes Science on Screen® so compelling is the opportunity to use very different kinds of films to explore questions that are increasingly relevant to our lives,” says Ira Deutchman, President, Uptown Film Center. “Through comedy, documentary and science-fiction satire, these films tackle subjects ranging from technology and surveillance to sustainable farming and the future of human reproduction. Together, they show how movies can entertain us while also challenging us to think more deeply about the world around us.”

The Truman Show explores surveillance, privacy and the increasingly blurred boundaries between technology, entertainment and everyday life. Guest speaker Professor Michael W. Morris, the author of Tribal (2024), spent his career studying how shared cultural codes and identities influence the way we think and act. He will address the question, “Who Gets to Decide What is Real?” in a pre-screening introduction, exploring what the film reveals about the invisible scripts that guide our lives, whether we notice them or not.

Next film in the series, on Monday, November 9, is the critically acclaimed documentary film, The Biggest Little Farm, which follows John and Molly Chester as they leave Los Angeles to transform 200 acres of depleted, drought-stricken land into a thriving and radically diverse farm. What begins as an idealistic dream of living in harmony with nature becomes a humbling exploration of biodiversity, resilience, and the delicate balance that sustains all living things. Guest Speaker to be announced.

The last film in the series is Sophie Barthes’ witty 2023 indie film, The Pod Generation, Monday, December 14. The film follows a New York couple (Emilia Clarke, Chiwetel Ejiofor) who contemplate growing their baby in a detachable artificial womb, or “pod,” provided by a powerful tech company. Dr. Elizabeth Reis has taught classes on medical ethics, gender and bioethics, and reproductive technologies. She is the author of Bodies in Doubt: An American History of Intersex (2009), published in an expanded second edition in 2021; Damned Women: Sinners and Witches in Puritan New England.

The Science on Screen series is supported, in part, by public funds from the NYC Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD) in partnership with the NY City Council and the office of New York City Council Majority Leader Shaun Abreu and Speaker Julie Menin.

Tickets are $7/adults, $5 for seniors and students, plus a $5 facility fee (at check-out). All screenings take place at the Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theater at West 95th Street, west of Broadway.

Details and tickets>>

Science on Screen®: THE POD GENERATION – Who owns the future of reproduction?

THE POD GENERATION
by Sophie Barthes
with special guest speaker Elizabeth Reis 

Part of the SCIENCE ON SCREEN® Series
An initiative of the Coolidge Corner Theatre in partnership with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

THE POD GENERATION
2023, USA/France, Sci-fi comedy/satire, 110 minutes
Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize  at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival

In Sophie Barthes’ witty, unsettling The Pod Generation, a New York couple (Emilia Clarke, Chiwetel Ejiofor) is offered a tantalizing new possibility: instead of pregnancy, they can grow their baby in a detachable artificial womb, or “pod”, provided by a powerful tech company. For Rachel, a rising executive, it promises freedom and convenience. For Alvy, a botanist who believes in the messy, organic rhythms of nature, it represents something much harder to embrace.

Winner of the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize at Sundance, The Pod Generation uses a near-future fantasy to ask questions that are becoming increasingly real: Could artificial wombs transform pregnancy and parenting? Would they liberate us from the physical demands of reproduction, or create new forms of control? And when technology can make reproduction more convenient, who gets to decide what progress looks like?

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Elizabeth Reis is Professor Emerita in the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department at the University of Oregon and recently retired from the Macaulay Honors College at CUNY, where she taught classes on medical ethics; gender and bioethics; and reproductive technologies. She is the author of Bodies in Doubt: An American History of Intersex (2009), published in an expanded second edition in 2021; Damned Women: Sinners and Witches in Puritan New England; and the editor of several books, including American Sexual Histories. She is a member of the Ethics Committee at New York Presbyterian Weill Cornell Hospital and an editor of Nursing Clio. You can read more about her work at lizziereis.com.

Tickets:
$7/adult (plus $5 Symphony Space Facility Fee added at checkout)
$5/seniors & students (plus $5 Symphony Space Facility Fee added at checkout)

BUY TICKETS HERE

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the NYC Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD) in partnership with the City Council and the office of NY City Council Majority Leader Shaun Abreu and Speaker Julie Menin

Science on Screen®: THE BIGGEST LITTLE FARM

THE BIGGEST LITTLE FARM
a film by John Chester
with special guest speaker TBA

Part of the SCIENCE ON SCREEN® Series
An initiative of the Coolidge Corner Theatre in partnership with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

THE BIGGEST LITTLE FARM
John Chester, 2018, 91 min, USA, Documentary

What does it take to bring a dying piece of land back to life? The Biggest Little Farm follows John and Molly Chester as they leave Los Angeles behind and set out to transform 200 acres of depleted, drought-stricken land into a thriving and radically diverse farm. But nature has its own plans. As coyotes, snails, pests, predators, drought, and unexpected animal friendships complicate their vision, the Chesters discover that every problem is part of a larger, interconnected system.

Filmed over eight years, John Chester’s extraordinary documentary is both an intimate story of ambition and perseverance and a vivid lesson in the astonishing complexity of the natural world. What begins as an idealistic dream of living in harmony with nature becomes a humbling exploration of biodiversity, resilience, and the delicate balance that sustains all living things.

Tickets:
$7/adult (plus $5 Symphony Space Facility Fee added at checkout)
$5/seniors & students (plus $5 Symphony Space Facility Fee added at checkout)

BUY TICKETS HERE

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the NYC Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD) in partnership with the City Council and the office of NY City Council Majority Leader Shaun Abreu and Speaker Julie Menin

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New Name, New Vision, New Banners!

We finally got to switch out our original marquee banners to show off our NEW NAME, NEW VISION. Thanks to volunteer photographer Randy Enochs for documenting yet another step in the transformation from the former Metro to the UPTOWN FILM CENTER.

©Randy Enochs

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Uptown’s Lead Architect Named to AIA College of Fellows

Uptown's Ira Deutchman with Architect John Cluver (right)
Architect John Cluver (right) reviews schematics with Ira Deutchman, Uptown president.

The Uptown is thrilled to announce that our lead architect, John Cluver, a Senior Partner with Voith & Mactavish Architects, has been named to the American Institute of Architects’ College of Fellows, its highest membership honor. This distinction is awarded to architects who exemplify excellence in practice and who have made a lasting impact on architecture and on society at large.

“John has been with us since the first time we started contemplating purchasing the former Metro, to determine whether it was a viable space for a five-screen film center,” says Uptown president Ira Deutchman. “Still, when it was time to hire a firm, we solicited bids and concept drawings from several other architects before determining that John’s expertise in preserving and transforming historic arthouse cinemas was invaluable to our mission. This recognition from the AIA confirms what we have seen in John all along.”

Voith & Mactavish Architects LLP, where John is Senior Partner & Director of Historic Preservation, is a Philadelphia and New York-based team of forty architects, planners, and designers. The firm is led by founding partner Daniela Voith and four additional partners — making V&M Philadelphia’s longest-continuously operating woman-owned architecture practice.

In addition to his role at V&M, John serves on the City of Philadelphia’s Historical Commission Architectural Advisory Committee, the Board of Advisors for the Master of Science in Historic Preservation program at Notre Dame, and the Board of Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site. He is also a member of the Association for Preservation Technology and holds a Certificate in Historic Preservation from the University of Pennsylvania Weitzman School of Design in addition to his professional degree in architecture from the University of Notre Dame School of Architecture. John has published articles on sustainability and window restoration in the Association for Preservation Technology Bulletin and has presented for the Preservation League of New York, SCUP, and APPA. In 2006 John volunteered with the National Trust for Historic Preservation in New Orleans to complete urgent conditions assessments in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and in 2008 was honored by the American Institute of Architects Philadelphia Chapter as Young Architect of the Year.

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March Progress Report

It may seem pretty quiet, but we get it– you all want to know where we are and what we’re doing! Well, plenty is going on behind the scenes and out in front!  Besides the installation of our new banner on the marquee, here’s what’s going on:

Building and Preservation–Schematics are completed!

  • Union Square Hospitality Group delivered cafe recommendations that helped our architects design for traffic flow, prep area, and equipment needs for our all-day cafe and bar.
  • Boston Sound & Light, the premiere technical design firm for arthouse cinemas, provided valuable input–including plans for both 35MM and 70MM projection.
  • V&M Architects completed the Schematics Phase this month. We’re now narrowing down our contractor selection. Once the contractor is chosen, we begin Design Development–fine-tuning drawings, hiring subcontractors, and selecting materials. This phase takes approximately 14 months. [Read about the vision and plan]

Programming

  • More than 350 filmgoers attended our first three pop-up screenings of the year, with three more to come. We’re already planning our Summer Pop-Up Series, which will include three free outdoor films. Stay tuned!
  • Our Film in the Classroom pilot continues at PS 84 this spring, with plans to expand to additional schools in the future.

Fundraising

Our 28-month buildout timeline depends almost entirely on continued fundraising progress:

  • Several city and state grant applications are pending; decisions expected July 2026. We anticipate significant funding given strong support from our elected officials.
  • Assemblyman Micah Lasher secured a $250K CREST grant toward our capital campaign.
  • Individuals and foundation donations continue to come in. We now count more than 739 donors and are pushing toward 1,000. Become a Founding Donor by making a gift online, by check, stock, DAF, pledge, or Naming Opportunity!
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Uptown Film Announces Two 2026 Winter/Spring Film Series

Grant from NYC Councilperson Shaun Abreu
Underwrites Science on Screen®

Uptown Partners for First Time with New York Historical
for Tales from an Immigrant City series

The Uptown is excited to announce it will be hosting two new film series this winter: Science on Screen® will be held at the Leonard Nimoy Thalia, beginning on February 24, and Tales of the Immigrant City will be screened at the New York Historical, beginning on March 20.

The Science on Screen® series is a pioneering, nationwide film program launched in 2005 by the Coolidge Corner Theater in Brookline, MA, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, to promote science literacy through partnerships with nonprofit organizations across the country.  As described by the Coolidge, the program “creatively pairs screenings of classic, cult, science fiction, and documentary films with lively presentations by notable experts from the world of science and technology.”

Hidden Figures will open the Uptown’s Science on Screen series on Feb 24.

The Uptown’s three-film Science on Screen series will include Hidden Figures, Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story, and HER, with introductions by Dr. Moiya McTier, astrophysicist and folklorist; Sarah Rose Siskind, science and comedy writer; and Janna Levin, theoretical cosmologist and professor of physics and astronomy at Barnard College.  Tickets for the three films are on sale now.

Beginning in March, the Uptown partners with the New York Historical to present three films focused on the immigrant experience in New York City: In America, with introduction by award-winning novelist Colum McCann; Hester Street (guest TBA); and En El Septimo Dia (On the Seventh Day), with filmmaker Jim McKay. Tickets go on sale in late February.

Uptown president Ira Deutchman and vice president Adeline Monzier, who leads our education initiatives, note that these series demonstrate the kind of programming we expect to offer on a regular basis when we finally open our doors (hopefully in late 2028). It also points out how partnerships–with local nonprofit organizations and arthouses across the country–are integral to our mission. “We especially want to thank the New York Historical for partnering with us on our Tales of an Immigrant City film series, and to Councilman Shaun Abreu and Thomas Campbell Jackson for underwriting our Science on Screen series,” says Ira. “These partnerships and grants are allowing us to offer exceptionally curated, thoughtful film series to our community, at affordable prices, despite the fact that we don’t have a theater yet.”

A pop-up spring/summer series will be hosted again this year, as well, beginning in late May or June. Last year’s very successful ten-film series, For the Love of Cinema, played at several venues in upper Manhattan.

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Saving a Landmark

We’re very proud to have been featured in the fall 2025 issue of Preservation Magazine for saving the former Midtown/Metro/UWS Cinema Center–now known as the Uptown–and working towards the preservation of its gorgeous, landmarked facade.

The theater was designed and built in 1932-33 by Boak & Paris. In 1989, the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission gave the facade landmark status, calling the theater a “rare surviving Art Deco style neighborhood movie theater” with “one of the finest facades of its type in New York City.”

Read the Preservation Magazine article