Be a founding supporter of the Uptown by naming a seat!
What a wonderful gift for yourself, for the cinephile, arts lover, or diehard Upper West Sider in your life. Your group can even crowd-source for a seat!
The timing couldn’t be more perfect as the holidays approach. All gifts are 100% tax deductible. Go to Name a Seat for details!
For all of you social media wizards–this is for you!
Make a video selfie about why the Uptown Film Center is important to you, post it on Tik Tok, Instagram or Facebook, and tag us @uptownfilm.
Whether you love the kinds of films we’ll be showing; you’re eager to revitalize the commercial corridor on Broadway; you’re craving a new cafe; you’re interested in the educational and community programming; you’re dying for a new cultural destination; or you’re a devotee of historical NYC landmarks–we want to hear from you!
PPost your video by Nov. 15th and send us a heads up at info@uptownfilm.org. The two “winning” videos will be shared by us on social media and, possibly, at future events. We’ll also try to meet up and hand you a little swag (a bit hard because we don’t have a theater yet, but doable!)
Keep it short, keep it sweet, keep it real!
Get that Graffiti Down!
Architects, engineers, expeditors and consultants are in fast mode, working on detailed plans for our three-story, five screen film center with lobby/cafe. The first phase of working drawings should be completed soon–including a beautiful vision of a restored marquee with our new name and logo. We hope to share them next month!
Once the architectural renderings are approved, they’ll go out for contractor bids. While we know this can take many months, we want to do it right. In the meantime, we’ll be doing some important preparation work–including some cleanup of the façade, shoring up of the marquee (on a temporary basis), and putting some security protocols into place to protect the building. You should be seeing signs of this work very soon!
That’s not all. While the construction/design team has been moving along, we’ve been working on another “build-out”–of our Admin team. We are especially pleased to welcome Thomas Palatucci as our new treasurer. Thomas began his career in banking, rising to the position of vice president, office of the Chief Financial Officer, at Citicorp/Citibank. After 10+ years in the for-profit sector, he decided to apply his expertise in the areas of strategy, operations and finance to the nonprofit world, initially at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, he went on to become Chief of Administration for Columbia Health at Columbia University, Chief Operating Officer at The Bronx Defenders, and Vice President of Operations at Planned Parenthood Mid-Hudson Valley. Now, Thomas is ready to bring the full range of his experience and passion to our initiative. “As a film lover and a long-time UWS resident,” says Thomas, “I am excited to be a part of bringing cinema back to our neighborhood.”
Your donations are making this happen! Thank you for your ongoing support.
First it was the Midtown in 1933, then the Metro in 1982 and the Metro Twin in the 1990s…
Now, UWS Cinema Center (our nonprofit entity) is getting ready to announce our NEW FILM CENTER NAME on October 28th!
Why a new name? While we want to embrace the historic nature of our past, we want to better reflect our far-reaching mission–to be a destination on the Upper West Side for quality independent, documentary and international films, film festivals, repertory (classic) films and children’s programming; and to become a multigenerational, community-centered, affordable destination for culture and conversation, inspired by talk-backs and educational programming for all ages. We also want to distinguish ourselves from New York City’s other “Metro” cinemas–the downtown Metrograph and the recently opened Metro Private Dining in Chelsea.
Keep your eyes and ears open for the big announcement!
(Our website and social media will still be accessible through the current urls, but will appear with the new name during the last few days in October!
Join Us for our HALLOWEEN Pop-Up, Friday, Oct 31!
Enter Our Halloween Movie Costume Contest
We’ll be outside the theater at 99th and Broadway, from 3:30-7pm on Friday, October 31, with candy for the kids and some surprises!
Plus, you and/or your children can enter our first Halloween Movie Costume Contest. Take a photo in front of our special selfie backdrop, post it on Instagram or Facebook, and tag us with our NEW NAME! Two winners (one adult and one child) with the best movie-based Halloween costumes will win 2 tickets each to one of our pop-up screenings in 2026. (Details will be at the table.)
We’re thrilled to announce that after interviewing several candidates, we have hired Voith & Mactavish Architects to commence with the plans for our five-screen film and education center, and an owner’s rep firm, B&F, to help oversee the project from planning through construction phases.
Voith & Mactavish has extensive experience in designing and restoring historic movie theaters, including the Bryn Mawr, the County and the Ambler Theaters in Pennsylvania. They’ve also worked on several performing arts theaters.
Of course, to do it right will take time. We’re now in Phase 1, with the architects preparing the plans. Once approved, contractors and subcontractors will need to be hired, and permits will need to be secured. Fortunately, our city electeds have been extremely helpful at every turn, expediting our conversations with the Dept of Buildings and directing us to possible grants. We’ve also received early support from the Landmarks folks, who are as eager to see us preserve the gorgeous theater facade as we are.
In preparation for the design of the theaters as well as operation and program planning, the UWSCC admin team attended the recent Art House Convergence conference (a consortium of 800 independent cinemas from across the country) and we continue to take every opportunity to tour model art houses–most recently, the Music Box and Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago and the Coolidge Corner Theater in Brookline, Mass.
There are only two screenings left in our For the Love of Cinema pop-up series–and both are FREE. But here’s fair warning for The Artist screening: Our screening of Cinema Paradiso, at the Leonard Nimoy Thalia at Symphony Space, sold out two weeks in advance! So if you want to see The Artist on Sept 3rd at Lycee Francais de New York (the last film in our series)–with the intro by Annette Insdorf–don’t wait too long to reserve your FREE TICKETS!
And this coming Saturday, join us for the FREE OUTDOOR SCREENING of the award-winning perennial classic, Singin’ in the Rain!
Singin’ in the Rain August 23, 8:30pm
110th & Amsterdam
OUTDOORS, FREE
Shown in the original English with Spanish subtitles.
Bring a blanket and chair! Presented in partnership with the Columbus/Amsterdam BID and West 111th Block Assn.
The Artist
September 3, 6:30pm
Lycee Francais de New York
505 East 75th Street
INDOORS, FREE with RESERVATION
UWS Cinema Center is announcing some date changes and exciting guest additions to its ten-film spring/summer pop-up screening series, For the Love of Cinema, which began in early May and is extending through early September.
New dates and guest speakers include Last Film Show, moved to June 17 at JCC Manhattan; and a new date for the second showing of The Muppet Movie, on June 21 at the Leonard Nimoy Thalia with guest Frank Oz (the voice of Miss Piggy). Oz will also be on hand for the screening of Bowfinger, on July 15 at the JCC Manhattan. The Fablemans, which has moved to July 22 at the Leonard Nimoy Thalia, will feature a guest appearance by Nancy Spielberg; and Hugo, which will be screened on August 12 at the JCC Manhattan, will welcome author Brian Selznick.
The free outdoor screening of Singin’ in the Rain, on August 23, is being shown in its original English language version with Spanish subtitles to make it accessible to our Spanish-speaking neighbors.
The summer pop-up series, which spotlights the magic of movies and the impactful experience of seeing film as a collective experience, is being sponsored in partnership with local organizations and arts venues including the Maysles Documentary Center, JCC Harlem, Symphony Space, JCC Manhattan, and Lycée Français de New York. The free outdoor screening on Amsterdam at 110th Street is being co-hosted by the Columbus/Amsterdam Business Improvement District (BID) and the West 111th Street Block Association.
“We are extremely busy pulling our team together, including the architects, owner’s reps, expeditors for city permits, and other essential personnel,” says UWS Cinema Center president Ira Deutchman. “And in preparation for final architectural drawings and a schedule for the phased build-out, we’re doing intensive research on the various aspects of the theaters and lobby/café that will inform the interior design of the building—including seating, ADA amenities, kitchen requirements, and projection facilities.
One of the more enjoyable ways to do the research is by touring other arthouses! We recently visited the Ambler Theater in Ambler, PA, and have plans to see the Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville, NY, the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, MA, the County Theater in Doylestown, PA, and the Sag Harbor Cinema in—you guessed it—Sag Harbor. The last three have all undergone recent renovations, which should help with our planning. We also traveled to Las Vegas in late March for the theater industry’s annual convention, Cinemacon. It was a jam-packed three days, talking to vendors and other arthouse cinema folks.
We expect to have our final renderings this fall, along with a good idea of the construction schedule and costs. Right now we’re budgeting approximately $20M, including contingency and five years of operating expenses.
See FAQs for more information about the building and UWSCC plans.
People ask how long construction will take. We are tempted to say, “as long as a piece of string…” The truth is, the time frame will depend on the strength of our fundraising–which is and will continue to be a major focus. We hope to begin the staged work with the money in hand—right now approximately $2M.
We have had several leadership donations come in since the announcement of our successful purchase on April 6, as well as many smaller donations Gifts at any level are critical to our success; so far, they have enabled us to invest in professional software for managing our donations, accounts and mailing list; paying for insurance on the property; and, we hope, installing some lighting under the marquee for safety purposes. We’ll be paying the architects for their work, expeditors to help cut through city red tape, and a super to watch the property, So, your cash donations are critical. Our admin team is still 100% volunteer, so your donations go directly toward setting up systems, maintaining and building out the property. Because we are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, your gift is 100% tax deductible.
Granted, fundraising is a bit challenging in this political climate, but we are energized by the number of people who say that giving to a local initiative like this makes them feel empowered—to be supporting both the neighborhood, and the arts.
Make a donation and encourage friends/neighbors to join the effort too!
