“The artist painted this bison with eight legs, suggesting movement,” he observes in the flickering light. “Almost a form of proto-cinema.”

The movies have come a long way in 32,000 years. Herzog’s “Cave of Forgotten Dreams,” for example, was shot and projected in 3D. The venue for such art can no longer be a cave.

Iowa City, for all its wonderful cultural institutions, doesn’t have a full-time modern cinema dedicated to the art of film. Indeed, a 2011 city-sponsored survey of residents named movie theater as the #1 requested entertainment enhancement for downtown, which has lacked a theater since the 2007 sale and closure of the Campus 3.

FilmScene is poised to change all that, providing Iowa City with the home for film it deserves.

A 501c3 community-focused non-profit, our mission is “enhancing the cultural vitality of the Iowa City area through the presentation and discussion of film as an art form. With programming that entertains, inspires, and educates, FilmScene works to build and connect the community through film.”

This fall, FilmScene will open Scene 1, an intimate venue on the Pedestrian Mall to showcase the best in American independent, documentaries and foreign films—first-run movies that are not regularly offered at commercial multiplexes. With beer, wine, coffee and food available in the theater and lounge, we will foster the communal environment that makes moviegoing an enjoyable and rewarding social experience.

Scene 1 will provide an immediate opportunity to serve Iowa City’s demand for a downtown cinema, but FilmScene aims to be more than a movie theater.

As a mission-driven non-profit, we aspire to be a comprehensive cinema arts organization. We will offer hands-on filmmaking workshops, media literacy classes and forums for film discussion. We will assist filmmakers with resources for developing, creating and screening their work.

It’s a big idea, but Iowa City has proven it is up to the task before. In 2000, the Press-Citizen gave the Person of the Year Award to The Englert Civic Theatre Group for turning the historic theater into a performing arts venue. “What an absolutely nutty idea. What a grand idea,” they said at the time.

To realize these long-term ambitions we are proud to be a part of The Chauncey, a planned development at College and Gilbert streets. Since day one, FilmScene has been an important partner in the development team, ensuring that our organizational needs have been front and center during the design phase.

Anticipated to open in 2016, the space will include a two-screen cinema, community commons, a filmgoers’ lounge, and a media arts and education lab. Great cinema deserves a great space. FilmScene at The Chauncey will be state-of-the-art.

A solid future has enabled us to build important partnerships. To better serve both community and student populations, FilmScene will integrate with the University of Iowa’s Bijou Cinema—combining their organization’s rich, forty-plus year history with FilmScene’s mission-driven goals and full-time staff.

Further partnerships with academic interests at the University of Iowa will open the theaters for daytime cinema classes or film screenings that supplement traditional course work. There will be learning opportunities and special screenings for K-12 students as well. In short, the facility will be more than an evening destination; it will be a year-round hub of creative activity from morning to night.

Cinema is arguably today’s most prominent and accessible art form. What cave paintings were to our distant ancestors, moving images are to us. Iowa City deserves a dedicated home for the best work of today’s artists. Connect with us at www.icfilmscene.org and let’s bring cinema out into the light.

Andrew Sherburne is co-founder of FilmScene. He is writing on behalf of the FileScene Board of Directors.

Originally published in the Press-Citizen on Feb. 7, 2013

IOWA CITY, Iowa — This fall, the bright lights of the big screen will again illuminate downtown Iowa City. Today, FilmScene formally announces Scene 1, a cinema and lounge set to open on the Pedestrian Mall this September.

The space will be part of the newly renovated Packing and Provision building operated by Moen Group at 118 E. College St. Scene 1 will include an intimate 85-seat theater with full surround sound and high-end digital cinema projection. The venue will be a dedicated year-round cinema showcasing the best in contemporary cinema, including American independent, documentaries and foreign films—first-run movies that are not regularly offered at commercial multiplex theaters.

“We’re thrilled to be opening in such a beautiful space,” said Andy Brodie, FilmScene co-founder and board chair. “It will allow us to build on our momentum and foster a more robust film culture and community in Iowa City.”

Filmgoers will be welcomed through a lounge that will offer catered food and desserts, traditional moviegoing fare, and fine wine, cold beer and hot coffee. Café seating will provide an area for lively discussion before and after the film, as well as a casual meeting place for movie lovers.

Preliminary renderings crafted by Neumann Monson Architects show the lounge’s soaring 25-foot exposed-beam ceilings and skylight, a ticketing and concession bar, plus the adjoining gallery space featuring reclaimed hardwood floors and the building’s original tin ceiling.

“Many historic materials have been exposed to provide FilmScene with a contemporary theater facility that maintains the warmth and patina of the historic building,” said Tim Schroeder of Neumann Monson. “The result melds old and new to provide a unique destinationn for cinema within our creative community.”

FilmScene will build on tradition through a partnership with the University of Iowa’s Bijou Cinema that will integrate the student group into FilmScene operations and the new downtown location.

“We are proud to partner with an organization with such a rich history,” said Brodie, himself a former director of the Bijou. “Together, we’ll build a home for film that Iowa City will be proud of.”

Scene 1 marks the return of full-time cinema to downtown Iowa City, which hasn’t had a dedicated movie theater since the sale and closure of the Campus 3 in 2007. In a city-sponsored market survey in 2011, respondents cited “movie theater” as the most-wanted entertainment addition for downtown.

“What’s exciting about this project is that it continues to diversify the mix of uses and activities for both the community at large and for students Downtown,” said Nancy Bird, Executive Director of the Iowa City Downtown District. “These cool cinema houses are emerging in some of the nation’s hippest metropolitan cities–it’s a natural fit for the Iowa City Downtown District.”

The former location of Vito’s has been named in homage of its first tenant, the Iowa Packing and Provision Company, which operated out of the building in the 1860s. The building’s ground floor will include an additional retail tenant and small art gallery. The previously unused second floor now houses the Iowa City office of Modus Engineering.

“It’s a dynamic building” said FilmScene co-founder Andrew Sherburne. “It’s really a microcosm of the downtown area, with retail, office and entertainment all under one roof.”

Scene 1 will address the immediate demand for quality film programming in Iowa City and serve as a stepping stone for FilmScene’s long-term plans of a two-screen venue and educational facility to be housed in The Chauncey development at Gilbert and College Streets. The Chauncey is anticipated to open in 2016.

“Scene 1 is a tremendous opportunity to deliver on our promise to Iowa City film fans,” said Sherburne, “as well as build for the future.”

ABOUT FILMSCENE

Established in 2011, FilmScene is dedicated to enhancing the cultural vitality of the Iowa City area through the presentation and discussion of film as an art form. With programming that entertains, inspires, and educates, FilmScene works to build and connect the community through film.

Working to open a full-time cinema in downtown Iowa City, FilmScene’s primary program areas include:

First-Run Films: American independents, documentaries, and foreign films.

Repertory Selections: Classic films on the big screen, presented from restored or archival prints whenever possible. Selections include American and foreign classics, genre works, and programs by guest curators.

Filmmaker Support: FilmScene seeks to provide a creative home and venue for film and media artists. Support services include fiscal sponsorship, residencies, facilities and other resources as available.

Community Development: Lectures and conversations with film professionals, partnerships with other nonprofits and community groups on film-based events, and other activities that engage the public in a continuous dialogue about film and contribute to a vibrant local arts community.

FilmScene Board of Directors
Andy Brodie, Cofounder/Board Chair
Andrew Sherburne, Cofounder/Vice Chair
Nick Arnold
Laura Bergus, Secretary
Doug Ongie, Treasurer
Karen Chappell
Thomas Dean
Evan Evans
David Gould
Tommy Haines
Kembrew McLeod
Andre Perry

www.icfilmscene.org
Facebook: ICFilmScene
Twitter: @ICFilmScene

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There was much rejoicing and fanfare almost a decade ago when the Save the Englert folks finally were able to tear down “The Wall” that had divided the beautiful, historic Englert Theatre into two nondescript movie theaters. With Campus 3 Theatre still up and running in the Old Capitol Town Center, it seemed a small concession at the time to agree to restrict the newly restored Englert from showing first-run movies that could compete against the other downtown movie house.

But there was little rejoicing a few years later when the University of Iowa, looking for additional office space and relocation sites for a number of flood-affected programs, decided to buy the Campus 3 Theatre, gut the space and renovate it to serve as a temporary home for the UI School of Music.

That decision left Iowa City’s downtown and historic cultural district without a first-run option for independent or Hollywood films for the first time in a century.

Several critics of the university’s decision at the time — including local filmmaker and former Bijou programming director Andy Brodie — bemoaned how UI seemed to be missing an opportunity to enhance the downtown cultural options for students and long-term residents alike. “With a little vision,” they argued, the Campus 3 space could have been redesigned “to house some tremendous arts and entertainment resources for the community.”

Movie options increased at the theaters in the eastside Sycamore Mall and in Coralville’s Coral Ridge Mall. The Bijou, UI’s student-run theater continued to offer its art house and second-run films, now in a renovated space in the Iowa Memorial Union. And film lovers do have the occasional feast of offerings through various film festivals downtown. But the downtown film scene has been left for years now without a year-round theater.

Fortunately, as reported in today’s Press-Citizen, Brodie has been trying to compensate for that previous lack of vision. He and Andrew Sherburne have cofounded a nonprofit organization, FilmScene, and over the past year they have been laying the groundwork for developing an art house cinema to fill that hole in Iowa City’s cultural fabric.

“I really believe there is not a single venue that would have more of an impact (downtown) than a cinema,” Brodie told the Press-Citizen.

We agree that a “home for film” is a need in the downtown area, and we’re glad that the vision being proposed by Sherburne and Brodie would tap into the so-called “hidden economies” of Iowa City’s student and older populations alike.

Brodie and Sherburne envision their theater to house two screens with a “fairly intimate” feel, with a mix of traditional theater and loveseats, and they want to show a combination of first-run independent films and second-run Hollywood films. They hope to have a classroom space, film programming and arts education classes. And they want a café in the lobby that offers local craft beer on tap and wine in a respectful setting.

Collaboration, rather than competition, with existing downtown cultural organizations seems to be the plan for Brodie and Sherburne. The pair is working with Bijou executive director Jesse Damazo to have Bijou student leadership potentially work with FilmScene, but they’re waiting on word from UI officials.

“A nonprofit business like FilmScene will benefit cinema students and cinemagoers by being a cool space downtown, a sort of Bijou on steroids,” Damazo said.

In the meantime, they’re working with the Englert and other venues to increase the number of film series and festivals offered in the downtown and near downtown area.

We’re impressed with the energy and passion Brodie and Sherburne have brought to their plan, and we hope they find the support in the local film-lover community to make their vision become reality.