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The Upper Westside Cinema — a new art house is coming to Manhattan.

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The raison d’être of Greg Laemmle and Raphael Sbarge’s video podcast Inside the Arthouse is to shine a light on the finest American independent and international films, the people who make them, and the cinemas that screen them to audiences who appreciate the value of seeing movies as they were meant to be seen, on big screens in dark auditoriums with crowds of fellow movie-mad strangers. With that in mind, this week’s episode is called “The Future of Arthouse Cinema in New York & Reasons To Be Happy with N.Y. Indie Guy Ira Deutchman.” Deutchman is the leader of the campaign to open a new art house theater on the Upper Westside of Manhattan, the Upper Westside Cinema. The location is significant because it has long been an article of faith among art house distributors that if you can get a film off to a strong start in Manhattan, success in the rest of the country will fall into place. But how can you succeed in New York if there aren’t enough art house screens in the city to properly exhibit the films that want to open?
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Greg and Raphael discuss this and more with Deutchman, a professor of film at Columbia University and a veteran art house distributor, to talk about the history of art houses in New York, the current dearth of cinemas on the Upper West Side, the reasons behind the predicament, and, most importantly, some hope for the future.
More about the Upper Westside Cinema from its website:

A Light in the Darkness

The UWS Cinema Center is ecstatic to announce that it has completed the purchase of the former Metro Theater! This brings us one step closer to creating a much-needed state-of-the-art, five-screen cinema, education center and community hub on the Upper West Side.

The goal is not just to reclaim a building, but to revitalize a neighborhood and reconnect a community. We believe that cinema is more than entertainment; it is a portal to understanding different lives, cultures, and perspectives. As legendary film critic Roger Ebert profoundly noted, “Movies are empathy machines,” capable of transporting us into the lives and experiences of others.

As polarization threatens the fabric of our society, the UWS Cinema Center stands for the transformative power of shared storytelling—creating spaces where diverse audiences can collectively experience narratives that challenge, inspire, and illuminate our shared humanity. Our vision extends beyond film screenings to creating a cultural hub where dialogue flourishes, education thrives, and community bonds strengthen.

The Journey Ahead

Having successfully secured the Metro Theater property—a triumph made possible by the extraordinary generosity of neighbors, film enthusiasts, and civic leaders—we now embark on the next chapter of our story: transforming this architectural gem into a vibrant five-screen cinema arts and education center with a welcoming community bistro. This will require a capital campaign to raise the money to build out the facility and restore the landmarked facade. You can help us make this happen by donating to UWS Cinema Center, a 501(c)(3). Your donations are 100% tax deductible. You can donate by CLICKING HERE.

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“This is lived reality. It’s not a period drama.” Powerful West Bank-set THE TEACHER opens Friday in Glendale.

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This Friday in Glendale we are pleased to open The Teacher, a drama starring Saleh Bakri and Imogen Poots about colleagues at a West Bank school who try to help a student cope with a tragedy.
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Palestinian-British filmmaker Farah Nabulsi was interviewed on the latest episode of Inside the Arthouse. After receiving an Oscar nomination for her short film The Present, Nabulsi spoke about taking audiences on an intense, emotional journey into the Israeli-occupied West Bank through a story based upon the actual experiences of her relatives. The story lifts the curtain on the hardships and difficult choices they have to make.
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“Extraordinary…riveting.” ~ Sheri Linden, Hollywood Reporter
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“Captures the intimate horrors of life under harrowing circumstances — and the lifesaving power of the relationships that people still manage to forge and nurture.” ~ Hannah Giorgis, The Atlantic
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“Gripping and full of tension, The Teacher not only makes for a wonderful cinematic experience, but poses some all-important questions the wider world has seemingly avoided answering for too long.” ~ Grace Dodd, Little White Lies
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“Nabulsi hits the dramatic beats with confidence and Bakri has genuine distinction.” ~ Peter Bradshaw, Guardian
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“Ground zero here – for the characters, for the nations, for the filmmaker – is futility. Nabulsi drops us on that ground and doesn’t let us pretend it’s anything else.” ~ Steve Pond, TheWrap
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“Ultimately, it’s this imbalance of power and relative worth (or the lack of it) of human lives that is the font of Nabulsi’s creative anger that propels her film.” ~ Namrata Joshi, The New Indian Express

The bio-documentary JANIS IAN: BREAKING SILENCE opens tomorrow.

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Tomorrow we’ll be opening Janis Ian: Breaking Silence, the new documentary about the singer-songwriter. Filmmaker Varda Bar-Kar will participate in Q&A’s after the 7:00 o’clock shows on Thursday, April 3 at the Laemmle NoHo and April 4 and 5 at the Monica Film Center, as well as after the 1:00 o’clock show at the Laemmle Glendale on April 5.  Ms. Ian will join her for the NoHo and Santa Monica screenings. The filmmaker is also featured on the latest episode of Raphael Sbarge and Greg Laemmle’s video podcast Inside the Arthouse.

Director’s Statement: “The pandemic began when I finished my music documentary Fandango at the Wall (HBO/MAX), about a transformative musical convergence at the border between the United States and Mexico. Before Fandango, I had made another music documentary called Big Voice (Netflix) about a high school choir director and his most advanced ensemble. I love experimenting with the alchemy of combining film with music and wanted to continue working in that genre.

“Conversations about identity and how we identify were buzzing at that time. I considered my own identity. How do I identify? Do I feel represented in mainstream media? I resist defining my identity since definitions mainly serve to box us in. I am a free thinker, a bisexual woman, born Jewish, now with a Buddhist bent, and an artist. Like all artists, I am an outsider. I am capable, a roll-up-your-sleeves can-do-it kind of person, and I am an optimist. I don’t see many women like me represented in the media.

“I sat with the question, ‘If I made a film about a female artist with whom I closely identify, who would she be?’ Janis Ian popped into my mind. Her name hit me like a lightning strike. Yet I knew nothing about her outside of a lingering high school memory of listening to her masterful album Between the Lines and crying because her music penetrated my isolation, making me feel seen and heard. Her music assured me that I was not alone. Her music meant the world to me at that time.

“Through research, I discovered that Janis Ian has a significant body of work spanning 60 years. I compiled lengthy playlists of my favorite of her songs – many I had never heard before. I discovered she had written a riveting autobiography called Society’s Child. I could not put the
book down. I learned that not only has Janis made significant contributions to the music world, but she is also a social justice champion and an advocate for LGBTQ+ rights. She has endured tremendous hardships and overcome them one after another. Her story of commitment to
artistry and incredible resilience inspired me.

“How could it be that a film had not yet been made about her? This might sound crazy, and maybe it is, but I felt it was my destiny to make a film about Janis.

“I am forever grateful that Janis entrusted me with her magnificent musical story, and I am excited to share it with the world. I am also thankful to my unstoppable producing team and creative collaborators for working with me to overcome a myriad of obstacles and challenges to bring Janis Ian’s story to the screen so that today’s audiences can feel seen and heard just as I did when I listened to Between the Line so many years ago.”

“Modest and moving, it’s a new sports-movie classic, as sneakily effective as the pitch which gives it its title.” ~ EEPHUS opens Thursday.

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Perhaps no other sport lends itself as well to cinema as baseball, and there have been some memorable ones over the years. The Natural, Moneyball, 42, Field of Dreams and Bull Durham spring to mind. Well, we have a funny, soul-soothing treat for you this week at our Glendale and Santa Monica theaters. “Modest and moving, it’s a new sports-movie classic, as sneakily effective as the pitch which gives it its title.” ~ Nick Schager, The Daily Beast

The filmmakers will participate in Q&A’s in Glendale after the 7:10 PM screenings on 3/13 with writer-director Carson Lund and actor Keith William Richards and moderator Amber A’Lee Frost (Chapo Trap House) and 3/15 with writer Mike Basta, writer-actor Nate Fisher, and moderator Brandon Harris (writer, filmmaker, baseball fan). Lund is also featured on the latest episode of Greg Laemmle (huge Dodger fan and former youth baseball coach) and Raphael Sbarge’s podcast Inside the Arthouse.

Film critics adore Eephus. As of this writing, its Rotten Tomatoes score is 100% with 37 reviews.

“Its pearls of practical wisdom and jewels of melancholic wit make Eephus a gem, which is fitting, for a movie about a game played on a diamond.” ~ Jessica Kiang, Variety

“Many a true devotee will tell you that part of the game’s charm lies in its ability to facilitate socialization… Eephus is a film that understands this, and the script shuffles along with the rhythm of a baseball game.” ~ Christian Zilko, indieWire

“A modest but poignant hangout film that resonates long after the last pitch.” ~ Tim Grierson Screen International

“Carson Lund treats the power of a shared interest with profound, elegiac empathy.” ~ Jake Cole, Slant Magazine
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“Eephus isn’t exactly a baseball movie — it’s something closer to movie-baseball, where characters endlessly jostle back and forth under no real time constraints, watching the day slowly pass them by, simply out of love for the sport.” ~ Jordan Mintzer, Hollywood Reporter
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“Has about it a mournful, lightly absurd poetry of the mundane, a rapt attention to the intimacy of transience and the meanings we make from relics and rituals of a time we’re passing through.” ~ Isaac Feldberg, RogerEbert.com

“Baseball is the star, the game is the story, and the only conflicts that matter are the ones that the athletes resolve in play. Nonetheless, in Lund’s keenly discerning view, the game is inseparable from the human element.” ~ Richard Brody, The New Yorker
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“Something about Eephus reminds me of Wiseman’s long, slow, methodical probing of institutions and of human behavior more broadly.” ~ Alissa Wilkinson, New York Times

“We come to Eephus expecting a metaphor for life and instead we are faced with life itself.” ~ Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine/Vulture
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“Eephus luxuriates in an unhurried afternoon of leisure.” ~ Dan Kois, Slate

“A warmhearted, bittersweet tale of father and sons,” EX-HUSBANDS with Griffin Dunne opens Friday.

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Forty years after starring in Martin Scorsese’s After Hours, Griffin Dunne and Rosanna Arquette are back, their days of all-night Manhattan romantic misadventures given way to the sober realities of late middle age. Writer-director Noah Pritzker’s dramedy Ex-Husbands beautifully captures the low-key new milieu, in which Dunne plays a father whose faltering marriage coincides with his adult sons’ romantic troubles. (Both Pritzker and Dunne speak about the film in a recent episode of Inside the Arthouse.) Richard Benjamin, James Norton, and Miles Heizer, all terrific, costar. We open Ex-Husbands this Friday at the Monica Film Center in Santa Monica and the Town Center in Encino.

“A warmhearted, bittersweet tale of father and sons.” ~ Melanie Goodfellow, Deadline Hollywood

“A vibrantly charming lead turn from Griffin Dunne…Ex-Husbands is an accessible, ostensibly lightweight offering but one nevertheless carried off with expertise, intelligence and empathetic insight.” ~ Jonathan Romney, Screen Daily

“An interesting, intergenerational snapshot of masculine emotional drift in the modern world. What may strike some as lightweight will connect with attuned viewers as a compassionately observed collection of just-so moments—a worthwhile cinematic novella.” ~ Brent Simon, AV Club

“Pritzker navigates his compassionate tale empathetically, portraying a refreshingly kind, gentle, and soft side of masculinity through a group of characters all stuck inside a crossroads life has thrown at them.” ~ Tomris Laffly, RogerEbert.com

“It doesn’t pretend to offer solutions to the various predicaments it considers. But Mr. Pritzker has a sagacious understanding of our various stumbles and humiliations.” ~ Kyle Smith, Wall Street Journal

 

This week on Inside the Arthouse: Sally Aitken, the director of the inspiring L.A. nature documentary EVERY LITTLE THING.

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When is a documentary about hummingbirds more than just another educational nature documentary? In the case of Sally Aitken’s new movie Every Little Thing, we discover that small things are very big things— and you will be more than a little surprised. Hummingbirds’ wings beat fifty times per second, and with astounding high speed photography, they float like gossamer on the screen, captured like tiny, magical sprites. Terry Masear, the film’s subject, runs a hummingbird rescue and she, too, is magical and surprising. These remarkable birds, no bigger than your little finger, become bigger than life as we discover Terry’s care, attention, wisdom, and affection for them. It’s a film that will stay with you long after you leave the theater. Every Little Thing is big and wide and will leave you thinking about how small acts of tenderness and kindness, expressed to the tiniest of creatures, can have giant impacts.

Watch filmmaker Sally Aitken’s recent interview on Inside the Arthouse.

We screen Every Little Thing this Thursday, January 16 in Glendale and begin the regular engagement the next day in Santa Monica. The director, Sally Aitken, and producer, Bettina Dalton, will appear for Q&As after the Thursday, 7:30 PM screening in Glendale as well as after the Friday and Saturday, January 17 and 18, 7 PM shows with subject Terry Masear at the Laemmle Monica Film Center.

New on INSIDE THE ARTHOUSE ~ a conversation with filmmaker Dan Mirvish about 30 Years of the Slamdance Film Festival.

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In the ’90s, most indie filmmakers would have just given up if their debut feature was rejected by Sundance. But not Dan Mirvish. Combining forces with a number of other “rejectees,” they went rogue and started the Slamdance Film Festival, garnering attention for their films even as they earned the ire of Robert Redford. Mirvish went on to successfully self-distribute that debut film, Omaha: The Movie, plus several more over the years, including 18 1/2, a film about the 18.5 minutes missing from the Nixon tapes, which he shot during the pandemic. A true renegade, Dan is the embodiment of a filmmaker who won’t give up on his film. Listen and learn from the rest of our conversation with Dan Mirvish, on Inside the Arthouse.

Hosted by Greg Laemmle and Raphael Sbarge, Inside the Arthouse is an “insider’s” perspective podcast on filmmakers and people responsible for films appearing on arthouse screens across the U.S.

GAUCHO GAUCHO filmmakers on Inside the Arthouse.

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Acclaimed filmmakers Gregory Kershaw and Michael Dweck, three-time Sundance honorees who previously took audiences to the secret corners of the Italian countryside in search of white truffles with The Truffle Hunters, recently sat down with Inside the Arthouse hosts Greg Laemmle and Raphael Sbarge to talk about their latest striking nonfiction work. Gaucho Gaucho paints an Argentinian western with images and sounds of operatic beauty, building on their earlier success with The Last Race, a film that explored the last stock car racetrack on Long Island.

Kershaw and Dweck’s focus is now on the vast mountains of Argentina, expressed in stunning black-and-white photography, and a small community of gauchos who hold profound connections to the surrounding nature and their own traditions. As older generations dispense their wisdom, the film keeps its eye toward a new generation which continue to fight for their families’ legacies in a modern world.

“These filmmakers have enormous reserves of love and empathy for traditions that miraculously survive in spite of the modern world. And their compassion has never looked more cinematic.” ~ Tomris Laffly, Harper’s Bazaar

“An affecting tone poem which ruminates on the passage of time and the passing of traditions from one generation to the next.” ~ Tim Grierson, Screen International