Film Forum brings global themes to Village

Not quite a hippie but still want to enjoy film in the West Village? Though stereotypically a hippie-haven, the West Village offers two theaters with content that departs from traditional bohemian conventions while maintaining a dose of nonconformist and independent attitude. The theaters Film Forum and IFC Center strike this balance with a combination of conscientiously selected contemporary films and classic retrospectives.

Film Forum has been faithfully showing a wide spectrum of independent cinema since its establishment in 1970, when it was a small screening venue on the Upper West Side with 50 folding chairs and a single projector. Today the theater is located on Houston Street, with three screens and a solid reputation.

The excellent content at Film Forum consists of a premieres program dedicated to New York theatrical debuts and a repertory program focused on revivals and retrospectives. In a phone interview, premier programmer and publicist Mike Maggiore said Film Forum aims to screen relevant films that “tackle issues that are not really being covered in other areas of media.”

Not simply a venue, Film Forum also supports these smaller films in a unique way by becoming involved in their marketing campaigns, managing press screenings and releases.

Much of Film Forum’s ability to support these smaller films is owed to the non-profit standing it’s had since 1972.

“It does allow us to take certain risks that commercial cinemas might not be able to take,” Maggiore said. “There are definitely films we have opened over the years that I don’t think you’d have seen open in a commercial theater, even a small art house theater.” Non-profit standing has also granted Film Forum uncommon longevity through accumulated endowment.

In addition to a current retrospective on Jules Dassin, Film Forum is also showing Sergei Dvortsevoy’s Tulpan, a dry comedy about nomadic shepherds on the steppes of Kazakhstan. Though fictional, the film is noted for its almost ethnographic detail—a result of Dvortsevoy living with nomadic shepherds during the film’s production, which spanned several years.

Similar to Film Forum, the IFC Center meticulously selects the contemporary films it screens and offers them special support. The IFC Center acquires the rights to its films, showing them exclusively and bringing revenue directly to the film. Films currently being featured are Gomorrah, Tokyo Sonata, and Hunger. The IFC Center also has a Midnight Classics program, which is finishing a David Cronenberg special this week.

With some of the best revivals and exclusives on current independent films, the West Village offers film fans a genuine experience they can’t get anywhere else.