CWC: Moviegoing and Film Exhibition in Flux

Recent headlines about box office numbers and the status of theatrical exhibition have been gloomy.

Yet independent theaters and community-driven moviegoing are having a renaissance not just in Los Angeles, but across the country, as the industry continues to transform in the wake of shifting audience behaviors, distribution patterns, and the rise of streaming platforms.

This panel brings together filmmakers, exhibitors, distributors, historians, and cultural advocates to explore how independent cinemas, distribution companies, and filmmakers are navigating unprecedented challenges by creating new opportunities for movie theaters, moviegoers, and moviemakers.

What are the new models for theatrical exhibition, and how can they be sustained in the face of technological change and industrial transformation?

How are exhibitors navigating the troubled waters of a post-COVID, post-strike entertainment industry?

How are today’s theater operators tapping emerging forms of cinephilia to rebuild their audiences while still creating unique cultural experiences around the moving image?

Are the movies “back,” and will it last?

This panel discussion will consider how leveraging social media, innovative programming, community-driven events, hybrid release models, and new technologies can drive movie theaters and moviegoing to new heights.

As independent theaters are championed, financed, and reopened by filmmakers across North America, this panel will also discuss the role of filmmakers like Brad Silberling and Jason Reitman in leading the fight to promote the value of theatrical exhibition for the art form and the culture of moviegoing.

In this special panel discussion event, we will be joined by filmmakers Brad Silberling and Jason Reitman (members of the group of prominent directors who acquired the Fox Village Westwood Theater near UCLA), Maggie Mackay (Executive Director of the Vidiots Foundation in Eagle Rock), Jackie Brenneman (founding partner of The Fithian Group), and Ross Melnick (Interim Director of the Carsey-Wolf Center, Professor of Film & Media Studies at UC Santa Barbara, and Co-founder of Cinema Treasures).

A reception will follow in the Michael Douglas Lobby of the Pollock Theater.