The Loft Cinema

The Loft Cinema is a nonprofit art house cinema located in Tucson, Arizona.[1] The Loft Cinema screens first-run independent American and foreign films and documentaries, as well as classic art films and special events. The theatre has 3 screens with a seating capacity that ranges from 90 to 500.[2] The largest auditorium is equipped with reel-to-reel 35 mm and 70 mm projectors.[3]

History

The theatre, originally named The Loft, opened as an art house in 1965 at the northeast corner of East Sixth Street and North Fremont Avenue. Built in 1938, the space first functioned as a meeting place for LDS student members and then was converted into a performance space for Play Box Community Theatre in the late 1950s. In 1965, The Loft took over the space, showing art films for 4 years before switching to adult films in 1969. New management in 1972 renamed the space The New Loft Cinema, and low-budget independent and foreign films were screened. The New Loft moved to its current location at 3233 East Speedway Boulevard in 1989, when the University of Arizona purchased the building.[4] In 2002, then owner, Joe Esposito, sold The New Loft Cinema to the newly formed non-profit, The Tucson Cinema Foundation (later renamed Loft Cinema, Inc.).[5]

Events

The Loft Cinema hosts a monthly short film contest, started in 2006 and hosted by Tucson-based animator and syndicated cartoonist, Max Cannon.[6] The Rocky Horror Picture Show has been continuously run with a shadow cast at The Loft Cinema since 1978.[7] The Loft Cinema has hosted The Loft Kids Fest, a free 9-day festival for children, every summer since 2006 and The Loft Film Fest, a 5-day film festival in the fall showcasing independent, foreign, and classic films, since 2010.

Recognition

The Loft Cinema was the first American festival member and second American theatre member of the International Confederation of Art Cinemas (CICAE).[8] The Loft Cinema was a participant in Sundance Film Festival USA from 2012 until the program’s end in 2014, bringing world premieres and guests such as Oscar winner Brie Larson.[9] In 2015, The Loft Cinema was recognized as a Sundance Institute Art House Project theater, a collaboration between Art House Convergence and Sundance Institute promoting “theaters in North America that embody a benchmark of excellence in programming, community involvement and operations”.[10]

References

  1. ↑ Houser, Devlin. "Tucson's Film Experience". www.tucsonweekly.com. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
  2. ↑ "About Us". www.loftcinema.org. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
  3. ↑ Sandal, Inger. "Loft Cinema: Back to the future with 70 mm". www.tucson.com. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
  4. ↑ Allen, Paul. "It's curtains for New Loft Theater Site at UA". www.tucsoncitizen.com. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
  5. ↑ Sciliesman, Kyle (April 21, 2013). "Non-profit ownership brings success to The Loft Cinema". Inside Tucson Business.
  6. ↑ Graham, Chuck (May 3, 2007). "Loft's Gong-Style Film Showdown A Hit".
  7. ↑ "Rocky Horror Timeline". Arizona Daily Star. January 14, 2010. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
  8. ↑ Levine, Sydney. "Loft Film Fest in Tucson Initiates First American CICAE Art Cinema Awards". www.indiewire.com. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
  9. ↑ Stratford, Herb (January 2014). "Sundance Film Fest Invades Tucson". Zocalo Magazine.
  10. ↑ Levine, Sydney. "Art House Convergence Announces Sundance Institute Art House Project Program". www.indiewire.com.

Coordinates: 32°14′11″N 110°55′25″W / 32.236381°N 110.923558°W / 32.236381; -110.923558

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