Celebrating Alternative Film In Alternative Spaces

If Austin and Pittsburgh, whose size and income are comparable to Louisville’s, can support a local nonprofit cinema or film co-op, why can’t Louisville?

The Louisville Film Society has set out to prove that it can.

LFS was founded based on a common phenomenon. Like many Louisville natives, co-founders George Parker, Jr., Ryan Daly and Tracy Heightchew migrated beyond the Ohio, moving to Chicago, Austin, Pittsburgh and San Francisco before returning home.

The society’s mission is to build and enrich the local community by exhibiting, educating and exposing Louisville to experimental, independent, classic and international cinema. Not wanting to be limited to traditional black box cinema, LFS screens films in alternative spaces such as rooftops, forests, bar patios and warehouses. This non-conformist path led to many opportunities for interesting partnerships. 

In the six months since its successful introduction, LFS has screened more than 40 film programs at more than 15 locations, including Actors Theatre, Bernheim Forest, 21C Museum Hotel, Nachbar and Bluegrass Brewing Co., among others. Participation in local festivals such as The Forecastle Festival and the 48-Hour Film Project has strengthened the group’s visibility and in turn, the city’s nonprofit community has embraced LFS. This support for the programming has strengthened LFS’s resolve.  LFS has also strengthened its Board of Directors with the inclusion of Sheila Berman, Gill Holland, William Mapother, and Stu Pollard who have all made substantial contributions to the films arts scene.

This year, LFS will concentrate on its downtown interests, focusing on its programming with 21C Museum Hotel, Actors Theatre, Waterfront Park and BBC Brewery.  Past downtown screenings have included Iranian filmmaker Abbaas Kiorstami’s “A Taste of Cherry,” at 21C and Spike Lee’s “Girl 6” at Actors Theatre.   In 2008 LFS will show work by local and international contemporary filmmakers at 7 PM and 9 PM every third Tuesday of the month at 21C.  Information about those screenings and all LFS events can be found at www.louisvillefilm.org.  Stay tuned for information about an upcoming film festival.