The Metrograph, the four-year old New York City arthouse that established itself as a tastemaking film venue before being knocked sideways by COVID-19, has launched an ambitious online expansion.
Metrograph Digital will debut on Friday and will be available to anyone nationwide through an online membership program. For existing Metrograph members, there is no extra charge. New members will pay $5 a month or $50 a year. Viewers can access the streaming player through laptops or mobile devices and can “cast” the films to TV sets.
The first Metrograph Digital offering is Metrograph Live Screenings, a lineup developed and curated by the theater’s programming team. An official announcement promises “a celebration of communal movie watching,” with a rotating selection of new releases and repertory titles each week, opening at set showtimes. As is the case at the Ludlow Street location, the screenings will be accompanied by introductions, pre-show material and Q&As.
Planning had been under way for Metrograph Digital long before the pandemic and the venture will continue and expand long after movie theaters reopen, the company said. While the release calendar at launch features only repertory titles, Metrograph is readying ticketed, extended engagements of first-run titles via transactional on-demand, along with other augmented features.
The initial program (see it in full below) features many films unavailable elsewhere online. Directors represented include Claire Denis, Éric Rohmer, St. Clair Bourne, Ulrike Ottinger, Alain Resnais, Djibril Diop Mambéty, Satoshi Kon, James Gray, Laurie Anderson, and Manfred Kirchheimer. Among those making guest introductions will be Gray and filmmakers Noah Baumbach and Jenna Bliss.
New York City has fared far better than most of the U.S., going from the global epicenter of the pandemic to largely reopening as caseloads remain low. Nevertheless, movie theaters are among the venues that are still dark, including the two-screen Metrograph on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. While theatres’ four-month shutdown has wreaked havoc on major studios, as Deadline has reported daily, there is also significant strain on the specialty sector, long a central part of the city’s identity.
Several local arthouses, including the Film Forum, Film at Lincoln Center and the Brooklyn Academy of Music, have developed offerings that sustain their theaters via online “ticket” purchases for screenings. Rooftop Films kicked off outdoor screenings last weekend. But the Metrograph concept of live showtimes, designed to foster community, introduces a new wrinkle to the virtual world.
“What’s most exciting to me about Metrograph digital expansion is that it means a larger audience can see more of the films we feel so passionately about, while continually broadening our offerings,” said Jake Perlin, Artistic Director of Metrograph, in a press release. “The foundational principle of the Metrograph theater is the pleasure of sharing cinephilia and a view that there are always new filmmakers and ideas to discover from around the world, and with Metrograph Live Screenings, that is now possible online, in addition to our theater.”
In 2019, Metrograph added distribution label Metrograph Pictures to its stable. The first live screening on Friday will feature one of the label’s titles, Denis’ L’Intrus, a 2004 feature billed as a “digital exclusive.”
Aliza Ma, head of programming, said the live screenings will bring “dynamic films and series featuring legendary and up-and-coming filmmakers. The heart and soul of our curatorial voice can be found here, in tightly focused programs changing weekly.”
Metrograph CEO Christian Grass said the digital aspect of Metrograph’s activities will ramp up through 2020 and in the future. “Our goal is to present all the facets of the Metrograph experience—from our distinct film programming, editorial coverage, and original video material—to create a compelling, essential home for anyone who is passionate about movies,” he said.
Here’s the schedule for the initial slate of online films, with descriptions by Metrograph. All shows start at 8PM ET.
July 24
Claire Denis’s L’Intrus (2004) – digital exclusive (A Metrograph Pictures release)
with Bruce Baillie’s All My Life (1966)
Through July 27
July 27
St. Clair Bourne’s Paul Robeson: Here I Stand (1999)
Guest introduction by organizer and cultural historian Kazembe Balagun, Project Manager for Rosa Luxembourg Shiftung New York City
Through July 29
July 29
Manfred Kirchheimer’s Bridge High (1975) and Stations of the Elevated (1981)
Guest introduction by Kirchheimer
Through July 31
July 31
Nan Goldin’s Sirens (2019) – digital premiere
with Vivienne Dick’s Liberty’s Booty (1980) and Beauty Becomes the Beast (1979)
Guest introduction by Goldin
Through August 2
July/August
New digital restorations from Canyon Cinema
August 2
Nan Goldin Presents Michael Roemer’s Nothing But a Man (1964)
Guest introduction by Goldin
Through August 5
August 3
Michael Roemer’s Nothing But a Man (1964)
Guest introduction by programmer Melissa Lyde
Through August 5
August 4
Kevin Rafferty and James Ridgeway’s Feed (1992)
Through August 7
August 5
Damani Baker and Alex Vlack’s Still Bill (2009)
Guest introduction by filmmakers Damani Baker and Alex Vlack, and producer/editor Jon Fine
Through August 7
August 7
Satoshi Kon Retrospective begins
August 17
Jenna Bliss’s The People’s Detox (2018)
Guest introduction by Bliss
Through August 19
August 19
James Gray’s Two Lovers (2008)
Guest introduction by Gray
Through August 21
August 21
Judy Irving’s Dark Circle (1982) (A First Run Features release)
Guest introduction by Irving
Through August 27
August 22
Alain Resnais’s Je t’aime, Je t’aime (1968)
Through August 24
August 24
New restoration: Mayday (1970) – Courtesy of the Yale Film Archive
Guest introduction by writer and researcher Yasmina Price
Through August 26
August 26
Laurie Anderson’s Home of the Brave (1986)
Through August 28
August 28
Ulrike Ottinger Retrospective – Ticket of No Return (1979)
Series continues through September
August 30
Djibril Diop Mambéty’s Le Franc (1994) and The Little Girl Who Sold The Sun (1999)
New restorations and digital premieres (Metrograph Pictures releases)
Through September 4
September 1
Djibril Diop Mambéty’s Hyenas (1992) – new restoration (A Metrograph Pictures release)
Guest introduction by Boukary Sawadogo, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Cinema Studies, City College of NY (CUNY)
Through September 4
September 4
Éric Rohmer x 3 – Boyfriends and Girlfriends (1987) (A Metrograph Pictures release)
Guest introduction by filmmaker Noah Baumbach – new restoration and digital premiere
Series continues through September with The Aviator’s Wife (1981) and 4 Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle (1987) in new digital restorations.
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