Celebrating its 40th anniversary, the American Cinematheque honored Michael B. Jordan with an awards ceremony and fundraiser in Beverly Hills on November 20th and is screening a selection of films by the incomparable Diane Keaton through December 6th.
“This award is an annual event, and this time it’s a very exciting one,” executive director Ken Scherer told Variety. “When they created this award, they decided to recognize ‘mid-career’ rather than ‘lifetime achievement.’ I’ve also worked for AFI on some of the Great Life Achievement Awards shows, so I have a legitimate interest in this because I can catch people along the way. And Michael B. Jordan reflects that original concept. Although he is on the rise, he has achieved (a lot). ”
Michael B. Jordan will receive the American Cinematheque Award for outstanding career achievement.
Dan Dopersky (Variety)
The nonprofit is really proud of another thing about its 40th anniversary celebration. It’s the upcoming launch of an archive where 40 years of Q&As and photos and all sorts of other things will be available to the public. They are also in the early stages of producing the first book telling the history of the Cinematheque.
So how did this all begin? Back in 1984, three film enthusiasts, Gary Abrahams and Gary Essence, who were also the founders of LA’s FilmEx, and filmmaker Sidney Pollack, decided that the city needed something special, like Paris’ legendary Cinémathèque Française. They built on the energy of the LA International Film Expo (the aforementioned FilmEx) and reinvigorated the American Cinematheque. It began showing movies in 1985 and quickly became a must-see destination for movie lovers around the world.
When Mr. Scherer was called by the board of directors to inspect the Cinematheque, the situation there was quite dire. “The 40th anniversary (anniversary) is important. We were able to do some things by selling the Egyptian (theatre) in 2018, but still retained the right to program on time every week, so the Cinematheque was saved,” explains Scherer. “Putting it into the context of what happened with a pandemic that no one could have imagined, if we hadn’t done that, we wouldn’t be here today. It really means a lot that we’re here, but it’s even more important that we survived and came out stronger than ever.”
The American Cinematheque is currently showing a selection of films starring Diane Keaton.
Courtesy of Everett Collection
That advancement meant not only bringing great films to Los Angeles, but also opening up the Cinematheque to people across the country with screenings and events at a variety of venues. Everyday movie fans can now enjoy movies together, not just in LA (Egyptian Theatre, Aero Theatre, Los Feliz 3 Theaters), but across the country. And for the first time, they also performed internationally at Bleak Week, an annual festival showing darker films.
“We think of ourselves as a specialty movie theater that brings together early screenings, premieres, awards season and 100-year-old movies,” says Artistic Director Grant Monninger. “We’re bringing another festival to New York next year, continuing to innovate our membership and expand the ways our customers can interact and experience the Cinematheque even when they’re not in Los Angeles,” which includes more than 1,600 screenings and 360,000 audience members each year.
“The stars seem to have aligned,” as Scherer puts it, because the Cinémathèque is now stronger than ever. “We’re coming back stronger and very much back,” he says. “And what I love is the younger generation. It’s the 20s and 30s. The demographics from where we were in 2018 to today are nothing like what they were back then. So this is a very interesting moment to look back on, but it’s also a visionary moment. And I think that’s what I’m trying to celebrate.”
