Cinema Detroit prepares to close Midtown site while searching for new permanent home
If Cinema Detroit’s current situation were a film, it would be a suspense drama where the lead character faces obstacles but remains determined to succeed.
The innovative independent theater, which has become a hub for movie lovers in Midtown Detroit and beyond, is shutting down its location on Third Avenue by the end of June.
But this isn’t the end for Cinema Detroit, according to founder and programmer Paula Guthat. She's planning to continue its mission with future pop-up events and will be launching a series of screenings at the University of Michigan Dearborn on June 16.
She also is continuing a search for a new permanent home for Cinema Detroit and hopes to find supporters for the quest.
“We would like to have people come forward wanting to support us and to find an affordable space that’s suited for cinema,” Guthat said Thursday, noting that features like high ceilings and unobstructed views are a necessity because there isn't money to build from scratch.
Since opening in 2013, Cinema Detroit has gained a reputation for its eclectic, often socially relevant movies and its dedication to serving the community.
Its past three years have been challenging. Like all art house theaters, Cinema Detroit was hurt by the 2020 COVID-19 shutdown, followed by the lingering post-pandemic downturn in moviegoing. And there are other pressing economic issues such as the soaring rent costs in Detroit.
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The building that Cinema Detroit has called home since 2015 (prior to that, it was the old Burton International School) has been up for sale for years, and efforts to sell it are being pursued more vigorously, according to Guthat.
In short, the nonprofit venture has been losing money, and securing grant funding has been tough. “I’m really hoping that when people find out we’re letting the space on Third go that something shakes loose," says Guthat.
A former University of Detroit Mercy social media manager and marketing professional, Guthat took a leap of faith when she left the world of academia to open an indie theater.
Cinema Detroit did well up to 2019 with a schedule mixing mainstream movies like “Black Panther” with smaller, hard-to-find titles. It was the only venue in the region that showed 2014’s “Lost River,” the strange, evocative film that Ryan Gosling directed in Detroit.
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The theater has served as a location for local events like the Freep Film Festival and has held inventive programs like 2022’s bee-themed screening of "The Wicker Man” (the 2006 horror flick that inspired a Nicolas Cage bee meme). It combined the film with a visit to Detroit Hives, a nonprofit venture that turns vacant lots into inviting spaces for bees and pollinators.
Cinema Detroit's Third Avenue site will be open this weekend for screenings of “Sanctuary,” a psychological thriller starring Margaret Qualley and Christopher Abbott.
Then on June 16, it will kick off the series at U-M Dearborn, beginning with “Cadejo Blanco,” a gritty drama about a woman drawn into the dangerous world of Guatemalan gang crime after her sister disappears.
Other titles include the documentary “Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes” on July 8 and 9 and the Penelope Cruz drama “L’Immensita on July 14, 15 and 16.
Guthat says the summer series will help continue Cinema Detroit's mission of offering access to worthwhile films. “We’re very grateful to have a place to continue to show films, and everyone there has been very helpful and generous and we’re really looking forward to it,” she says.
For her, Cinema Detroit is too important not to continue. “We’re not done,” she says. “We love film too much.”
Contact Detroit Free Press pop culture critic Julie Hinds at [email protected].
Cinema Detroit screenings at the University of Michigan Dearborn
“Cadejo Blanco”
7:30 p.m. June 16 and 17, 5 p.m. June 18
$12
The screenings will be held at the College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters Building, Room 1071CB. Free parking is available across from building
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Cinema Detroit to close Midtown location, looking for new spot
