Giovanna Torres’ first time at an Independent Picture House screening was special — for her and the theater.
Cine Casual, the blog-turned-film series Torres runs with her husband, showed the Puerto Rican film “Perfume de Gardenias” at IPH in 2022 before the art house in NoDa fully opened to the public. Nearly 200 people packed both auditoriums and listened to Torres introduce the film. She reminded the crowd it was the first to watch a film there.
“We didn’t have an independent art house theater in the city. So finally being able to have one and to be able to say the first film that was screened there was a Latin American film, that’s Charlotte history,” she said.
The Charlotte Film Society opened IPH in 2022 after the city’s last art house, Regal Manor Twin in Myers Park, closed in 2020 . Since that first screening, IPH has created a home for local filmmakers, artists and art lovers alike.
And when Torres and husband Alexander Piñeres launched their inaugural Charlotte Latino Film Festival in April, the evolution of their CIneCasual series, they held the event at IPH over a 10-day period.
Now, the film society is expanding the space — and its programming — into an adjacent area previously used by the Charlotte Art League, to connect with more artists and Charlotteans. The art league left after its entire board quit and as the nonprofit grappled with debt from back rent and other costs.
“To have space vacated that you’re able to move into that’s adjacent to your current space is extremely rare,” said IPH Development and Marketing director Claire Lechtenberg. “It’s both an offensive and defensive measure to move into this area before the rent skyrockets because of all the upcoming developments.”
Independent Picture House expansion
Brad Ritter, IPH executive director, formerly served as the Regal Manor Twin general manager. There’s always been a demand from local filmmakers to showcase projects affordably.
“We would always get phone calls about, ‘Hey, I just made this film. I’d love to rent out an auditorium and show it,’ and we’d have to send them to the Regal corporate office and we never hear back,” he said.
Filling the hole left by Regal Manor Twin closing, IPH now provides theater rentals for filmmakers and other artists in the community. It has three theaters: a micro-cinema with 17 seats and two larger theaters with 77 and 105 seats.
But demand is growing fast.
IPH has turned down community groups and filmmakers because space is so limited, said Jay Morong, IPH’s creative director and a senior lecturer of theater and film at UNC Charlotte.
“(IPH’s current capacity) did limit us a bit, because we’ve been selling out our screenings,” Torres said. “And they also have regular programming that takes place at the same time. So there’s only so much they can accommodate.”
The expansion will bring with it the IPH’s largest theater, with 149 seats.
The first two rows of the new auditorium will have retractable seating, Lechtenberg said. While local performing arts groups already rent IPH space, the retractable seats allow more space for dance, comedy, live music and spoken word performances.
“One of the most urgent needs in Charlotte is affordable, accessible space for artists,” she said.
Boosting demand further, Lechtenberg said IPH anticipates nearly 1,500 new residential units in two years directly surrounding the cinema’s campus.
She said IPH has raised around $470,000 from the community of the estimated $725,000 for the expansion, and IPH is still fundraising .
Construction on the expansion will begin in mid-July and end Nov. 1. The new space will likely be open for cinema programming by mid-November, just in time for the holidays.
New Independent Picture House programming
IPH’s expansion also will include a new multi-purpose event area, with space for 100 people standing or 80 people sitting.
Primarily, it’ll be used for educational programs and courses, led by a new director of education and outreach. The space will also serve larger crowds during the Charlotte Film Festival and IPH’s Oscars Party, Lechtenberg said.
Large movie theater corporations don’t necessarily choose films based on what the community wants. But IPH, a community cinema, asks patrons what films and other programming they want to see. Among the feedback: community members told IPH that they want film classes.
Kim Brattain, who runs her own media company, said the IPH team proves repeatedly it wants to connect with patrons and the community.
“They’re talking about having wine tastings in there, fundraisers in there,” Brattain said. “So it will be a very cool asset to Charlotte. Charlotte is a cool cultural city because of the arts, and so what IPH is doing is taking the arts out into the community and making it accessible.”
Morong said he hopes the community stays excited about the expansion.
“This is as much yours as it is ours,” he said. “We’re building it for everyone.”
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