IFC Films’ Arianna Bocco On Plans To Reopen Historic Cinema In Her Hometown & The Importance Of Local Theaters

deadline.com:

“I don’t want to be that person who lives in a town and says, ‘I used to remember when that was a movie theater,’ ” Arianna Bocco tells Deadline as the IFC Films president and New Jersey native formally joins Bradley Lab — a subsidiary of theater developer/manager Cinema Lab.The group is planning to reopen The Bradley, a Monmouth, NJ, theater that dates from 1915 and a project Bocco brought them. “It’s one of the last one-room theaters in the state and the thought of it going by the wayside and becoming something else pained me,” she said.The original vaudeville theater at Bradley Beach was first called The Palace before being renamed The Beach and then The Showroom.

It will reopen late this year with three high-tech auditoriums showing studio films, independent releases, curated series and director Q&As.

It will offer free screenings for families with special needs children, and serve as a venue for local events and fundraisers.The idea is “to create a community focused, technology-first moviegoing experience,” Cinema Lab said, one that’s closely tied to the town and caters to both year-around residents and a large summer population.“When you think about the marketplace, it’s clear that audiences have a lot of options and you have to fight more for their attention and make it more interesting for them to to leave their homes,” Bocco said.She calls cinemagoing an irreplaceable social experience but thinks its future requires more direct relationships with audiences, “looking at it as more of a gathering space,” as well as choice.“If we want to do a retrospective, that’s great.

But we can also play Spider-Man,” she said. “Arthouse people love to see commercial movies as well … [it’s about] giving people what they want.”Bo