During 2023, Huntington’s beloved arthouse community theater, the Cinema Arts Centre, will celebrate its 50th anniversary. In celebration of its decades-long tenure as Huntington’s premier destination for independent film, the Cinema will show a number of universally acclaimed classic films, as well as many audience favorites from its long history as one of Huntington’s main destinations for the arts.
After a turbulent few years coping with a temporary closure due to COVID, and then a major restoration of its three theaters, the theater reopened in Spring 2022, and has seen success screening highly acclaimed classic films – many of which audiences rarely have the opportunity to see on the big screen.
From its earliest history, the Cinema Arts Centre, also known as CAC by many of its followers, has relied upon its dedicated legion of members and supporters in the Huntington and Long Island communities. Long-time patrons often reminisce about the early days when films were projected on a sheet hung on a wall in a friend’s dance studio. Today, in large part due to the support of the local community, the Town of Huntington, Suffolk County, and the New York State Council on the Arts, the theater shows a diverse selection of film, 365 days a year in its three, newly renovated theaters.
Collaboration with other local businesses has also been a fundamental piece of the Cinema’s success. The Folk Music Society of Huntington, The Next Chapter, Huntington’s new independent bookstore, and local comic shop, Escape Pod Comics, have all partnered with the Cinema to present special events this year. This January, CAC will be partnering with Butera’s Restaurant for a special brunch screening of the Academy Award winning Italian classic Cinema Paradiso.
In recent years, the theater has placed a greater focus on hosting events that appeal to all corners of the community. With the introduction of weekly screenings of treasured family-friendly films, as well as screenings of offbeat horror and cult films, concert films, and critically acclaimed classics; the Cinema has been able to round out its program schedule – which still affords audiences unparalleled access to both new and old independent and international cinema.
“This has been a transformative year for the Cinema Arts Centre,” said Nate Close, Director of Marketing and Communication. “50 years in business is a huge achievement for any organization. We believe that it’s the special, and intimate, relationship that we’ve fostered with our community that has allowed us to remain part of the fabric of Huntington for so long. Whether that means showing nostalgic favorites, or things that you can’t see anywhere else, or just offering a place where everyone is welcome and people can come together. Community is everything to us and we look forward to the showing movies here in Huntington for the next 50 years.”
2023 film schedule will include screenings of the 1942 classic Casablanca, Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather Part II (1974), Cinema Paradiso (1988), family favorites such as The Goonies (1985), The NeverEnding Story (1984), and Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory (1971), along with a 90th anniversary screening of King Kong (1933), and even some recent cult favorites such as Twilight (2008), and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004).
The Cinema Arts Centre is located at 423 Park Avenue in Huntington. For more information or to purchase tickets, call 631-423-7610 or visit www.cinemaartscentre.org
The performance comes in the midst of the center’s Vic Skolnick Life of Our Cinema Campaign, an annual fundraising effort to support programming for the coming year, said Nate Close, CAC’s director of marketing and communications. He added that they like to host events during the fundraiser that are intriguing and fun for a broad audience to enjoy. “It’s always great to see theater performed live, especially when we typically broadcast theatrical performances on-screen here. The theater seats around 190 people, so it will be an intimate performance and we’re expecting a great turnout.”
