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| Photo | Mark Stehle |
| 941 Theater's Nick Esposito, Zafer Ulk'c' and Doug Sakmann. |
Back in September, we featured the 941 Theater in our Choice Issue, highlighting their niche-filling ability to give local filmmakers a chance to screen their work:
There's no agenda. In addition to having the cheapest rental rates in the city, 941's setup is tantalizing: A night can start in the venue's considerably roomy lobby and move to the 100-seat screening room, which can also be converted into a 200-capacity concert venue.
But, as reported by Philebrity, L&I is hating on 941 for their free-wheeling ways and have heavily fined the theater and shuttered it for the next month. The Philadelphia Friends of the Projected Arts, the theater's non-profit umbrella company, have a letter up on their site describing the situation and announcing they will hold a fundraiser in order to keep the dream alive. If you are able to donate your time or services, hit them up at booking@941theater.com or you can simply donate your cash via PayPal. We'll give you more info on the fundraiser when we hear about it.
It's a real shame that this has happened. While places like the Ibrahim Theater at International House have done an excellent job with high-brow repertory programming, 941 hosted down, dirtier and frankly sillier fare, which is in no way a slight. In addition, the theater was the homebase for the always-fun Backseat Film Festival, which takes place in March, and served as host to smaller fests like the Philadelphia Independent Film Festival.
But this is really a blow to the independent film community. There are not a lot of places in this city where cash-strapped filmmakers can show their work. As 941-er Nick Esposito pointed out in the Choice piece, giving filmmakers a place to show their work allows them to cover costs and start on their next project.
"Every project people do is theoretically better than the last one," Esposito told me about the importance of the theater's economic model to indie filmmakers. Hopefully, the closure (and eventual re-opening) will signal a fresh beginning for the 941 team and they can apply that sentiment to themselves.
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