The last two years have been an incredible time for independent moviemakers, changing the landscape of the industry forever. In this time, short films have become a part of our everyday lives; do-it-yourself moviemakers have been "validated" by the production, acquisition, over-marketing and sequelization of The Blair Witch Project; and digital video production and projection equipment have changed the way we make and view movies forever. As a result, more films are being made than ever before. While the ease and cost of this new technology is certainly good news for the moviemaker who wants to simply make a movie, it's not so wonderful for the moviemaker who is actually looking to screen his or her movie. An increase in the number of films out there means an increase in the amount of competition to be screened.

While the Internet has succeeded in creating a host of new distribution outlets, the dot-coms are still dumping millions of dollars into streaming servers and brand building - and to what end? While many aspiring moviemakers are flocking to their computers, there is an international movement gaining great momentum in the offline world. This movement, the Microcinema Movement, stems from one of the most important desires of independent film and video artists: to sit in a dark room and have their movies projected onto a large screen with an audience there to see it.

Microcinema is an emerging term and industry, hence it has become a movement all its own. The term designates a small venue or cinema, moving or temporary, which shows alternative short or feature-length films that would normally fall "under the cultural radar" of the mainstream movie theaters and/or art house cinemas.
Though the term "microcinema" is new for many, it is interesting to note that the first public film screening was in a microcinema! The very first commercial exhibition of a projected motion picture was the Lumi"re Brothers' screening of approximately 10 short films, lasting only 20 minutes in total, at the Salon Indien, the basement lounge of the Grand Cafe on the Boulevard des Capucines in Paris, December 28, 1895. Less than 100 years later, in 1993, Rebecca Barten and David Sherman coined the term and started their own "microcinema" in the basement of their San Francisco apartment. They called it Total Mobile Home MicroCinema. Since then, the microcinema movement has been gaining momentum around the world, and it is poised to make a real and tangible contribution to the development of the entertainment industry.

Where do microcinemas come from and why have they reappeared? It is common knowledge that today's movie industry is an oligarchy, run by a select few megacorporations which care more about business than art. A Hollywood studio would rather sink $200 million into a blockbuster film than $1 million into 200 smaller (probably more important) films, as the financial return is likely to be much greater.
Although it is true that microcinemas have formed, in great part, as a reaction to Hollywood's domination of mainstream exhibition outlets, they've also arisen out of a do-it-yourself, "auteur" mentality. Inherent in that independent mindset is the ability for one to work and create within one's means - which is something microcinema operators have had to master.

The first hurdle an alternative exhibitor must face is finding a physical space. Since real estate is often expensive, microcinemas can occur in a variety of locales. Total Mobile Home MicroCinema began in a basement and soon, quite literally, moved through the city streets in a recreational vehicle, stopping in empty parking lots to set up chairs, a screen and a projector. The Speakeasy Backroom in Seattle is a four-wall venue in a cyber cafe which resides below a pool hall. The Kalakala ferryboat, built in 1935, was rescued from an Alaskan fish cannery and brought to Seattle's Lake Union. Here, its cold, rusting interior is used as a venue for warm and enlightening film, video and music events. The Aurora Picture Show in Houston is housed in an old church. The Mansion in Baltimore screens films in what was once a funeral parlor. Firewater Films, in New York City, utilizes the former adult movie houses of Times Square to present their programs.

In Europe, microcinemas are housed in much more romantic spaces. Le Batofar, in France, is a screening held on a river barge. In Belgrade, two weeks before NATO began dropping bombs on Yugoslavia, an old gunpowder factory drew an audience of over 300 people to watch a screening of Independent Exposure. In fact, according to Milos Kukuric, co-founder of Serbia's Low-Fi Video, "The last Low-Fi Video screening had more than 600 viewers, which is amazing! We are excited to present short films and videos, because each work represents a new acquaintance with a young and creative filmmaker full of passion and a healthy soul that has become very rare during the past 10 years in Serbia."

Of course, no story on alternative exhibition venues would be complete without mentioning Hunter Mann's Highway Cinema program. Mann describes himself as "a nomadic film screener who travels to small towns, bringing the dancing light of film issues/41/images to folks who live far from the nearest multiplex, and even further from the art house cinemas and film festivals that dot the cinematic map." A cinematic gypsy, Mann travels by bicycle, with a 16mm projector and films in a trailer behind him. He hits small towns in Canada, the United States and Mexico, where he delights the people with films while the locals provide the concessions. When asked about the importance of alternative exhibition, Mann suggests that "Microcinema is like the missing link in the film chain, a vehicle for getting films screened to smaller, more intimate audiences, especially those cineastes who desire celluloid on their plate instead of popcorn."
Technology is typically the second largest hurdle for the microcinema. Many microcinemas are physically unable to house a 35mm film projector, so the ease and portability of 16mm film and video projection equipment are attractive alternatives. With these two major hurdles satisfied, the microcinema operator must now resolve two issues: finding films to program and audiences to watch them.

There is no lack of programming choices for the microcinema operator. As there are no rules for programming an alternative exhibition, truly anything goes! Typically, microcinemas host retrospective programs or create unique themes and present both old and new works that fit those themes. Microcinemas will often host local film and video festivals, or pre-curated, touring packages from other microcinemas, museums or film societies. Microcinemas will often combine film and video events with music and visual arts provided by local artists. No matter what the program, microcinema curators face a difficult and constant job of scheduling their events, and it takes a unique and diverse knowledge base of film and video to accomplish this.

Building an audience for alternative programming isn't easy. Advertising and marketing a film or video is expensive. That's why street-level, guerrilla marketing plays such an important role in alternative exhibition. Luckily, there are various new technologies that have made guerrilla marketing a much easier task. Postcards, posters and flyers can be created on any computer and printed at home, or photocopied very inexpensively. Recently, the microcinema curator's best friends have become the Internet and email, as they not only make finding international programming easier, but they allow curators to announce their programs efficiently and inexpensively.

Important to the microcinema process is consistency. Whether a program is held every night or once a month, some sense of consistency will provide for a successful microcinema. Audiences will begin to recognize the schedule, and even look forward to that one night per month when a program is presented. When people realize that they have new choices before them, new alternatives, they will investigate. Fans of these boutique theaters love the experience of viewing film and video. Humans are social beings who seek interaction. The social milieu of the microcinema experience is at the core of the necessary link between the moviemaker and his or her audience. It is unlikely that the Internet will ever fulfill this inherent desire to get together and interact. As Andrea Grover of the Aurora Picture Show in Houston points out, "Microcinemas are extremely social spaces. In contrast to giant cineplexes, which try to isolate you from your neighbor, microcinemas are often hubs of conversation and hanging out. They share more of a kinship to cafes, bars and nightclubs than to movie theaters. Microcinemas appeal to an audience that is tired of technology-induced isolation."
Whether showing to an audience of two or 200, the moviemaker-audience relationship is imperative to the moviemaking process. Danny Plotnick, Super 8 moviemaker extraordinaire and master of the do-it-yourself exhibition tour, claims that "Microcinemas are important because there are, unfortunately, relatively few traditional venues that screen weird, adventurous films, be they short or feature-length. While festivals show this kind of work, there aren't festivals in every town, and festivals are so inundated with films, that many quality films don't even enter that stream. Having odd art spaces like microcinemas simply gives filmmakers more venues to choose from."

So, what is the future of alternative exhibition? It is highly unlikely that underground or aboveground venues projecting Super 8 or 16mm films will ever go away. However, the combination of inexpensive PC and DV technology, cheaper DVD authoring equipment, faster and cheaper broadband and the arrival of digital projection will create an enormous potential for microcinemas on a global scale.

The day will come when international microcinema operators will be able to program their screenings via their PC from a worldwide database of short and feature length films. With just a few clicks of the mouse, an entire program will be delivered via wireless broadband and a digital projector to any venue in the world from anywhere in the world. Like the home movie screenings of the Super 8 Age, families will be able to choose alternative programming and have it delivered to their television or to a DVD via pay per view, which will allow moviemakers to begin seeing a return on their investment.
What this so-called "democratization of the medium" means to moviemakers and their audiences is that the leveling of the playing field will allow more unique and diverse voices to be seen and heard. There is no doubt a revolution is happening in the film and video industry and, now, everyone can be a part of this history. It is telling that in every previous era when microcinema style venues appeared, it was a signal that culture was changing and evolving. It happened with the cave paintings, with the Medireview magic lantern shows and the Renaissance, and with the nickelodeons and the rise of the avant-garde. It is possible, in our current era of great social and cultural change, that microcinemas once again are signaling a new artistic age - the age of the Microcinema Movement.

This is not the last word on microcinemas since they, like our culture, are always changing and evolving. The time is now for moviemakers to take advantage of these new exhibition opportunities as they are likely to become an absolutely necessary and vital component to the production process. MM Looking For A Microcinema Near You?

Australia:

Jaan Ranniko

Moviemakers and screening coordinator at large.
jaan@ozonline.com.au

Canada:

The Blinding Light

A 100+ seat microcinema established in 1997, located in Vancouver, BC. Specializes in screening underground, experimental, rare and obscure film and video 6 nights a week.
Alex McKenzie, 36 Powell Street Vancouver, BC CANADA V6A 1E7
Office/Cafe: 604.684.8288 Info: 604.878.3366
www.blindinglight.com
panic@istar.ca

Catacomb Microcinema

Based in Winnipeg, Canada, Catacomb Microcinema is a small interactive cinema started in 1998.
Bevan Klassen, 115 Briarcliff Bay
Winnipeg, Manitoba, CANADA R3T 3H8
Tel: 204.269.2662
bevan@microcine.org
www.microcine.org

France:

Le Batofar

Screenings on river barges.
www.batofar.org
batofar@batofar.org

Singapore:

The Substation

Singapore's first multicultural and multi-disciplinary arts centre. Founded 1990.
45 Armenian Street, Singapore 179936
admin@substation.org.sg
www.substation.org/facilities.html

United Kingdom:

The Showroom Cinema

The Showroom is a 4 screen independent cinema showing 'cultural' films, with a strong commitment towards film education and exhibiting new and experimental work.
Paternoster Row , Sheffield S1 2BX
Tel: 0114 276 3534
Fax: 0114 249 3204
www.showroom.org.uk

Yugoslavia:

Low Fi Video

LOW-FI VIDEO is a project with no expiry date, its mission being the advancement of the aesthetics of non-pretentious cinema and the subversion of elitism on film
Milos Kukuric
Aleksandar Gubas
7 Jula 80, 11000 Belgrade, Yugoslavia
qqric@sezampro.yu
http://www.crsn.com/low-fi

USA:

Artist's TV Access

Home to Other Cinema, Craig Baldwin's ongoing series of unusual and experimental film in San Francisco.
922 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
www.othercinema.com

Hollywood Shorts

A monthly series that provides emerging directors, writers, and producers an opportunity to present their short subject films and videos to their peers and to the industry.
Kimberly Browning
hollywoodshorts@yahoo.com
www.hollywoodshorts.com

The Expatriate Caf'

A screening venue for short video, film and audio work created by independent, international artists.
Barbara (Basia) Mosinski, Executive Director
The Expatriate Cafe
1727 S. Newberry Chicago, 60608 USA
basia@thexpatcafe.com
http://www.thexpatcafe.com

Minicine

A roving, pop-up suitcase, grocery cart, thrift store, hands on, volunteer run venue for experimental and independent film and video located in Shreveport, Louisiana.
824 Texas Avenue, Shreveport, Louisiana 71101
http://www.swampland.org
Minicine@swampland.org

MicroCineFest

MicroCineFest's mission is to showcase worthwhile underground filmmaking from all over the world.
Skizz Cyzyk
3700 Beech Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland 21211
Tel: 410.243-5307,
bfink@bcpl.net
www.microcinefest.org

The Video Lounge

Video Lounge is a not-for-profit organization focusing solely on video. We showcase animation, experimental and documentary works produced by emerging artists.
Carrie Dashow and Rachel Melman
PO Box 1220
Canal Street Station, New York, NY 10013
Tel: 212.924.5331
info@videolounge.org
www.videolounge.org

Flicker

A bimonthly screening of short super 8 and 16mm films in Chapel Hill, NC.
Jim Haverkamp
P.O. Box 15296, Durham, NC 27704
flicker@ipass.net
http://www.chapel-hill.nc.us/flicker/

Aurora Picture Show

Aurora Picture Show is Houston's non-profit film/video church. Our home is a 1924 wooden church building in Houston's Sunset Heights, with pew seating for 100.
Andrea Grover
800 Aurora Street, Houston, Texas 77009
Tel: 713.868.2101
Grover@aurorapictureshow.org
http://www.aurorapictureshow.org

Independent Exposure

Microcinema's monthly screening program of international short films, videos and digital works. Celebrating its 6th Season.
Joel S. Bachar
2318 Second Ave., #313-A, Seattle, WA 98121
Tel: 206.568.6051
info@microcinema.com
www.microcinema.com

911 Media Arts Center

Washington's premiere non-profit cultural and educational organization that supports the creative uses of media as communication and art-making tools in a democratic society.
Peter Mitchell
117 Yale Ave N., Seattle, WA 98109, USA
Tel: 206.682.6552
www.911media.org
peter@911media.org

Joel S. Bachar can be contacted at joel@microcinema.com.

Taso Lagos is a moviemaker and scholar of microcinemas. He produced and co-directed the cult underground comedy, American Messiah, as well as completed his master's thesis on microcinemas at the University of Washington School of Communications. He can be contacted at taso@u.washington.edu.