Jacob Burns Film Center

History

The Rome Theater, named after its owner Granville Rome, was originally built in 1925 and was the first movie theater in Westchester County. The theater matched the movie palace designs that were popular at the time, including leather seats, friezes, velvet curtains and an original Photolayer pipe organ. The Rome Theater continued screening movies until it closed in 1987 and became an office building.

In 1998 Stephen Apkon and the non-profit Friends of the Rome Theater purchased the 11000 sqft Rome Theater and a 6000 sqft land parcel next door for $1 million. Over the next 3 years, another $4 million was spent for design and construction. The center opened its doors in June 2001 and covered 18500 sqft including three theaters containing 249 seats, 135 and 72 seats. The theater was named in honor of Jacob Burns, a lawyer and businessman whose family foundation gave $1.5 million towards the renovation efforts.

In 2008, the JBFC opened a $15 million Media Arts Lab and started new programs targeting digital literacy in the surrounding area. The Media Arts Lab was part of the JBFC's larger digital literacy education efforts that included sending some staff to prisons in Venezuela to teach prisoners and teachers there about digital literacy. Helmed by Sean Weiner, the Media Arts Lab started the Creative Culture fellowship in 2016 that became a launching pad for up-and coming filmmakers.

Films

The Jacob Burns Film Center shows independent and documentary films. It shows a combination of independent and mainstream films. They sometimes have special guests in attendance. For example, they had a showing of A Series of Unfortunate Events with Daniel Handler and Meryl Streep in attendance.

References

References

1. "Contemporary Arab Cinema". Brown Hats Productions.
2. Brenner, Elsa. (September 2, 2011). "How a Cinema's Fresh Start Revived a Town, Too". [[The New York Times]].
3. Shapera, Todd. (March 21, 1999). "Partnership with Film Society to Help in Restoring Theater". [[The New York Times]].
4. Brenner, Elsa. (December 16, 2001). "Film Center Success has Ripple Effect". [[The New York Times]].
5. Arango, Tim. (December 4, 2008). "New Film Lab: Lights, Camera, Digital Literacy". The New York Times.
6. (2018-04-26). "Creative Culture 2018: Moviemakers of the Future - MovieMaker Magazine".
7. Minzesheimer, Bob. (December 16, 2004). "A series of unfaithful events". [[The Journal News]].