Greenwood Features
269 Greenwood Avenue,
Bethel,
CT
06801
269 Greenwood Avenue,
Bethel,
CT
06801
5 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 45 comments
I am very happy to see that this Theatre has reopened again. Currently showing movies like the whale and everything everywhere all at once. I was sure once it closed that it would not reopen again. There’s a historic driving restaurant not far from the theater at all. Definitely go there to have some delicious food and then to the movies
Opened As Early As The Early 1970s.
Please update, reopen on February 18, 2022
Reopening as Greenwood Features in 2022.
https://www.greenwoodfeatures.com/
Please update, the theater is closed and it has been for at least a week.
I’m scared for the future of movie theaters…
Yes, it’s a dark day here in Western Connecticut.
We can only be hopeful that some buyer who wants to run a quality movie theater will come along before it’s too late.
Thank you, Bethel Cinema, for a wonderful run.
Please update closed
https://news.hamlethub.com/newfairfield/life/47643-bethel-cinemas-closes-its-doors stated in article closed
I was a teenager in Bethel in 1976 and it was surprising that a tiny town of 12,000 people had a porn theater the “Penthouse Cinema”. Glad to know it has survived and is showing mainstream films.
my friend is their Projection Manager. She just posted a FB pic of their all new digital units. They step into the next century.
Gee…“a digital film’s 1000th viewing is as crisp as the first showing but…film offers a ‘certain warmth and flicker’…” sounds amazingly like what they were saying when music CDs came out about 25-30 years ago; now vinyl is making a comeback and people have long complained about a lack of “warmth” in digital recordings. The more things change…
Former Bethel Cinema owner Paul Schuyler, now manager of Bank Street Theatre in New Milford was on the front page of the News-Times yesterday holding some film and digital film. They are the first theater in the area to make the move to digital projection, not even the big area multiplex is doing this yet.
Tomorrow night they are showing Disney’s 3-D movie, “Bolt”. This week they are opening one new digital screening room for about $100,000. Soon the other 2 rooms will change. He touted that a digital film’s 1000th viewing is as crisp as the first showing but that film offers a “certain warmth and flicker”.
Yesterday and today at 7pm, before “Bolt” opens, they will show off their new digital screen at $5 showings of 3-D film, “Fly me to the Moon.”
Bethel Cinema manager Maria Schrader was quoted.
My friend just told me the new owners raised prices and not by a little. Everyone has been complaining for the last week and she urges them to complain with the suggestion box, and the owners are never there, so they workers have to endure the brunt of it.
Adult admission will remain at 9.50, but they raised senior citizens to 7.50! and students as well and matinees – student discounts are only during the week and not weekends. no more ladies nights and no more $6 all day monday.
The owner is the Prez of Focus Features and I chatted with him at length as have others and he says there are no independent films anywhere, which is what Bethel Cinema patrons want and love. He’s the Prez! No indies, my butt. He was just at Cannes.
“my friend’s the projectionist and she showed me everything.”
Ah, to be young again.
Just thought I’d let you all know that the cinema still uses 35mm film. That makes me feel better when I watch movies there. Thought it was all DVD projector stuff, but my friend’s the projectionist and she showed me everything.
Went to the Film Fest this past weekend. The few films I saw weren’t well attended, maybe 1/3 full. This year they did it as regular prices, matinees and after 6pm full price. Theater 3 of the 4 was the film festival location with presentations by Tom Carruthers before each block of films. It was great.
The restaurant next door is simply called “Bethel Café” and is run by general manager, Michele Crosby for over a year now. It is a really family-friendly place which offers a very large variety of meals. they are open for lunch wed-sunday, dinner everyday, and brunch on saturdays and sundays. the hours are as follows:
monday& tuesday- 5:30pm to 7:30pm
wed & thurs- 11am to 7:30pm
friday & saturday- 11am-9:30pm
sunday- 9am to 7:30pm
come stop in and check it out….great little place…and the food is excellent.
So. They finally have a website but there’s no theater history on it. I’ll talk to my friend Liz who is the GM and have her put it up soon. It’s www.bethelcinema.com
Also, they’ve again opened the cafe next door. Don’t know the name but let’s hope it lasts longer than the other two incarnations.
FYI: New Haven is not Bethel’s competition. They do fine by their own.
This place could use at least one larger auditorium. Cozy is nice, but its competition in New Haven is cozy as well as roomy.
ShoeShoe, you met Pam Karpen’s wife??
D'oh. Someone beat me to it. But nyah, nyah, I already met the owners' wife, so there! Hehe. This is great news.
This time it appears the sale went through. Sounds like a good deal.
[quote]2006-01-05
The show will go on
New owners of Bethel Cinema plan to keep art house format
By Marietta Homayonpour
THE NEWS-TIMES
BETHEL â€" Movie buffs, fear not.
Bethel Cinema, the area’s premiere showcase for independent and foreign films, was sold this week and the new owners plan to continue the theater’s art house format.
“We’re going to stay true to the art house and keep the art-house films here,” said Pam Karpen, a Weston resident who bought the Cinema with Bethel business owner Ken Karlan.
Cinema patrons have been anxious about the fate of the Greenwood Avenue theater since longtime owner Paul Schuyler announced in early May it was for sale for $650,000.
A deal with a Redding resident fell through at the 11th hour in late September, and Schuyler began negotiating with other prospective buyers.
Schuyler declined to reveal the final selling price, except it wasn’t $650,000. Karpen also declined to say how much she and Karlan paid for the 8,000-square-foot building, which holds four theaters and seats 425 people.
In an interview Wednesday, Karpen, 39, was elated about the recent sale. “This is very exciting, fantastic. I love this theater.”
Karpen’s enchantment goes back to her first visit, about five years. “I loved it from the moment I walked in. The concession stand, the small-town feeling, the intimacy. And I’ve always been a fan of independent art films.”
That’s good news for Bethel Cinema patrons.
“I’m pleased to hear it will continue the way it is, absolutely,” said Newtown’s John Gallichotte, 76.
Gallichotte and his wife, Patt, are members of a Bethel Cinema movie club and see about 100 films a year there. “It’s an interest both of us share,” Gallichotte said.
Bethel Cinema is a different world from the big theaters, he said, where the sound is too loud and the pre-movie commercials too long.
In the bigger theaters, “A great number of the movies are action, shoot-‘em-up ones for the younger set,” he said. They don’t provide as “enjoyable an experience” as a night out at the Bethel Cinema.
Bethel Cinema is a haven for Bethel’s Mike Dobsevage, who is 29. He sees its movies about two or three times a month and, when called for an interview Wednesday, said he was just getting ready to head there.
Dobsevage, a video editor for a Brookfield advertising agency, was glad to hear about the new owners' intentions. “If they stick to what they promise, it’s a good thing.”
Dobsevage said his taste in films is eclectic, he said, ranging from history, to social issues, to conflict. He’s lived in New York City and Boston, where he was used to readily available foreign and independent films. “The Bethel Cinema brings those films here.”
For Schuyler, who founded the Bethel Cinema exactly 13 years ago â€" in January 1993 â€" the sale left mixed feelings. “I’m a little bit ambivalent. But change is good, too. I feel there’s other opportunities for me out there.”
When Schuyler first announced Bethel Cinema was up for sale, he planned to move to Sarasota, Fla., to build a 260-seat IMAX theater. Since then, the original site for the theater has been lost and Schuyler is looking for another.
“It’s 50-50,” he said about the possibility of the IMAX venture.
For a few weeks, Schuyler will stay at Bethel Cinema to help with the transition.
“At this point,” Karpen said, “we’re not planning changes. We’re just learning the business.”
Karpen, the married mother of three young children, has a master’s degree in marketing and plans to do marketing and publicity for the theater.
When Karpen learned last year the Cinema was for sale, she told Karlan, a personal friend who owns Star Struck, a sports-products business in Bethel’s Francis J. Clarke Industrial Park.
“He said, ‘If you’d like an investor or partner, think of me,'Ÿ” Karpen said.
Bethel Cinema does not own the building it occupies on Greenwood Avenue, but the sale includes a continuation of the lease. It also includes an unused, 1,000-square-foot space adjacent to the Cinema, but has held several restaurants over the years.
“The Cinema leases that space,” said Schuyler, “but it could be sublet or it could be used by the Cinema. It has a beer and wine permit.”
Karpen said she and Karlan have not yet decided how to use the space.
Karpen also needs to explore is the Bethel Film Festival, the first of which was held in late October. “I know very little about the film festival, so I can’t comment right now.”
The successful festival showed more than 50 American and foreign independent films. Bethel resident Tom Carruthers, one of the festival partners, hopes for a second year at the Cinema.
“I look forward to working with the new owner,” said Carruthers, who will now be able to work “on setting up a date” for the next festival.
“It’s great that the Cinema sold, and it’s a great opportunity for the festival as long as they want to continue it.”[/quote]
The final article, more than a week after the Bethel Film Festival finished.
Bethel film fest gets good buzz
By Eugene Driscoll
THE NEWS-TIMES
A fat guy in a suit chewing on a cigar didn’t walk up to Scott Sniffen and hand him a distribution deal at the end of the Bethel Film Festival, but the movie he worked on picked up some nice momentum.
“Novem,” a film about a long-lost rock band, won best feature at the festival that ended Oct. 30.
Sniffen, of Southbury, was the movie’s director of photography.
“When you’re trying to sell a movie, an award like that certainly doesn’t hurt,” he said.
While the Bethel Film Festival has closed up shop â€" the signs are coming down, the vintage movie poster display at the library is over â€" filmmakers are still talking about it.
The 56 movies screened last week in Bethel were independent â€" truly independent, unlike the recently released Edward R. Murrow biopic “Good Night and Good Luck,” which claims to be an independent film even though it stars George Clooney and cost $50 million to make.
“Novem,” meanwhile, was financed for under $250,000 by director Brad Kimmel, of Evansville, Ind. He’s trying to land a distribution deal to make the money back, get the movie in theaters and then get some dough for his next film.
It doesn’t hurt that he has a darn good movie. “Novem” has picked up nine awards at a slew of independent film festivals since April.
Filmmakers show their stuff at film festivals to build a buzz, collect press clippings and make their movies known. The ultimate goal is to find a company willing to distribute the movie into theaters, DVD shelves or cable television.
That may not have happened at Bethel â€" but, hey, that’s not the point of a first-time festival.
Thirty-three filmmakers attended the festival. Many attended question-and-answer sessions with the audience.
“The chance to see these independent films and to be in this intimate setting and talk to the directors and producers, that’s what made us so successful,” said Carol Spiegel, the festival’s programmer.
Kimmel said film festivals are crucial for independent filmmakers.
While it’s easy to find distributors for independent horror and exploitation flicks, selling a movie such as “Novem” isn’t as easy.
The plot can’t be explained in 35 words or less.
“Our film doesn’t have any stars in it,” Kimmel said. “It’s not a genre film that sells itself. It’s not about sharks eating people in the water.”
That’s why the Bethel Film Festival is important â€" it helps get the word out.
Kimmel said he was impressed by the Bethel Film Festival’s organization. He didn’t come to Bethel, but kept track of what was happening through the festival’s Web site.
“It sounds like I missed a good film festival,” Kimmel said. “From what I’ve heard, they really did a good job. They had a really good Web site, so you can tell they were really well organized. Filmmakers look for things like that.”
Hughes Dalton, who co-directed “Lift,” won “Best Short” during the festival’s closing luncheon in Danbury last week.
“The Bethel Film Festival had the look and feel of an event in its fifth or sixth year,” Dalton said.
Meanwhile, area businesses said the festival might not have attracted hundreds of thousands to downtown Bethel, but they want to see another festival next year.
“I hope it will come again next year. I’m a supporter of the arts,” said Peggy Polizzi, owner of Plain Jane’s restaurant on Greenwood Avenue.
The festival organizers are still tabulating just how many tickets were sold.
“We had some sold out screenings. We had some screenings that I wished we sold more tickets for,” Spiegel said.
Spiegel said the festival organizers have “every intention” of putting on another festival next year. One major question mark, however, is the venue.
Bethel Cinema, the town’s venerable art house theater, is up for sale. There’s no guarantee a new owner would be as welcoming as Paul Schuyler.
However, filmmakers want to see it happen.
“As the years go, it will grow larger and they’ll have more and more submissions,” Kimmel said. “They are off on the right foot and I think word of mouth about the festival is going to be very good.”
This film fest is amazing. It’s very surreal. Hanging out with folks I know, meeting new folks and talking film shop with distributors, selectors, judges and filmmakers. True community. Only meant to watch a few blocks, but stayed ALL day, 8 hours. Worth the money. Free posters, free bumper stickers and $7 shirts. Very affordable. Each block is either a short and a feature or a whole block of shorts. One particular film sold out twice and they’re adding a special showing Sunday (today) at 4pm in the large theater. So much to see, customize it. There were many kinks, but as an event organizer myself, it’s needed to learn. Can’t wait to see the last day today. It’s going to happen next year. And also, you can fill out your contact info on the back of your stub and enter it into the box for the title sponsor prize, 2 round trip tickets anywhere Independence Air flies.
Also, I was spotted by many of the volunteers and organizers who didn’t know me already because of my postings on this website. “Oh, you’re the guy who posts all the Bethel Cinema stuff on Cinema Treasures.