Cinema Arts Centre

Great films shown here...

When I lived on LI and in Queens, I was a member of the cinema and would go all the time. I once braved a rainstorm to see a Tavarnier film. I drove in record time from Queens after a subway delay to see "Intolerance" on a weeknight. Every month they showed a silent film with live piano accompaniment (by a man named "Harry").

At the time, it was called the "New Community Cinema" and a dedicated crew of volunteers took tickets and sold brownies and herbal teas, among other concessions. My friends and I went regularly and we got to know some of the crew by name, most notably a woman named Joan Semon and her sister (was it Mary?). A friend of mine named Tom was the projectionist for a little while.

The first film I saw there was "Dance with a Stranger," and I went regularly after that. It was a 45-minute drive from my parent's house and even longer from Queens, but it was well worth it, since my friends didn't want to trek into NYC to see the same films.

Shortly before I moved to Manhattan, the folks there were actually receptive to my wanting to try to organize a "gay singles brunch." They had a singles brunch program but Joan said it was regularly one man and 40 women.

This place, the "New Community Cinema" when I lived on LI, should be one of the most highly praised theater venues in the NY area. Though the space was never luxurious, the films they showed were remarkable for their diversity. I miss this place so much since I moved out of the state.

Funny story:

I lived in New York City all of 14 months, before returning home to South Florida to start school. While in NYC, I devoured movies, seeing typically over a dozen a week. The only time I ever left the New York City area was to see Peter Greenaway's 'The Baby of Mâcon' at the Cinema Arts Centre in Huntington.

I took the LIRR to Huntington and then a cab to the CAC, which is part of a larger facility for senior citizens. I felt, at all times, as though I were a guest at a seniors' resort, but that was ok. My anticipation of seeing the Greenaway film upstaged any craving for atmosphere.

The print of the film, which was made in the early '90s and never released in the US, was imported from France and being shown in a theater with a capacity for maybe 70 people. It felt more like a meeting room than a cinema (there are other, larger auditoriums) and I had to ask if indeed the film was being shown on 35mm.

The film began. The movie, set in 17th century France, stars Julia Ormond as a wicked virgin who claims her mother's newborn infant as her own by virgin birth, chains her mother in the basement, and sells the baby's blessings. Through a nasty turn of events, Ormond's character is sentenced to die by the Church, but given that she's a virgin, the church cannot execute her. So, they first seek to devirginize her by having her raped by 113 men.

The audience with which I sat was 97% elderly. The only other guy, aside from me, under 60 had to tell an elderly couple behind me to "shut the fuck up" for talking during the feature. Miraculously, nobody walked out during this rather harrowing film depicting some depraved things. In fact, a good 20% of the audience fell asleep.

That's Cinema Arts Centre, in a nutshell.

The programming here, though, is absolutely excellent.

A very hip theater that has made its mark on longisland........Never new it as anything other than New Community ....Thats what the local still call it.......Located in the old village green school in Huntington..........A must see for art film lovers.........

I'm happy that this place is still around. I remember the "old days" when it was just a run down school auditorium. They do a good job with booking classics, neo-art films, and newly neglected ones (like David Lynch's "Inland Empire"). ______*HOWEVER*, I have a *problem* with their bookings of so called "Cinema of the Wild", and other "psychotronic" movies. Dylan (the owner's son; and a very pleasant fellow), tends to over-shoot and under-shoot his bookings. Often the "Wild" titles are movies you are all too familiar with ("Blue Velvet") or too-obscure Asian movies that, aren't that are not "wild" at all. A recent "grind house" summer film festival featured "Streets of Fire" and "Xanadu" (!?). I was baffled and disappointed.

...they should actually have a REAL grind house night with some "roughies" like "Olga's House of Shame" (a perfect example of a movie that EVERYONE has heard about--but few have actually seen it) or the Coffin Joe movies (from Brazil) that don't get seen very much at all. Oh yeah; they should let you smoke in the theater as well; just like the old days!---------------------
**So if anyone at Cinema Arts is reading this NOW, please send Dylan this link and a nudge. Do a little more exploring into rarely seen BUT often noted movies.

Sethkino; I was in Joan Seman's art class in high school. Have not seen her in years...

A new 35mm print of Charles Chaplin's "Monsieur Verdoux" will be shown here on February 26th, 2009, at 7:30pm. The so-called "comedy of murders" was first released in 1947 but had scant distribution in the USA due to censorship problems and controversy over Chaplin's political leanings.