I forgot to mention that my other true partner was Ken Edwards…we were both 19 years old then. He kept that theater going against another. Ken and I are still in business together.
At that time, we also distributed films through Bauer International (originally A.J. Bauer & Company)and then became Liberty Films. We distributed the early films of Wim Wenders (when no other American distributer would touch him…including Dan Talbot of New Yorker Films), Hans Jurgen Syberberg, Alexander Kluge, Gregory Nava (whose first film Confessions of Amans had its theatrical release at the Renoir) and Martha Coolidge whose first film (Rape…Not A Pretty Picture) also had its theatrical premiere at the Renoir.
Another one of my friends (till today) was Kevin Lally who today is the Editor of the Film Journal and the author of Wilder Times, the definitive book on Billy Wilder. The latter project was a dream of his back then.
To answer your question, it was only 16MM which limited us greatly back then. But we actually experimented with 16MM creating a platter system so the entire film was on one reel. It only broke down once…during the last two minutes of a Bunuel Mexican film…of course to a packed audience! I forget the film right now…and can you believe not one single person asked for their money back. And they say New Yorkers are heartless…it would have bankrupted us sooner rather than earlier.
Well that’s it for now. Sort of memory lane for me…anyone remember Joe Franklin? Yes, I made an appearance…my first on television with Ilene promoting the Jean Renoir Cinema. Now Franklin was a treasure!!!
What a small world, I was just wondering the Internet and found this website. I was the founder of the Jean Renoir Cinema in New York. It was a dream that became a reality thanks to Nancy Newell (New York Times got it wrong) and Ilene Kristen. I programmed the theater with Nancy supplying the energy. Ilene was an investor. One of my treasures is a hand-written note from Jean Renoir himself giving me permission to use his name. Throughout the run of the theater, Renoir would send his friends to check up on us.
We did some innovative programming including the First Cuban Film Festival in a commercial theater as well as the first theatrical opening of Luis Bunuel films from his Mexican period – again they had never had a cinema opening in the United States. Unfortunately, a lack of funding, the cost of advertising in New York and problems with landlords in New York forced us to close the theater.
I still have the programs and lots of things from those days. The physical buildings are still there. The Second Avenue location was on Second Avenue between 10th and 11th Streets. We had to move from that location since we had been subleasing and the people we paid the rent to had not paid the landlord. So after a week of being shut down, we relocated to the then and now Actors Playhouse on Seventh Avenue South.
I could go on…I am really happy that someone remembers the Renoir…it was one of my most adventuresome and happy times…what a small world!
I forgot to mention that my other true partner was Ken Edwards…we were both 19 years old then. He kept that theater going against another. Ken and I are still in business together.
At that time, we also distributed films through Bauer International (originally A.J. Bauer & Company)and then became Liberty Films. We distributed the early films of Wim Wenders (when no other American distributer would touch him…including Dan Talbot of New Yorker Films), Hans Jurgen Syberberg, Alexander Kluge, Gregory Nava (whose first film Confessions of Amans had its theatrical release at the Renoir) and Martha Coolidge whose first film (Rape…Not A Pretty Picture) also had its theatrical premiere at the Renoir.
Another one of my friends (till today) was Kevin Lally who today is the Editor of the Film Journal and the author of Wilder Times, the definitive book on Billy Wilder. The latter project was a dream of his back then.
To answer your question, it was only 16MM which limited us greatly back then. But we actually experimented with 16MM creating a platter system so the entire film was on one reel. It only broke down once…during the last two minutes of a Bunuel Mexican film…of course to a packed audience! I forget the film right now…and can you believe not one single person asked for their money back. And they say New Yorkers are heartless…it would have bankrupted us sooner rather than earlier.
Well that’s it for now. Sort of memory lane for me…anyone remember Joe Franklin? Yes, I made an appearance…my first on television with Ilene promoting the Jean Renoir Cinema. Now Franklin was a treasure!!!
What a small world, I was just wondering the Internet and found this website. I was the founder of the Jean Renoir Cinema in New York. It was a dream that became a reality thanks to Nancy Newell (New York Times got it wrong) and Ilene Kristen. I programmed the theater with Nancy supplying the energy. Ilene was an investor. One of my treasures is a hand-written note from Jean Renoir himself giving me permission to use his name. Throughout the run of the theater, Renoir would send his friends to check up on us.
We did some innovative programming including the First Cuban Film Festival in a commercial theater as well as the first theatrical opening of Luis Bunuel films from his Mexican period – again they had never had a cinema opening in the United States. Unfortunately, a lack of funding, the cost of advertising in New York and problems with landlords in New York forced us to close the theater.
I still have the programs and lots of things from those days. The physical buildings are still there. The Second Avenue location was on Second Avenue between 10th and 11th Streets. We had to move from that location since we had been subleasing and the people we paid the rent to had not paid the landlord. So after a week of being shut down, we relocated to the then and now Actors Playhouse on Seventh Avenue South.
I could go on…I am really happy that someone remembers the Renoir…it was one of my most adventuresome and happy times…what a small world!