The daily digest of Twin Cities culture | Secrets of the City

>I enjoy the beauty of the Oak St, and wish my opinion mattered.

Me too. You could make your opinion known to the MFA board of directors, but they don't like to reveal their identities.

I guess they're real proud of the job they've done.

Not true. The Oak St Cinema turned a profit and grew it's financial reserves every single year until the merger with U-Film. Its format is viable and could be kept in operation...if MFA had a board that wished to do so.

I'm not saying it can be saved at this point, any chance to do that is long past.

Since reopening I have attended more than half the films they have shown this September and October. Attendance is low, but the theater has only been reopened for a little over a month. They have had some great programming, in my opinion. For example, tonight at 9:30 they are premiering a local zombie mockumentary then the film "Midnight Movie," which from the posters I have seen around town won awards at the Chicago Horror Film Festival this year. There will be a costume contest tonight, tomorrow, and Sunday, and even an after party sponsored by Schells brewery at Stub and Herbs tonight with some free beer with ticket stub! That sounds great to me! Even if the movies are just okay I am so happy to have a place in town that offers something like this to me. I know this is a programming example, but something like this would have less charm if it weren't at the Oak. I go to Uptowns midnight repertory and have been for years as well. I think what they are doing is amazing. I love what Landmark theaters can do. But the Oak's absence will not be filled by the Uptown once a week at midnight.
The Walkers programming is dynamite also, but can't we spread these things all over town?
With the money that the U has extracted from me I am maddened that it must all go to stadiums or "star" departments such as biology, chemistry, psych, physics, etc.
As for the Hollywood, thank god that it is being saved, but why not both? Because the property value of Oak and Washington is too great not to place something there that will be of "maximum profit," I suppose. We have so much behind theatre and music in these cities but film seems to be overshadowed, and it doesn't have to be.
When the Hollywood is renovated it will be great I'm sure, but will it even be showing films? I was under the impression that the screen would be left intact but that it was to be more like the Varsity, purely a music and event venue.
So now the University area, and mind you this area is HUGE, will not have even ONE record store left, and an uncomfortable movie theater inside of Coffman playing okay films once a week, if you can stand the smell of Panda Express that has coated the air inside the place. Coffman is another great example of misused, corporate-focused space.
And what about the Bell? The University will be using the building for something else now that the new Bell Museum will be opening on the St Paul Campus (The Bell Museum building is quite possibly my most favorite Moderne building in the cities). I have no clue if MN Film Arts will show there still. Maybe the theater will be put to good use, I just wonder if in a years time the Bell and the Oak will be operating. All signs really point to no.
The University does not need to look like a strip mall or a suburb to run well or serve its students. Look at UW Madison, they don't seem to be wiping out all of State Street to serve private corporations. The majority of State Street continues to be small businesses. The charm of cities is wrapped up in their architecture. Thats why Americans get so awed by Paris, Madrid, London, and pretty much any city in South America, South Africa, and Asia that hasn't been torn apart. Where did this idea of knocking everything down over and over again come from? It leaves us with no history or purpose as citizens of some very great American Cities. Chicago and Milwaukee, two great Midwestern cities, do not look like Downtown Minneapolis. They have some heritage left. Seriously something is wrong with the city. Since the Dinkydome went under construction and the lot next to it was bought for student housing (!) the few businesses inside have been majorly struggling.
Al and MN Film Arts Staff can't be expected to run a theater and non-profit and go up against the board, the U, the city, private developers, and just about everyone else ready to cash in, can they?
Its obvious to me without being a part of the organization that they have decided to focus on playing really beautiful music as the ship sinks this time, rather than scramble to get the lifeboats. I wish I could do more than just listen.

I notice that the July memo linked above calls for a "written... recent history" of Oak Street Cinema as part of the mitigation plan. Was this ever done? If so, I'm curious whether it includes the allegation, made repeatedly by Oak Street Cinema's founders, of bad faith on the part of the Minnesota Film Arts board, including serious allegations of purposeful neglect with the aim of selling the property.

"I'm curious whether it includes the allegation, made repeatedly by Oak Street Cinema's founders, of bad faith on the part of the Minnesota Film Arts board, including serious allegations of purposeful neglect with the aim of selling the property."

ME TOO!
well said.