APRIL 30 • 2020 | 35
H
amtramck, the
2-square-mile city
bordering the General
Motors plant near the center
of Detroit, is known to many
as a historic Polish enclave, an
epicenter of “Paczki Day” and
— during festivals — a parking
headache. But those who don’
t
dig deeper are missing out: not
just on simpler parking, but on
countless other jewels, too.
Among the newest is the
Film Lab, which opened
October 2019 in a former
Polish Legion of American
Veterans hall on Holbrook
Avenue. It’
s a joint project
of Josh Gardner, a Jewish
Washington, D.C., transplant
with a hand in film program-
ming since age 19, and Lara
Sfire, a filmmaker and native
Detroiter who returned to the
area after years on New York
sets.
The snug but well-appointed
microcinema features a full bar
and food pop-ups complement-
ing what’
s onscreen. Lacking
proper street signage, it’
s easy
to miss despite its ornate, red
brick façade (the building
dates back to 1925). But with a
special focus on world cinema,
the programming centers on
work unlikely to play elsewhere
around Detroit.
Gardner sees signs that the
pair are successfully growing an
audience.
“The number of people who
come where it’
s their first time
seems to be a lot. It’
s still new,
so that gives me hope that we
haven’
t tapped out with the
audience yet,
” he said. “I think
we’
ve reached the core, art-cin-
ema kids [who] know this place
exists. But I think there are still
a lot of people who would be
interested, who haven’
t heard
about it yet for whatever rea-
son.
”
The Film Lab’
s selections,
including Georgian coming-
of-age LGBT drama And Then
We Danced and Chinese neo-
noir thriller The Wild Goose
Lake, reflect Gardner and Sfire’
s
broad aspirations to build a
community around offbeat,
sometimes bawdy global film-
making.
A FILM COMMUNITY WITH
JEWISH ROOTS
Gardner, who’
s 33, grew up in
a Conservative Jewish home
and cut his teeth working at
the Washington Jewish Film
Festival (WJFF). That was also
where he first experienced the
thrill of programming movies
with a particular culture and
audience in mind.
“I know it meant a lot for my
parents whenever there was
a Jewish actor … or a Jewish
scene in a movie,
” he said.
The Film Lab makes a home in the
multicultural riches of Hamtramck.
GEORGE ELKIND CONTRIBUTING WRITER
PHOTOGRAPHY BY ALEX SHERMAN
for a
Global
Films
Global
Town
Arts&Life
on the cover/cinema
continued on page 36