38 | APRIL 30 • 2020 awards ceremony, Gardner was introduced to Sfire, who’ d won an award the previous year as part of the feminist filmmaking collective Final Girls; she was looking to start a theater as well. Today, Gardner and Sfire describe their partnership in similar terms. Over coffee, on a bright, chilly afternoon at Oloman Cafe pre-pandemic, Sfire said they make a good yin and yang. She values his holistic approach to program- ming and ability to curate a balanced slate of works span- ning languages, cultures and authorial perspectives, repre- senting without tokenizing. “He’ ll do an entire grouping of Korean cinema to show the balance of what that means, so there isn’ t just one movie representing an entire country,” she said. The same principle goes, she said, for LGBT-centered works and films by women. “Josh is not a bro,” she said, laughing, when asked about the role of gender in their partnership. “He may be more of a feminist than me.” Sfire’ s grandfather, who emigrated to the U.S. from Lebanon, started working at Eastern Market at age 11 before learning English. He then started a string of gro- cery stores, eventually coming to own seven across Detroit and Birmingham. Lara still works in Detroit real estate development with her fam- ily and brings what she and Gardner both describe as a more business-minded approach. Though the Film Lab is the first business Sfire’ s started herself, having a hand in development and growing up around entrepreneurs helped her grasp that bumps are expected in any business. “I never know what the hell is going to happen,” she said of what lands with audi- ences. Specifically, she recalls a screening of Bong Joon Ho’ s cult-favorite class satire Snowpiercer, which she and Gardner programmed when they couldn’ t book the direc- tor’ s newest, Parasite, near the height of its Oscar cam- paign. Expecting a small, ear- ly-30s male turnout, she was shocked to find their space packed with middle-aged women. “It’ s never what you think it’ s going to be, and so it always ends up being really fun,” she mused. “I love being wrong.” A BRIDGE IN HAMTRAMCK Despite the Film Lab’ s mis- sion of cultural exchange, reaching across audiences — even in its own small, dense neighborhood — can some- times be a challenge. Though Hamtramck’ s often thought by outsiders to be a Polish community first, Polish- descended Americans now represent only a fraction of its population, having migrated over several decades to sub- urbs like Madison Heights. Meanwhile, Hamtramck’ s become majority-Mus- lim, rich in Yemeni and Bangladeshi shops and restaurants. Its residents speak more than 40 lan- guages, according to a 2019 Hamtramck Review article. Countless communities co-exist alongside an exten- sive network of bars and arts spaces; it’ s the rare Michigan neighborhood in which res- idents can walk to work or school. According to Gardner, the neighborhood stood out for its sense of community and how well its makeup suits it to the Film Lab’ s mission. “We’ re focusing on world cinema, and there’ s such rich cultures here from all over the world,” he said. Bridging Hamtramck’ s arts scene and immigrant commu- nities has always been a pri- ority for the founders. With their focus on world cinema, Sfire expresses a shared desire to “show films that appeal to everybody,” though not in the Marvel manner. Drawing people in, she said, is “how we’ ll get to know the commu- nity, and then they’ ll probably tell us what they’ re interested in.” In time and once re-opened, the founders plan to expand their space into a two-screen theater with a full food and beverage program. Sfire hopes in time that Film Lab’ s expanded space will serve filmmakers and become a hub for productions and classes. “It’ s nice to feel wanted,” she said of opening a busi- ness in Metro Detroit, “and also that you might actually be able to do something that makes a difference.” But diversifying their audience has remained a challenge. The Film Lab offers drinks, but many of its Muslim neighbors abstain from alcohol. Arts&Life ’ d rt n The Film Lab’s audience is “never what you think it’s going to be,” — LARA SFIRE, THE FILM LAB CO-FOUNDER continued from page 36