 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

