36 | APRIL 30 • 2020 

“That really resonated with 
them.
” 
They enjoyed Israeli cinema, 
too. Yet the festival he came to 
coordinate was often the only 
nearby spot they could find 
Israeli works. 
“We weren’
t renting it — 
VOD didn’
t exist then. And it 
wasn’
t at Blockbuster, so there 
was like one week a year you 
would see these things,
” he 
said. “
And that became a really 
big event.
” 
After coordinating the 
WJFF, Gardner served as an 
associate programmer and, 
eventually, PR and marketing 
manager at the American Film 
Institute’
s AFI Silver Theatre, 
a restored Art Deco space in 
Silver Spring, Maryland, that 
he compares to Ann Arbor’
s 
Michigan Theatre. Over six 
years there, he programmed 
Latin American, Caribbean 
and New African-focused 

festivals — working, as at the 
Film Lab, to expose viewers to 
works and cultural experiences 
they might not discover on 
their own.
“Doing these deep dives 
into cinemas from other places 
around the world really got 
me interested in engaging 
local communities,
” he said. “It 
was a fulfilling experience for 
us (as programmers) and for 
them (as viewers) to be able to 
see themselves represented on 
screen.
”
When Gardner’
s wife, Maya 
Barak, was offered an academ-
ic position at the University 
of Michigan-Dearborn in 
2016, they relocated to Metro 
Detroit. Not long after, he 
founded the nonprofit Cinema 
Lamont, which organized fes-
tivals and world cinema pop-
up events around the area. The 
entity’
s stated mission: “To 

foster cross-cultural under-
standing through the power of 
world cinema.
” 
Spaces like Hamtramck’
s 
Oloman Cafe, Eastern Market’
s 
Trinosophes café and the 
restored Schvitz bathhouse in 
Detroit’
s North End all played 
host to thoughtfully curated 
screenings, as did more tradi-
tional theaters like the Senate 
Theater and Cinema Detroit. 
The Schvitz, for instance, 
played the 2007 mob film 
Eastern Promises, notorious 
for a lengthy bathhouse fight 
scene; Southwest Detroit’
s 
Pizzaplex showed low-budget 
spaghetti Westerns. 

A FILMSTRIP PARTNERSHIP
In 2017, Cinema Lamont 
won a grant from the Knight 
Foundation for Cine Mexico 
Now, a film festival first host-
ed at Cinema Detroit. At the 

continued on page 38

Virtual Cinema: 
Supporting 
Theaters from 
Home

During the COVID-19 outbreak, 
all movie theaters have closed 
their doors. So the Film Lab has 
pivoted to a “virtual cinema.” 
A slate of current arthouse 
releases are available for rental 
as video-on-demand (VOD) pro-
gramming options via the the-
ater’
s website, thefilmlab.org. 
The option is available thanks 
to the theater’
s partnerships 
with indie distribution compa-
nies like Kino Lorber and Film 
Movement, who are offering the 
films as VOD rentals in order to 
support independent cinemas 
across the country during mass 
theater shutdowns. 
Several other local theaters, 
including the Detroit Film 
Theatre, Cinema Detroit, the 
Emagine multiplex chain and 
the Michigan and State Theatres 
in Ann Arbor, are also offering 
virtual cinema options. 
“It’
s been really fun to be 
able to offer a wider variety of 
programming than we normally 
do because we’
re no longer hin-
dered by physical constraints,” 
Gardner said, noting that a vir-
tual cinema could have potential 
even after the Film Lab reopens. 
“Obviously, the in-person 
theatrical experience is the 
primary way to do things, but 
perhaps with some of these 
smaller films and smaller dis-
tributors, they’
d be open to an 
online virtual cinema to continue 
(their) run for additional weeks, 
or even potentially films that we 
didn’
t have the time to run.”
Prices and rental periods vary, 
but most films are $10-$12. 
Check your favorite theater’
s 
website for more details. 

ABOVE: The Film Lab has 
temporarily shut its doors due to 
the COVID-19 outbreak, but still 
offers virtual screenings. RIGHT:
Film Lab co-founder Josh Gardner, 
who previously programmed the 
Washington Jewish Film Festival, 
says he’
s interested in “engaging 
local communities” through movies.

Arts&Life

continued from page 35

