Cinematheque touts $21 mil revamp
Live programming set for December bow
"It's a shame that places like Paris and London have had places like this for decades and the city most associated with movies is just getting there before the millennium," said Cinematheque co-chairman Mike Medavoy.
The structure will house two screens -- a 650-seat state-of-the-art auditorium to be named for philanthropist Lloyd E. Rigler and a smaller 75-seat screening theater that was dedicated in Steven Spielberg's name in 1989 when he was the organization's Moving Picture Ball honoree. The site also will include a restaurant and bookstore. Additionally, it was announced that a documentary to be titled "The Magic of Hollywood" has been commissioned and will run in the main theater during the day. It will be directed by Daily Variety chief film critic Todd McCarthy and his wife, doc filmmaker Sasha Alpert.
Curtain-raiser set
Present plans are to raise the curtain in October with a special screening of Cecil B. DeMille's 1923 "The Ten Commandments," which debuted at the venue a year after it opened as the first of the city's premier movie palaces. The performance will be accompanied by a full orchestra under the direction of musicologist Gillian Anderson, who previously did a reconstruction of DeMille's "Carmen."
DreamWorks' first animated project, "Prince of Egypt," will receive its world premiere at the Cinematheque in December, and a series of new French films will be presented in January with Catherine Deneuve confirmed to introduce the program.
However, the organization first has to raise some $10 million to complete the project. Capitol Campaign co-chair Steve Tisch announced the start of its final fundraising push, which will include two programs dubbed Paving Stones and Major Gifts. The former has already received donations from Miramax in John Travolta's name and from Elizabeth Pollen, a long-active board member who has been associated with the organization from the outset and had been involved with early projects involving the Cinematheque's deceased co-founders Gary Essert and Gary Abrahams.
In addition to the Spielberg theater, other major gifts include a donation from Tisch's co-chair James G. Robinson, which will be put toward a board room in his name and that of his production company, Morgan Creek. The William Morris Agency is also providing funding and Cinematheque president Joni Sighvatsson said special recognition for its late founders will be part of the final package.
