The vision for the Metro Cinema Center is a five-screen theater, with two larger auditoriums, two smaller ones and a fifth room that has flexible seating and can be used as a screening room, a classroom, a meeting room or as a small reception space. Additionally, there would be a lobby lounge/cafe that would be open to the street and can be used for events. The architects have come up with the preliminary concept drawings below. More detailed plans are currently in the works.

Booking Policy

• One of the five screens would be used for first-run art films, many of which would be playing simultaneously downtown or in Brooklyn. There would be a new release every two weeks.
• One screen would be dedicated to festivals and repertory bookings.
• Two additional screens would be used for move-overs of successful releases, either from the first-run screen or from other Manhattan venues.
• The fifth screen (Educational Center) would be for private events, community events, educational use and other specialized screenings. It will have flexible seating so it can accommodate classroom setups and other configurations.

Existing Program Augmentation

Examples of programming that could use additional venues:

• Film at Lincoln Center: Annual programs such as “Rendezvous With French Cinema,” “Open Roads: New Italian Cinema,” “The Jewish Film Festival” and others.
• The Upper West Side JCC has only one auditorium for their large, internationally recognized festivals, such as “The Other Israel” and “Reel Abilities.” The programs could easily support more showtimes and larger capacities.
• The Children’s International Film Festival could expand its programming year-round with screenings and festivals targeting families kids and teens.
• The Latin American Film Center has year-round screenings at various venues and could use a more consistent home.

Education and Community Use

• The plan includes NYC’s ONLY comprehensive Education and Community program (see details here)

Ira Deutchman, President

Ira Deutchman has been making, marketing and distributing films since 1975, having worked on over 150 films including some of the most successful independent films of all time. He was one of the founders of Cinecom and later created Fine Line Features—two companies that were created from scratch and, in their respective times, helped define the independent film business. He was also a co-founder of Emerging Pictures, the first digital projection network in the United States and a pioneer in delivering live cultural events into movie theaters.

Currently Deutchman is an independent producer and a consultant in marketing and distribution of independent films. He is also Emeritus Professor in the School of the Arts at Columbia University, where he was the Chair of the Film Program from 2011-2015.

His current projects include serving as producer of Nickel & Dimed, based on the book by Barbara Ehrenreich and directed by Debra Granik (in pre-production); director/producer of the feature documentary Searching for Mr. Rugoff (currently available on the Criterion Channel and on various pay-per-view platforms); producer of the stage adaptation of Joan Micklin Silver’s Hester Street (recently opened on Washington DC); and executive producer of the mini-series based on the novel Radio Girls by Sarah-Jane Stratford (in development).

In 2017, Deutchman was awarded the Spotlight Lifetime Achievement Award by the Sundance Art House Convergence for his service to independent film marketing and distribution. Deutchman was awarded the Honorary Trailblazer Award at the 2024 Woodstock Film Festival.

Adeline Monzier, Vice President

Adeline Monzier, a Harlem resident, is currently a guest programmer at Metrograph downtown and the founder of the Harlem film series Uptown Flicks. She also organizes the year-round student screenings at Film at Lincoln Center and collaborates with Rosalie Varda and Ciné-Tamaris on an educational project centered around Agnès Varda’s The Gleaners and I. From 2013 to 2024, she served as the U.S. representative of Unifrance, promoting French cinema abroad, and oversaw the Rendez-Vous with French Cinema festival in partnership with Film at Lincoln Center.

After earning a Masters degree in Culture and Media Management from Sciences Po Paris and a Master’s in Contemporary German Studies from the Ecole Normale Supérieure d’Ulm, Monzier joined DIRE, a French syndicate of independent distributors, in 2005. She founded Europa Distribution in 2007, a network of 130 independent distributors from 26 European countries, which she managed until 2013.

Monzier also launched and ran the filmmakers’ program “US-in-Progress” from 2011 to 2016, connecting American independent films at rough-cut stages with European buyers and post-production funds. As a producer, through her company Black Rabbit Film, she produced her first short film, L’Héritage by Michaël Terraz, which was selected by 40 international festivals and won 10 awards. She has also been a script reader for French companies like Mars Distribution and the CNC. In 2018-19, she collaborated with Serge Toubiana on his book about Helen Scott, L’Amie américaine.

Beth Krieger, Secretary

Beth Krieger is the former Communications Director for the Calhoun School, responsible for marketing, public relations and communications for this independent school on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. During her 22 years in that capacity, she supported the school’s fundraising and admissions efforts, and created and managed the school’s website, social media, print and digital publications.

Prior to her professional work at Calhoun, Krieger was president of the school’s Parents Association and representative to the Board.  Besides her school volunteerism, she has served on the Board of her current cooperative, as president of the Board of a former co-op, and was a Board member at Yaldanu, a preschool on the UWS attended by her two children. Most recently, Krieger was president of Upper West Side Save Our Stores, a community advocacy group that, pre-Covid, worked with local elected officials to research the reasons behind empty storefronts, and possible legislation and solutions to address the problems.

Beth received her BA from Northwestern University. She has lived on the Upper West Side with her husband for 40+ years.

Caroline Baron

Caroline Baron is an award-winning film and television producer. She is an Executive Producer on the soon to be released limited series, The Beast in Me (Netflix) starring Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys and an Executive Producer on Severance – Season 2 (Apple). Her many credits include Producing the Oscar nominated film Capote and cross-cultural hit Monsoon Wedding, winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. She served as Executive Producer on the critically acclaimed Amazon original series, Mozart in the Jungle, for which she won a Golden Globe and Errol Morris’ Wormwood. Baron was an Executive Producer on Pretty Little Liars, Original Sin (WB/HBO Max) and a Co-EP on Stephen King’s Lisey’s Story (Apple). Through their company A-Line Pictures, Baron and her partner/husband Anthony Weintraub produced the feature film Bel Canto based on the bestselling novel by Ann Patchett and starring Julianne Moore and Ken Watanabe. They are currently developing several projects for film and television.

Baron has been recognized for her work at numerous international awards ceremonies and events, including winning the Emerging Producer award at the 2006 Independent Spirit Awards, an Oscar nomination for Capote for Best Picture, a Spirit Award nomination for Capote for Best Picture, an Emmy Award Citation for her work on the first season of  The Wonder Years, and a 2006 Vision Producer of Excellence Award for Capote.

In 1999, motivated by reports of individuals fleeing their homes in Kosovo to seek refuge in crowded camps in Macedonia, Baron founded the non-profit organization FilmAid International. FilmAid, now a project of Internews, harnesses the power of film to support vulnerable communities worldwide.

Baron was an associate professor in Producing at NYU’s Tisch School of Undergraduate Film and Television. She graduated with a BA in English from Brandeis University. She received an honorary Doctorate of Letters from Chapman University and an Alumni Achievement award from Brandeis University.

Stephen Cohen

Stephen Cohen is one of the premier real estate attorneys in the restaurant and retail industries. An expert in strategic planning, leasing, financing and development, Cohen provides trusted counsel for real estate- driven brands of all sizes including STK Steakhouse, BJ’s Restaurants, Einstein Bagels, Kona Grill, Hell’s Kitchen and many others.

Cohen has been practicing real estate law for four decades. After graduating third in his class from New York Law School, he joined Rogers & Wells in New York. His talent for tackling complex business and real estate transactions led to him to Minneapolis, where he served as in-house counsel for The Musicland Group, a national music and video retailer with hundreds of locations. Cohen then joined Rainforest Café as General Counsel and Senior Vice President of Real Estate, where he led the company’s national and international expansion.

Guided by his passion for helping his clients navigate the complexities of the restaurant and retail businesses, Cohen opened his own practice in 2001. In addition to working with national operators, franchisees, independent restaurateurs and entrepreneurs, he speaks at national and regional conferences about real estate and commercial leasing. He also serves on the board of Red Hook Responds, a not-for-profit organization that responds to food insecurity and supports agriculture, emergency relief and other community needs in Dutchess County, New York. When he’s not working, Cohen enjoys traveling, reading, listening to jazz, practicing yoga and spending time with his two grown daughters in Brooklyn, New York.

David Huntington

A partner in the Capital Markets and Securities Group of Paul, Weiss, David Huntington focuses his practice on corporate finance and securities transactions.

Huntington has represented U.S. and foreign companies in a wide range of financial transactions, including initial public offerings, secondary offerings, Rule 144A offerings and other private placements of debt and equity securities, bank financings, debt restructurings and private equity transactions. He has extensive experience providing advice regarding corporate governance, disclosure and other requirements of the U.S. securities laws applicable to U.S. and foreign public companies. Huntington’s clients include Automatic Data Processing, Inc., CDK Global, Inc., Dana Holding Corporation, EP Energy Corporation, Hexion Inc., MPM Holdings Inc., Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd., Nutraceutical International Corporation, The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc. and Verso Corporation.

Prior to joining Paul, Weiss, Huntington served as counsel to Chairman William H. Donaldson and Chairman Christopher Cox of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C. and, prior to that, as senior counselor to the general counsel of the SEC. He was responsible for providing legal and policy advice on a variety of regulatory and enforcement matters, including securities offering reform, Section 404 internal control requirements, executive compensation disclosure, proxy access, market structure reform, corporate penalty guidelines, Fair Fund distributions, credit rating agency regulation, soft dollar regulation, mutual fund governance reform and hedge fund regulation. Huntington has also served as an attorney-advisor in the general counsel’s office of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

Huntington is a member of the Financial Reporting Committee of the City Bar Association, the American Bar Association and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association – Compliance and Legal Division. He serves on the boards of directors of the Regional Plan Association and Princeton in Africa and is currently serving as a steward of Power Ten New York and chairman of the board of directors of Row New York.

Sally Klingenstein Martell

From 1994 – 2019 Sally was the Executive Director of The Klingenstein Third Generation Foundation. She earned her BA at Tulane University, MFA in Writing and Literature at Stony Brook University, and was a 2021 BookEnds Fellow. Sally has served on the boards of the 92nd Street Y and The Town School, and is a current trustee of Emma Willard School, The New York Historical, Klingenstein Philanthropies and is the President of the Klingenstein-Martell Foundation. She is now a full-time novelist.

Peter Koffler

Peter Koffler is a Senior Managing Director in the Legal & Compliance Group at Blackstone Inc.  His previous positions at Blackstone include General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of the Blackstone Multi-Asset Group and Global Chief Compliance Officer of Blackstone.

Prior to joining Blackstone in 2006, Koffler served as General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of Twenty-First Securities Corporation, an institutional trading and investment firm. Koffler began his legal career at Baer Marks & Upham.

Koffler received a BA from the State University of New York at Binghamton. He received a JD, with honors, from Hofstra University School of Law, where he served as an editor of the Law Review.

Tim Blake Nelson

Tim Blake Nelson is an actor, writer, director, and producer who has appeared in over ninety films including O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Lincoln, Holes, Minority Report, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, and Old Henry. Nelson is also an accomplished playwright and director. His playwriting credits include Socrates, The Grey Zone, Eye of God, and the soon to be produced And Then We Were No More. He directed the films O, Leaves of Grass, The Grey Zone, Eye of God, and Anesthesia, the last four of which he also wrote. His first novel, City of Blows, was published in 2023 and was released in paperback in early 2024.

Originally from Tulsa, Oklahoma, Nelson is a long-time resident of the Upper West Side.

Kevin Bacon, Actor

Sean Baker, Screenwriter and Director

Bob Balaban, Actor, Author, Comedian, Director and Producer

Meira Blaustein, Co-Founder/Executive Director, Woodstock Film Festival

Russ Collins, CEO & Executive Director, Michigan Theater Foundation

Chapin Cutler, Principal & Co-Founder, Boston Light & Sound

Griffin Dunne, Actor, Producer

Geoffrey Fletcher, Screenwriter

Richard Guay, Producer

Leslie Harris, Director

Mark Harris, Journalist and Author

Mary Harron, Director

Ethan Hawke, Actor, Director

Frédérique Henriot, Director of Sales & Marketing, The Altman Building

Lesli Klainberg, Former President, Film at Lincoln Center

Doug Kleiman, RIPCO Real Estate

Rose Kuo, Film Festival Consultant and Strategist

Tony Kushner, Author, Playwright and Screenwriter

Tim League, CEO, Alamo Drafthouse Theaters

Liz Manne, Marketing & Branding Strategist

Yael Melamede, Documentary Filmmaker & Architect

Ross Melnick, Author, Professor, Movie Theater Historian & Founder of Cinema Treasures

Frances McDormand, Actor

Henry McGee, President Emeritus, Film at Lincoln Center

Richard Pena, Director Emeritus, New York Film Festival

Paul Richardson, Former CEO, Landmark Theaters/Sundance Cinemas

Amy Robinson, Producer

Ira Sachs, Director

Josh Sapan, Media Executive

Nancy Savoca, Director

Martin Scorsese, Director

Kyra Sedgwick, Actor

Jonathan Sehring, Former President, IFC Entertainment

Josh Siegel, Curator, Museum of Modern Art

John Toner, Founding Director, Renew Theaters, Philadelphia

John Turturro, Actor, Director

Barbara Twist, Executive Director, Film Festival Alliance

Anthony Weintraub, Screenwriter, Producer, and Director

Isaac Zablocki, ReelAbilities Film Festival, Carole Zabar Center for Film

Fareed Zakaria, Journalist

• Opened in 1933 as The Midtown Theater

• 1970’s – The Midtown becomes a porn house

• 1982 – Dan Talbot purchases the theater and renames it The Metro as a dedicated art house

• 1986 – Clearview Cinemas takes over and twins the theater

• 1989 – Façade and marquee are landmarked

• 2004 – Embassy Cinemas reopens the Metro Twin as an arthouse

• 2005 – Theater padlocked, and entire interior is demolished

• 2025 – Upper West Side Cinema Center completes the purchase of the theater, with plans to restore its landmarked façade and build a five-screen arthouse cinema within

Read about the history of the Metro Theater at the following web sites:

The Metro (Midtown) Theatre | by Tom Miller, Landmark West

Wikipedia Page

Cinema Treasures

HELP US Preserve and Transform the former Metro Theater into a
state-of-the-art, five-screen independent film and education center!

Having successfully secured the Metro Theater property—a triumph made possible by the extraordinary generosity of neighbors, film enthusiasts, and civic leaders— we are now embarked on a $20 million capital campaign. 

The funds we raise now, the partnerships we build today, and the community we gather around this vision will determine how the UWS Cinema Center becomes the vibrant cultural center we all envision. 

We invite you to be part of this narrative at its most crucial chapter. Your contribution directly impacts our ability to move from property ownership to grand opening. Together, we can transform the Upper West Side Cinema Center from vision to reality, creating a cultural beacon that will illuminate our neighborhood for generations to come.

All donations are 100% tax deductible.

OTHER WAYS TO GIVE

The Upper West Side Cinema Center, Inc. is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) corporation. Contributions are 100% tax deductible. 

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