#chambana

Twin-City Ice & Cold Storage Co. , Urbana, IL. August 2024.

I moved to Champaign Urbana in summer 2011 from a small town with only one movie theater - a Carmike Cinemas. The only independent films I knew about were the ones I saw at home thanks to my parent's expansive (and expensive) cable bill. And to be honest, I didn't really know what I was watching at times were considered indies. But when I went to a late night screening for $5 at the Art, I knew Quentin Dupieux's Rubber was a different kind of film. And the Art Theater was a different kind of place and movie watching experience. I've been caring about the Art ever since. 

The Art Theater is where I saw a film that made me cry (Spike Lee's Malcolm X). I saw a film that made me cry twice (Barry Jenkins's Moonlight). I went on a first date (Andre Lambertson and Richard Barber's The Whole Gritty City). I saw the blackest movie ever (Julie Dash's Daughters of the Dust). I witnessed the Art packed to the brim twice: once for an exclusive early free screening of Jordan Peele's Get Out as well as a free screening of Howard Alk's The Murder of Fred Hampton. I saw gorgeous films in languages that I didn't understand (Chang-dong Lee's Burning, Isidora Marras's No Soy Lorena, Wanuri Kahiu's Rafiki, Satyajit Ray's Pather Panchali). At the Art, I've seen films that I didn't understand even in English (again Rubber). I've introduced a film at the Art (Gordon Park's The Learning Tree) and was a member in its final year of operation. I continued to patron the Art even after my wife and I were treated disrespectfully by the staff. The Art is where I grew up and it's greatly contributed to my love for film and cinematography. 

Nostalgia aside, the Art Theater was also an incredibly volatile and aesthetically disgusting place to watch films. The Art Theater changed business models, from a traditional model to a co-op to a nonprofit all in efforts to survive. The theater switched from reels to digital almost forcibly by the film industry. Let's not forget that the Art was a single screen theater which made licensing quite challenging and expensive. The only way the theater could have "profited" is if all the seats were filled because of tickets purchased and concessions bought - the latter more than the former. Without that daily combination, the Art Theater had little to no chance of surviving in the digital streaming era. The AFF executive director and theater staff were likely underpaid. 

About that building... The heat didn't always work, and when it did, it was louder than the movie we came to watch. The sound system wasn't great. The seats weren't always functioning. And the bathrooms were not nice and lacked an air of cleanliness. Have you looked at the inside of that building with the lights on? Yuck! Who knows when that building was last painted (inside or out), professionally cleaned, remodeled, or fixed? Those are some things an owner who actually cares about the building should probably address. No amount of donations could fix all of these competing and persistent issues. 

The Art Theater, last located at 126 W Church St, Champaign, IL 61820, was taken off of life support on October 31, 2019. It was survived by citizens of East and Central Illinois. It was one of the last remnants of indie theater in the Midwest. There's no need to blame any one about its failure. Also, there's no need to pretend we (but especially you) were devoutly invested in its success.

The spirit of the Art Theater will always be here in this atmosphere.