I was the last Executive Director of the Alliance Cinema until 2000.
The Cinema had become a true community center bringing independent cinema fans from all over South Florida who would make the trip no matter what we were showing. We would ask them if they wanted to enjoy the local restaurants etc. and they would usually say, no, we want to see the film.
The Cinema also became a center for the GLBT community. In 1990, when the Cinema opened, it was the first cultural venue to offer any GLBT programming in the area. This was at least two decades behind New York, San Francisco, and Chicago, but it was a huge contribution to South Florida. The Alliance Cinema participated in many GLBT issues in its time and provided a central hub for information for newcomers to town.
When we closed in 2000, we also were running a film school called IFP which was a local chapter of the national organization IFP National, of which we were a founding member. This school had formerly been called the Alliance Film/Video Co-op.
When I left, we had about 150 filmmaker members, and had just completed the State of Florida Feature Film Competition in which a feature filmmaker won $25,000 in cash and over $100,000 in goods and services to make a feature film.
When I left, I turned over some treasures from the Alliance Cinema to Helen Kohen who was working on an Arts Archive through the Miami-Dade County Library System so that this much loved organization would live on in the history of the arts of Miami-Dade County.
Thanks for remembering.
I was the last Executive Director of the Alliance Cinema until 2000.
The Cinema had become a true community center bringing independent cinema fans from all over South Florida who would make the trip no matter what we were showing. We would ask them if they wanted to enjoy the local restaurants etc. and they would usually say, no, we want to see the film.
The Cinema also became a center for the GLBT community. In 1990, when the Cinema opened, it was the first cultural venue to offer any GLBT programming in the area. This was at least two decades behind New York, San Francisco, and Chicago, but it was a huge contribution to South Florida. The Alliance Cinema participated in many GLBT issues in its time and provided a central hub for information for newcomers to town.
When we closed in 2000, we also were running a film school called IFP which was a local chapter of the national organization IFP National, of which we were a founding member. This school had formerly been called the Alliance Film/Video Co-op.
When I left, we had about 150 filmmaker members, and had just completed the State of Florida Feature Film Competition in which a feature filmmaker won $25,000 in cash and over $100,000 in goods and services to make a feature film.
When I left, I turned over some treasures from the Alliance Cinema to Helen Kohen who was working on an Arts Archive through the Miami-Dade County Library System so that this much loved organization would live on in the history of the arts of Miami-Dade County.
Thank you for this opportunity,
Joanne Butcher