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Dec 15, 2023

‘Not Just About the Seats’: Local Filmmakers Debate the Castro Theatre’s Fate

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As Pride month kicks off, San Francisco officials next week are set to debate one of the city's most divisive, controversial topics of the past year.

The deadly fentanyl epidemic? The dire fiscal situation? None of the above. In separate hearings, SF supervisors and planning commissioners will devote what could be several hours to the Castro Theatre's seats.

The Nasser family has owned the iconic building for a century, and as the Castro evolved into perhaps the world's most famous LGBTQ+ neighborhood, the theater served as the community's heart.

After COVID closure, the Nassers hired Berkeley's Another Planet Entertainment to renovate and operate the theater. Much of the renovation is sorely needed — new heating and cooling, a state-of-the-art screen and sound system, better access for disabled patrons, and yes, new seats.

There's the rub. APE wants to install motorized tiers and removable seats up front and create standing-room flexibility for live shows, which the Nassers and APE say are essential in an age where streaming has crushed the movie business. Live shows are APE's specialty: the firm runs the Outside Lands festival and Oakland's Fox Theater, another grand-palace renovation.

Opponents say without fixed seats the Castro experience will be destroyed. A proposal to landmark not just the exterior but the interior — and the seats, therefore quashing APE's plan — is now before the supervisors.

The fight isn't just about seats, however. It's also about deep societal shifts, public control over private property, and community pressure.

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The Frisc gathered three people from the local film scene to hear their personal perspectives. They’ve had their own work shown at the Castro — "In some ways, I made it to be screened there," says Lauretta Molitor of her documentary Impresario — they’ve attended festivals and funerals and watched countless films there.

Maria De La O is a writer, editor, and producer of The Promised Band, about a fake band in the Middle East, and Last Call for Alcohol, a documentary short about the closing of SF's Lucky 13 neighborhood bar.

Lauretta Molitor directed Impresario, which premiered at the Castro last year at Frameline, the oldest and largest LGBTQ+ film fest in the world. Molitor has done sound recording for many films including The Celluloid Closet and this year's The Secret Song, showing at SF DocFest at the Roxie Theater Friday June 2.

Ian Reinhard has been executive producer on SF films including Batkid Begins, which documents the city's response to a little boy's Make-a-Wish request, 24 Hours on Craigslist, Pushing Dead, and Test. He is currently working on an animated short.

Alex Lash is the editor-in-chief of The Frisc.

This conversation has been edited and condensed.

Alex Lash: Let's start with a fun question. What is one of your most memorable Castro Theatre experiences?

Ian Reinhard: I had a film play there, Test, about when the first AIDS test became publicly available and people were wondering, "Do I take the test? Will the government then have a list of who has AIDS?" It was during the Pride Parade [at Frameline]. That was really exciting, because I got a film on the marquee with a million people walking past it.

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Also, I once saw a Grease sing-along there. I hadn't seen that movie since I was a kid, and I really didn't understand just how completely vulgar it was.

Lauretta Molitor: It is very hard to decide, because over the decades I’ve worked on several films that premiered there. Every Frameline opening night was like Christmas and New Year's and every holiday wrapped up for me. My own film premiered there last year. The Castro features heavily in my film. In some ways, I made it to be screened there. So that was a big night.

I’ve also been to memorials there, which were very poignant and moving, and many raucous, joyous times as well.

Maria De La O: Probably my most memorable screening was during the pandemic, when things seemed to be quieting down a bit. I took my then 8-year-old to the premiere of Sing 2. She had had her COVID vaccinations, and I had proof, but the person at the door noticed it hadn't been two weeks since her last vaccine. So we ran across the street to Walgreens, stood on the street, and gave her a COVID test. We didn't miss much.

Alex: APE has promised programming will be at least 33 percent film and 25 percent LGBTQ+. The Castro Theatre Conservancy, the nonprofit that wants to take over programming, has its own estimates of activity every day, with 200 days of films not including festivals. The disagreement is around the percentages, and of course around the seats.

I’m curious, have you ever watched movies in a theater with removable seats? Is it a problem?

Ian: I haven't been to the Castro in quite some time, but I can't imagine they’d be worse. I’m not trying to be sarcastic, but they’re pretty uncomfortable. Everybody seems to agree the seats need to be changed.

Lauretta: I don't know if people have agreed they need to be changed. There are some aspects, like the ADA seating, sure, but other than that, no. I’ve seen proposals where the seats basically look like hotel conference room chairs. [Note: A video showing the plan is here.]

Ian: They need to fix the cushions at a minimum.

Lauretta: Obviously, it's not just about the seats. Movie theaters have always been a tough business, the market forces have always been pressing. Remember how many single-screen theaters we lost in the big chop-up of the 1970s and early ’80s? The rarity of a big single-screen theater is something that needs protection from the markets.

Ian: I agree that it's a beautiful movie house. I don't actually think it's about the seats at all. The business has gotten much worse, starting with video releases, and then home theaters. I hate talking about market pressures, but the reality is if the Castro doesn't change, it could go away. And that would be a real tragedy.

The San Francisco Symphony now shows several movies a year. Because I’m a snob, I hate that. Somebody took me to see Batman — the Michael Keaton one. This is one of the finest symphonies in the world, and having them play Danny Elfman music is way too much gun. But the symphony makes money and brings in people who would never go to the symphony.

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Alex: Sup. Aaron Peskin recently said it can't be that expensive to run a movie theater. Short of the Nassers selling — and they’ve owned it for 100 years — what can be done?

Maria: If CTC is going to really program 365 days of the year, then there needs to be a lot of creativity. I mean, there's creativity now. But there could be more concerts like Morrissey, live events, Peaches Christ, the indie movies I grew up with at the Ken Theatre in San Diego, for example, The Man Who Fell to Earth, Blue Velvet, Eraserhead, Stop Making Sense. I think people would still be interested in those. I’d like to see more talks with notable people like the Commonwealth Club or City Arts & Lectures programs.

Lauretta: The "adapt or die" premise, I think, is false. I know that the Roxie Theater [operated as a nonprofit] is actually doing much better than people imagine. Something like 70 to 80 percent of their profits are earned income, and they have hefty rent to pay. I think for the Nassers the nonprofit model is less attractive than a lucrative model of what APE probably presented to them.

Maria: I think comparing the Roxie to the Castro is not really fair. There are two little theaters in the Roxie [that seat 349 people]. The Castro seats upwards of 1,400 people.

Lauretta: The cinematic experience is [only] part of what gets people to the theater. Meeting filmmakers, a unique audience, a unique setting, those [also] get people there. And the programming can be done smartly to do that, it's just a matter of how "successful" success needs to be.

Alex: One of the disagreements between Another Planet and the conservancy is how many active days there would be. Let's assume APE does what's in their community benefits package, which would promise programming approximately 175 days of the year. The conservancy says it can program something every single day.

Who would foot the bill for the staff and the HVAC, running the lights every single day, but maybe 10 people show up on a random Wednesday in March? Do you go to someone like David Geffen?

Ian: Or Robert Redford? Remember, Redford owned the Sundance Theatres forever, which he sold to AMC after a while. Is anybody familiar with the Stanford Theatre? It was falling apart. David Packard [of Hewlett-Packard] decided to restore it and program it, an impossibly wealthy individual who took this as his pet project, because he fell in love with films and film preservation. It's an incredible theater with all kinds of amazing films.

Lauretta: The other part that I think gets lost is the value as a community hub. I live in Oakland but go to the city to see people, to see my friends. The access and the price of tickets is what makes it a community space. APE can program some LGBTQ events, but that checks a box. It doesn't mean we can afford it. If they program a film and they’re charging $25, it's not surprising if sales are not robust.

[Note: The conservancy says it wants to charge $15 for film screenings. APE has said a nonprofit partner would help offset film festival costs and more details are forthcoming.]

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Maria: What do you think about Frameline coming out in favor of APE?

Lauretta: A couple of festivals have already stepped away from the Castro — Berlin & Beyond and Noir City. As for Frameline, whose leadership has come out in favor of the APE plan, many members are stridently against APE. The people I know who run festivals don't have certainty about future costs. APE has a history of making promises, and has spent massive amounts of money in publicity for its plan.

Maria: Couldn't some of these questions about transparency be settled by a strong contract?

Lauretta: Theoretically. They’re in the music and event business. The capacity for the community to rent the theater should be part of the package. If they could provide reasonably priced access to the community for other events and shows, for things like Peaches Christ and other programming, I think nobody would have a problem with APE.

Alex: What if APE promises 300 days of programming, or whatever, puts a number out there and a price ceiling on certain events. And then also says we get to change the seats. Would you go for that compromise?

Lauretta: As a movie palace, it would be pretty devastating. It has survived all these pressures for all these decades, to see it ripped out feels like chopping down the redwoods to make toothpicks.

I think a large part of their business plan probably has to do with alcohol. [They] don't want people to have to go through the aisle to get another drink.

It's a sacred place. I have gone to memorials there. [Film historian] Vito Russo's ashes are in there. It's not just another venue, and the fact we would like it to remain a sacred place is cultural. APE's lack of cultural competency is very poor.

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Alex: The city's facing a massive budget deficit. The list of needs is very long. If the supervisors block APE's changes with a landmark vote, should the city subsidize the theater with $10 million or whatever, name your price, to keep the theater running, even if it's a loss leader?

Ian: Yes.

Lauretta: That's quite a number. It's not that much. I would imagine the management would be a public-private partnership, folks who knew what they were doing for programming.

Maria: I’d like more transparency from the Nassers on how much money it would take for them to be satisfied with the profits. Considering that, even with non-moving seats, they could make a huge profit from beer and wine, if not alcohol. There are plans afoot to approve "nighttime entertainment" uses in theater. If they got those liquor licenses, whether it's a nonprofit or APE or the city, they’re going to be in the black. So why wouldn't the city want to do it? It's not going to be a loss. Do you guys have any thoughts on that?

Ian: Theaters make most of their money off the concessions.

Lauretta: You know, Supervisor Mandelman is in a very difficult position. It's his district. He has future political aspirations.

Ian: Right now he's got a responsibility to the neighborhood. And he's kind of screwed, because either way, there's going to be a massive backlash.

Lauretta: So he put something forward and now he wants to pull it back. But I’d like to think he can rise to the occasion.

Alex: And with that, I thank all of you for a great and civil discussion. I’m sure we’ll all tune in Tuesday.

Correction 6/2/23: Due to an editing error, a previous version attributed Ian's statement that "the seats need to be changed" to Lauretta. We apologize for the error.

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