Where're the art house theaters?

10 Comments

Comment by Rudolfo Carrillo on March 1, 2008 at 4:37pm

The history of "art house theaters" in Albuquerque is a long and sordid one, I'm afraid. Sigh.

Comment by Josh on March 1, 2008 at 7:42pm

i dunno about 'art house', but the high ridge 8 is nice because they get all of the limited release movies (for example they're showing city of men right now) and you don't have to go downtown.

Comment by chukpark on March 1, 2008 at 7:50pm

Theaters devoted to smaller films ranked in order according to the percentage of screen space devoted to such films: The Guild, High Ridge 8, Century Dowtown/UNM (tie).

Of course that's my subjective ranking.

Comment by chukpark on March 1, 2008 at 7:59pm

Well, I don't mean to make it sound better than it is. Century Downtown can usually be counted on to devote 1-2 of their 14 screens to non-blockbusters (or blockbuster wannabes), and UNM has one screen that sometimes shows an interesting movie or sometimes just shows a third-run, third-rate flick. High Ridge does a good job, but they're way up in the Heights. Good freeway access, though.

Comment by Aunt Money on March 1, 2008 at 11:17pm

There are two separate entities that have movies at the UNM SUB theater. The mainstream ones are listed at:
http://movies.unm.edu/. Then the Southwest Film Center offerings are listed here: http://swfc.unm.edu/.

I miss Madstone :(

Comment by Drexler McStyles on March 2, 2008 at 9:33am

I wonder why the Hiland Theatre isnt turned into, or operated as an art house theatre. It would be nice to see it function as something other than a rotting unused building...The Guild has had some pretty good stuff since we've been here, going there today actually...

Comment by The Grand Panjandrum on March 2, 2008 at 11:01am

Cinematheque at the CCA in Santa Fe is pretty good.

Comment by SweetCaroline on March 2, 2008 at 12:21pm

Miss the Madstone! In the meantime, I go to the High Ridge.

Comment by Phil_0 on March 2, 2008 at 8:25pm

This would be a good eventual use for the Hiland, if the city ever manages to get it renovated and operation again.... (The Lobo could have been an awesome arthouse too, if it had ever been run by people who actually knew and loved movies instead of folks who thought they'd somehow get rich quick by running an independent movie theater. I have this recurring fantasy where the City on a Hill church gets big and buys its own building, leaving the Lobo for filmlovers like the guys who run the Guild to take over and return to its rightful cinematic prominence...)

Comment by ayax on March 3, 2008 at 10:30am

Drex: this is a post from Neal Copperman (a while back) about the Hiland Theater:

"The Hiland is closed. It was bought a few years ago by Bernalillo County. The money that was set aside to renovate it has all been spent, so they are back to fundraising or waiting. It is my understanding that they renovated some of the side areas to be used as rehearsal space, but that the main theater is currently unusable. I think they put a new roof on to prevent any further damage, but were not able to start in on the major overhaul that it needs."

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