Mission
Founded in 2022, Mezzanine is a 501(c)3 organization building an audience for contemporary art cinema in Los Angeles, and providing a dynamic and inclusive space for great cinema to thrive. Ranging from revival screenings to new film premieres, Mezzanine’s programs are frequently done in collaboration with local artists, writers, curators and other luminaries from specific disciplines. Building on Los Angeles’ history of alternative cinema spaces, we seek to make hidden gems accessible and legible; provide a platform for vital emerging film artists; and develop a younger and more diverse audience for art cinema in the city.
Vision
Independent cinema in Los Angeles is currently experiencing a crisis of distribution and exhibition. Many independent movie theaters and film festivals have shuttered. When new films and restorations are lucky to secure a theatrical release, they open at independent theater chains or commercial cinemas with little press or fanfare; or are placed on streaming platforms, eclipsed by studio content with multi million dollar marketing campaigns. With no alternative press covering local cinematic events, and limited social media campaigns, it can be difficult for audiences to discover these films; as such, contemporary art films have an increasingly limited shelf life.
Inspired by the ciné-club model native to France and building on Los Angeles’s history of alternative film spaces, Mezzanine is answering a need for creative marketing and renewed audience engagement around independent and art cinema. Since 2022, we have designed and implemented carefully curated events that seek to build bridges between the world of independent film with contemporary art and literature, inviting guest curators and speakers across the spectrum of artistic achievement. By emphasizing the nature of cinema as a hybrid of different art forms, we have cultivated a young and diverse audience hungry for cinematic discovery.
We commission original essays by emerging and established writers that provide context for specific films, published in risograph zines and ephemera, so as to make our programming legible and tactile. We activate spaces across the city including 2220 Arts + Archives, Brain Dead Studios and elsewhere, attracting audiences with dedicated poster graphics and campaigns.
Above all, Mezzanine aims to sustain the art of curated theatrical film programming in a landscape of algorithmic monocultures, and provide resources for vital independent film art to be seen.
Artistic Director
Micah Gottlieb
Board of Directors
Sarah Winshall
Adam Piron
Dylan Redford
Abby Sun
Program Assistant
Becca Rieckmann
Graphic Designer
Bobby Sheppard
Publication Editors
Julie Niemi
Bennett Westling
Volunteers
Elenie Chung
Carly Hildebrant
Brian L. Frye
Nastasia Koulich
Pauline Kraaz
Ryan Leonard
Elspeth Wing
Seokyoung Yang
Logo
Kimberly Baldo
For ticket information, please visit our individual screening pages.
For general inquiries, please email: info@mezzaninefilm.com
Follow us on social media at: @mezzaninefilm
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