Cinephiles Rejoice: Saratoga Film Forum Returns Next Month

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Saratoga Film Forum is being revived and will return to Saratoga Arts on April 9.

This means that for the first time since the early days of the pandemic, locals will be able to munch popcorn and gaze at independent films here in the Spa City. They’ll do it inside a newly-renovated theater replete with an updated projector and sound system. They might even, to paraphrase Nicole Kidman’s famous AMC ad, witness dazzling images on a silver screen with sound they can feel.

Every Thursday night for at least 12 weeks, an independent film will be screened inside Saratoga Arts’ 110-seat theater. One of the first films will be A24’s “Sorry, Baby,” the Sundance-premiering, Golden Globe-nominated tale of a reclusive college professor that was helmed by, written by, and stars Eva Victor.

“I heard stories about the [Saratoga Film Forum] and people were kind of clamoring for it,” said Spencer Sherry, who works at Saratoga Arts, runs the Saratoga Film Showcase, and presides over the 518 Film Network. “Ever since working [at Saratoga Arts], I’d get questions about it all the time, then decided to figure out how to get it back up and running with a structure that works and makes sense.”

The first iteration of the Saratoga Film Forum began in 1993, when an alliance of Saratogians decided their hometown needed a theater that would screen harder-to-find indie flicks not already viewable at multiplexes. Today, with Hollywood forever altered by the rise of streaming services, enticing moviegoers to actually leave their homes can be a tall order. But the success of the recent Saratoga Film Showcase (also held at Saratoga Arts) proved there’s an appetite for both independent films and locally produced work. 

One unique way the revamped Film Forum will hope to sell tickets is by collaborating with Joseph Masher, the CEO of Scene One Entertainment, which owns the movie theater inside the Wilton Mall. Sherry described Masher as a “friend” who has been “really, really good to the local film scene.” Scene One will be a promotional partner with the Film Forum, Sherry said. The two cinemas will advertise each other’s screenings, and at each Film Forum event, two free tickets to Scene One will be raffled off. The partnership works, in part, because the two theaters will screen different types of films.

“We both agree that we have kind of different audiences between the mall and downtown,” Sherry said. “So, if there’s any way that we can help each other get each other’s audiences to maybe favor Scene One over AMC, make that little extra trek and support someone local instead of a giant chain, then [I’d] just love to help any way I can.”

In addition to Sherry and Masher, some of the other local film fans working behind the scenes to resurrect the Forum include Amy Godine, who served on the Forum’s board from 1993 to 2016; Field Horne, an acting director/curator for the Saratoga County History Center; Amy Bloom, executive director of Saratoga Arts; and Susan Bokan, who made a sizeable donation.

“The support seemed to really be there, and we had a team of people that were saying, ‘We’ll form a programming committee. We will volunteer on the day. We’ll do the popcorn.’ So, it felt like we had enough support to give it a swing,” Sherry said.

With a team and theater in place, expect to see an array of narrative films, foreign flicks, documentaries, and perhaps locally made shorts. The Film Forum will also aim to book in-person appearances, from either people who worked on the films being screened, or from experts and academics who can speak about the topic of a documentary being screened.

Those interested in the Film Forum’s offerings can purchase a $100 membership pass that’ll be good for the first 12 films/weeks of programming. Individual tickets for each screening will be $10 apiece. For these tickets and future film announcements, keep an eye on the Saratoga Arts website and Facebook page.

“I think that this is a huge step in service of bringing back a film culture here, making this a really great place to live and to see independent stuff,” Sherry said.