Ithaca College (IC) film major and sophomore, Rufus Mullhaupt has loved watching and creating films ever since he was little. When he came to Ithaca, he gravitated towards Cinemapolis. 

 

“I love the art-house vibe, it reminds me of the Jacob Burns Film Center from back home,” he said. 

 

Cinemapolis, a movie theater on Green Street, is one of the several independent movie theaters in America trying to stay afloat in the midst of the pandemic. 

 

As comforting as Cinemapolis is for Rufus, he said he has not returned since the pandemic hit.

 

This is true for many other film-lovers. There have been few opportunities to return to the theaters. According to Cinematreasure.org, out of the 36,671 movie theaters in the country, only 6,961 are still in business and 5,695 of those are currently showing movies. 

 

Executive Director of Cinemapolis and IC Alum, Brett Bossard, recalled his initial thoughts from the shutdown in March of 2020. He said that new plans were being made every day and rules kept on changing until they shut down the movie theater. 

 

“We didn’t know what the fallout was going to be from this virus,” he said. “First we called for enhanced cleaning and the next thing we knew, we had to shut down.”

 

Since then, Bossard said he owes a huge debt of gratitude to the Ithaca community for keeping Cinemapolis open. He said that within 10 days of announcing their closure, Cinemapolis had about 100 people sign up for a membership, where members pay an annual donation in exchange for benefits. 

 

“It was really humbling to see that we had people who were willing to give a donation and who wanted us to be around once this all passed,” he added. “They knew they weren’t going to use their memberships for a while and they still signed up.” 

 

Bossard’s goal is to give locals the movie theater experience they’ve been missing for a year. One of the ways he plans to do this is through the “movie party” experience. Starting Mar. 12, people can rent out one of the movie rooms and invite up to 15 people to watch their favorite film. All they need to bring is the film of their choice. 

 

Bossard hopes that this will attract many movie-lovers, especially college students who haven’t had that movie theater experience since before the pandemic. Joseph Guidi, a local and an IC freshman said he misses going to the movies. 

 

“I miss enjoying everyone’s company in the theater,” he said. “My favorite part was reacting to the movie with the rest of the audience.”

 

Although this week is the first time Cinemapolis is offering the traditional in-person movie theater experience since the start of the pandemic, the movie theater has been offering virtual viewings, also called “Cinemapolis at Home”, for a few months. 

 

With “Cinemapolis at Home”, viewers can watch the films they would normally watch at Cinemapolis but through a video on-demand website and in the comfort of their own homes. “It was like coming home to Cinemapolis,” Bossard said.

 

Similar to “Cinemapolis at Home”, the Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival (FLEFF) will be all virtual this year. FLEFF, hosted by Cinemapolis and Ithaca College, will take place over a three-week span, rather than one weekend. This year, there are 21 films, one film shown each night from Mar. 22 to Apr. 11.

 

During a typical FLEFF event, there are three movies shown consecutively, but in between each film, there’s a small Q&A before the next one. However, Bossard said he liked the fact that there’s one movie per night because that gives viewers the opportunity to have a longer Q&A, since there’s no time crunch. 

 

“The virtual discussions give us a chance to be more deliberate and thoughtful and have a more in-depth engagement with the films,” he said.

 

Even though Bossard is satisfied with FLEFF and the virtual viewings, Bossard is anxiously waiting for Cinemapolis to open its doors again. He said that there would be an all staff meeting on Mar. 12, the day the movie parties started. This was the first time the entire staff would be in the same room since March of last year.

 

Despite his excitement to bring patrons back to a more traditional movie theater setting, Bossard said that he doesn’t see these different movie experiences going away anytime soon. 

 

“This is a tool that will stay in our toolbox for a while,” he said. “even after restrictions are lifted and we’re able to enjoy movies in a dark room together again, I think there will be some virtual components that linger permanently.”