All language subtitles for The.Projectionist.2019.1080p.BluRay.x264.AAC5.1-[YTS.MX]

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(traffic humming)

Then watching the movies there,

it gave me a sense of direction,

what I liked.

I like watching good movies,

and seeing

that life could be many things.

It allowed me to think of

and dream of

what I might be able to do.

I wasn't sure
if I could do it, but

I was already figuring out

that this is something
that I would like to do

and work in this kind
of environment in the movies.

(soft piano music)

Yeah, I was born in Cyprus,

small island in
Eastern Mediterranean Sea.

These villages, maybe there
was 40, 45 people living here.

It was a very simple town.

People lived very simple.

Fishing, some had a few goats.

It was a carefree period
in Cyprus.

Money wasn't the end goal.

It was just surviving,

raising your big family.

My grandfather, my grandmother
had nine kids.

My father was the oldest one.

Life was easy-going.

Playing soccer in the street,
going to school.

This was a mixed village.

We lived together with a lot of
love with our Turkish Cypriots

and the Greek Cypriots
as laborers in France

and this is their mosque

and this is our church,

coexisting together.

So living in a mixed village
like this,

it was maybe a good basis
that I had to coexist

with different people.

So I had no problem
with adjusting in New York.

So basically,
in our Cypress tradition,

the father of the bride usually,

even if they're very poor,

even if it's just one house,

you'll split it
into two smaller houses

to give the daughter because
the mother is very important

in our tradition,

it's the mother
that takes care of

going to the next generation.

In those years,
my mother didn't have a father.

She was an orphan,

so they didn't have
a lot of money.

So my grandmother bought
the cheapest piece of land,

which was always away
from the center of town

where the church is
and the mosque.

So she bought it all the way
up here because in those years,

there was no houses up here,

to build the little couple
of rooms for the daughters.

And my father,

I remember he always was cursing

for having to climb this.

- To go up.
- I don't blame him.

It must be hot as fucking hell
in the summertime.

(speaking foreign language)

So he finally had enough
and moved to the city.

So this was our house
in the village.

(speaking foreign language)

This is a typical Cyprus
outdoor oven.

Everything seems so smooth now.

I remember we had
a wedding here,

believe it or not,
in this small area.

Cooking in the outdoor oven,

it was our favorite pastime,

you know, when meat was meat.

(knocking)

Nobody's home though.

(uplifting music)

So at about 12, 13 years old,

I had to drop out of school

and go with the boat,
fishing every day.

That's the way they used
to make a living those days.

So if he brings fish,

my grandfather would sell it
to the nearby towns.

We'd all make money.

If he didn't bring fish,

sometimes he told me he would go

without eating to punish him.

So he always brought fish.

In those days
it was just my father

with a small boat like this.

Fish wasn't so popular
those days.

The rich people ate meat.

Now it's reverse.

Fish is the way to go.

See this, this stays on top.

Many times when you come back
after fishing,

you have to repair all this.

It was hard work.

It wasn't easy work
in those years,

you couldn't sell fish.

People wouldn't pay for fish.

That's why my father
and my mother moved to Limassol.

So he worked at the port,
at the sea port.

(speaking foreign language)

We moved to Limassol afterwards.

This is like a 25-minute ride,
but it's a bigger city.

It's a big city.

When I say big city, then it was
maybe 50,000, 60,000 people.

Now it's probably double.

This place remains
the old part of Limassol,

got the movie theater here,

and the little shops,
restaurants around the area,

and this is where everybody
gathered to celebrate anything.

(car motor humming)

I don't remember what I saw,
maybe I was five, six years.

Five years old.

Yeah, those days
you saved five caps.

Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola
was sold in bottles.

You get free admission
to the movie.

So that's how we came
to see our first movies here.

(voice echoing)

This is our cinema
where everybody came,

especially on weekends.

Now it's used as
a multifunction theater

for not only movies,
but singers and culture,

like a cultural center.

You see,
they've done a beautiful job

to bring it back
to how it was years ago

and we are very grateful
to whoever did this

because as you know,
sometimes modern,

when you modernize,
you destroy a lot of history.

"Moving Target," ” Paul Newman.

Let's see if we find
any good movies.

Yeah, there is some,
there we go.

Some Double-O Seven action
right over there.

James Bond, James Bond,
what year is this?

- '66, '67.
- Oh, you know who's in this?

- Who's this?
- Giancarlo Giannini.

"Seven Beauties"”
and "Swept Away."

Yeah, "Swept Away."

Charles Bronson.

This is the money-maker
right there.

- Who's this?
- Yeah.

Now the black exploitation
movies, they got them all going,

come on, this is the history
of the cinema here.

Yeah, this is history of cinema.

And then going to New York,

was this like a family decision
or your mother wanted to do it?

My father's sister
was there for many years

and she mentioned it to us.

If you had a brother
or a sister,

you could legally come
to the United States.

So we saw it as an opportunity

to move from Cyprus to New York.

Honestly, I was super excited,

super excited inside of me.

I said, "This is great."

You know,
I want to go to New York.

Not that I knew
what New York was like,

but there was excitement
for me to go.

Guys, take your coffee.

So I was a teenager,

12 years old going
from Limassol,

a small town, to New York.

This good friend of mine,
she told me

it wasn't the best thing
that happened to you as a kid

because you've grown up,

your hormones are changing,

your place of surroundings
and all that.

But despite all that,

despite all that, I managed
and I love New York

and I feel grateful

for being able to do
whatever I accomplished,

whatever little I accomplished,

it gives me great satisfaction.

And I could not do it here.

Only in a place like New York.

So here's to New York.

(speaking foreign language)

(energetic music)

Basically we went from here
to Heathrow

and Heathrow to JFK.

It was me, my mother,
and my sister,

because my brother and my father
went there a few months earlier.

That was in 1970 and there's
an escalator and we said,

"What the hell is that?"

And my mother refused
to take the escalator,

so we had to go
through the steps,

because we didn't know
what it was.

The escalator in the airport.

I come to New York,
I basically...

All I knew how to say is,

this is a cat.

My name is Nicolas,
that's about it.

But very quickly, because
I went to regular public school,

I learned very quickly.

In six months
I was doing really good

and really doing good
in school too.

And then I went
to junior high school.

I was a good student,

but then junior high school,
I really wanted to get a job.

(train rumbling)

From Astoria this was
the first stop with the train.

So I came in this area
looking for a job.

Across the street
from Bloomingdale's.

This is where it was happening.

Third Avenue and 59th street,

Baronet & Coronet Cinema
1,2, & 3.

The greatest movies played here.

If you had any great movie,
it opened up here.

These theaters opened in the
early sixties, like '61, '62,

and then everybody
in this business

started building around it to
capture some of this business.

I mean, the lines were
all over around the corners.

It was unbelievable here.

Baronet & Coronet came down a
long time ago in this building.

- The Baronet was right here.
- It was right here, bro,

- I'm telling you.
- Right here.

Cinema 1,2, &3

is the only one
that's still around.

- You know what Peekskill is?
- No.

We'd come down,
get fucking lost.

Park our car, get all
this shit ripped off.

Come here.

Stand in line for an hour.

My favorite biggest movie
we saw here was "Putney Swope."

- Do you know "Putney Swope"?
- No.

You know the movie, right?

It's a big super-duper star's
father, Robert Downey.

Then we saw one of the actors
on the street.

For guys from PeekskKill,
that was a big, big, big movie.

You were voted in here
on a jive hummer.

Now how, when are things
gonna happen, man?

Your whole cart has been peeped.

When are things
gonna start to change?

Where is the revolution
you were talking about?

There ain't nothing happening.

There is no revolution, the way
you're running this joint, man.

Now when is something
gonna happen?

When you gonna do it?
When and how?

What day?

Give me a time, man.

Show me how progress
is gonna be made.

There ain't no progress
the way this is running now.

This is Sonny Williams.

What do you got to say
for yourself, Sonny?

Don't feel bad.

Now there's a man
who is doing something.

That is a revolution, man.

Don't you understand?

When are you gonna start?

When are you gonna do something?

So RKO Warner built two theaters
here in late sixties.

Two 400-seat theaters.

And I went there
and I told them I was a 17.

They gave me a job and I started
working there in these theaters.

Right here was the entry
to one theater

and the entry
to the other theater.

And this was the box office,
right here where this wall is.

It was the box office.

You buy your ticket,
you go to twin one or twin two.

(guitar music)

I worked there as a doorman,
an usher, a concession.

I used to change the marquee
for extra money.

In that RKO 59th Street,

I used to even clean
the theater after closing

because that gave you
an extra salary

and I was able to get to school
by eight in the morning,

sometimes late but I got there.

I worked around full time,

I think it was $2.00 an hour,
1972, '73,

but over there I worked
like a manager almost.

Not the manager,
but a night manager.

It was easy work,
I mean, you just sit there.

You could read, people go
through a turnstile.

You didn't really
have to do too much.

(laughter)

We showed 35 millimeter.

We used to show repertory films
for a decade

where we played all the movies,

change every couple of days.

Like "Last Tango in Paris"
and Pasolini, all the movies.

I knew watching the movies,
I was a very quiet kid.

Watching the movies that,
this is magic.

It just hit me inside my soul
that this is really terrific.

And I started dreaming
in my head, making my own movie,

and I was calculating too,
because I was a little bit

of a businessman,
how much money do I need

to open up a place like this?

So I had to make
some quick money.

So across the street
was an upscale adult film.

In the '70s this was pretty big,
and the early '80s.

It was called the Lido East.

It was the east side
to the Pussycat Theater.

So this glass building
right here

was the famous
Lido East Theater.

It played day and date with the
Pussycat Theater on Broadway.

- Which building?
- This was the Lido East.

So I worked here
for about a year.

I doubled my salary
from RKO Warner.

(dramatic music)

So I went over there
and asked him for a job

and I worked there
for about a year

to make some quick money.

(dramatic music)

And then I said, okay,
I had enough of this,

I made some money.

And there was another theater
on 59th Street

called the D.W. Griffith.

So I got a job over there
working as a manager.

(upbeat music)

And it ends up that these people
that own the Griffith

also own the 59th Street

and a bunch of other
family theaters,

but also adult theaters
because those years,

adult was very big.

My boss was Chelly Wilson.

She was a woman
that came from Greece.

When the Nazis came in Greece,
she's Jewish,

she left Greece
and came to New York

and she opened up
the first adult theaters

where the girls
were playing volleyball

and their tits
bouncing up and down,

and she started all these adult
movie theaters in New York.

(lively music)

She had the Eros, the Venus,
the Cameo, the Adonis.

She was a tough woman and
she worked with other people

like the guys from the Pussycat.

They cooperated together.

Actually this whole building
is Richard Basciano.

Richard Basciano was
the biggest guy on Times Square.

He died a few months ago.

This whole building
is worth a lot of money.

She had all these adult
actresses have live performance.

It was the multiplex
of those days.

So all these people
worked together.

It's the same woman and a Greek
man and another Jewish lady

that lived on the East Side.

Very old people.

Lee Pomeranz was one
that lived on the East Side.

Chelly Wilson and Nick Justin.

Wilson used to live
right upstairs

from a gay porno theater.

With their home office
right there

across the street
where the bar is.

So that was three
adult theaters there.

The Venus, the Eros,
and the Capri.

Upstairs was
Chelly Wilson's house.

The Eros was right there
where that Cafe Expresso is

and next to it was the Venus.

(intense music)

Nick Justin, the Greek guy

because she was more into
the art film and the art scene.

Besides being a partner
in the adult business,

he had a fancy office
at 1501 Broadway,

you know, in Times Square
where the ball comes down.

The old Paramount Theater.

I worked out
of that office basically.

About a year after working
as a manager,

their general manager
that run about a dozen theaters,

left with a girl,

a younger girl.

Left his wife and kids.

Left the job and they had nobody
to go around to the theaters.

So somebody called me up
and they said,

"Nick, can you cover Ted
while he's away

until we see what happens?”

So they gave me his car
and I started going around

to the theaters.

At the time I was even
going to Hunter College,

but I got so interested
in the operations

and Ted never came back

and I ended up being
a general manager

for about a dozen theaters.

Half of them were art theaters

and half of them
were adult theaters.

The adult theaters
were doing good cash money.

That was cash, cash.

(dramatic music)

- You got to be kidding.
- What?

- This is a dirty movie.
- No, no.

This is a movie that a lot
of couples come to.

All kinds of couples go here.

- You sure about that?
- Yeah.

Yeah, I see them all the time.

Come on.

(speaking foreign language)

(shushing)

The cost, those years,
was so much less

to do business in New York.

Those were the times
when people just, I mean,

we saw like sold-out shows
for porno movies,

and the film repertory we used
to sell out in this theater,

The Cinema Village,
every single seat.

I mean, people would line up
to see all those.

"Last Tango in Paris" and all
these other movies, art movies.

After a year of doing this
with college,

I had to drop out of college

because it was too much
time consuming to do both.

But I... this business
just took me over.

(piano music)

There was a big education
for me to go around

to all these theaters,
watch these people,

how they operate their business.

I learned everything I know
in that period because my luck,

they were old and they didn't
want to do anything anymore.

And here they had a young kid
that they trusted,

with the money.

(grunting)

Nick Justin dies and he leaves,

as an executrix,
Chelly Wilson's daughter.

So one of the things that
was selling out to people

was the D.W. Griffith Theater

because it didn't make
that much money

and it didn't have a long lease.

It only had a few,
two, three-year lease.

Yeah, it was an art theater.

I bought that business
from Bondi for about $160,000.

I got about $35,000 left
and all the money that I saved,

and then the opportunity
comes about

where these people I worked for,
they told me,

why don't you just give
the keys back

for that theater
on Third Avenue,

which showed the adult movies?

It was the Jewel Theater.

My mind started thinking,
why give it up?

I need something
to generate money.

So I took it over.

I give the landlord
like $15,000 deposit.

We started fixing up the place.

We put new carpets,
we redid the seats,

make the place look nice.

Meantime,
we made a cash business grow,

so I had cash flow from
that business every week.

Cineplex continued
its buying spree

by adding a thousand
new screens to a circuit

that now boasted 1,800 screens
in 500 locations

in North America and the UK.

Drabinsky spared no expense
when buying,

building, and renovating
each theater.

He outspent his competitors
two to one

in construction costs.

Every theater had to be
bigger, better.

To cover his expenses,
he raised ticket prices,

arguing he offered a superior
movie-going experience.

In the '80s,
Cineplex Odeon came to town.

They wanted to buy
all the theaters.

They wanted to have control
of the movie theater industry.

So they approached me and
they wanted to buy the theater.

They offered me
like a million and a half.

I was just a kid then,
so I didn't understand

big business,
and this guy wanted the theater.

So they came into town
with a private plane,

I went to their offices,
some office over here,

and I'm sitting with the guy,
I'm making the deal

and I realized that this guy's
a real professional.

By the time I left,
he wasn't going to give me

a million and a half,
maybe $500,000 and get out.

And I just didn't know
what to do.

So I told the guy, I'm sorry,
I have to go to the bathroom.

And I just walked out.

I went to the coffee shop,
some good coffee shop,

I had a hamburger,

and then this guy
was calling all over for me.

Not that this deal was
so important to them,

but he had to go
to Washington, D.C.,

and the private plane
was waiting to buy

another 18 theaters
in Washington, D.C.

So he was getting
a little bit upset,

and as they told me afterwards,

Drabinsky, they had
a voice call from Canada.

He says,
"Where's this fucking kid?

Didn't he sign already?

You didn't get this kid yet?"

Anyway, by the time
they reached me,

my lawyer told me,
"Why'd you walk away?"

I said,
"Listen, I'm not coming back."

This guy said he'd pay me
a million and a half.

I want a million and a half,
otherwise I don't come back.

I'm not giving up the theater.”

So they just wrote me a check.

That was my first big check.

That's how you do it, guys.

(guitar music)

This is my mom's village,
Kalavasos,

and she was born here

and in 1970 went to New York.

And in 1983 she died.

She was only 59 years old.

She lived a difficult life.

She was an orphan
from her father.

And then she also had
a difficult life

because she married my father.

Another difficult man.

To my good luck,
she was cleaning the houses,

the apartments, the hallways,

and she was a big...
Very, very good with money.

She saved a few dollars.

I remember when I got
my first good job

and I had some money
and I just said,

"Mama, let's go out to this nice
restaurant in New York,"

and she did get dressed
and we drove with the car,

and when she saw the restaurant,

she saw it was
a little fancy restaurant.

She says, "Oh, come on son,
let's go.

It's enough,
I saw it, let's go home."

She refused to go spend money,

but in any event, she did manage
to save $27,000 in 1983,

secretly, and that money
was handed to me

and I was also in my...
About 27 years old.

I felt a very big obligation
that this woman, my mother,

sacrificed so much
to save this much money.

So I felt I needed to make
the best that I could,

and what I did that's...
Within one year

of my mother's death,
I was in business.

I opened my first movie theater,

that only cost me
about $30,000 anyway to do.

And from there I started
making very good money

and hundreds of thousands
of dollars.

It's a playground
where the kids come and play

and the park was named after her

and this is for the people
that lived in her village.

So this is the least
I thought we could do

because it's not the amount
of money,

it's that you know that person
that gave it to you,

gave it to you with a lot of
sacrifice and a lot of love.

That is what drove me,

in my own way, to succeed,
economically at least.

(speaking foreign language)

I remember that I admired Nick
even before I met him.

I knew his father
that was visiting Cyprus,

spending time with us,
and I knew of this kid

that was a hard-working kid
that made himself.

He helped all his family
to change their life

from being like a poor
and working...

- And happy.
- Yes.

And Nick visited Cyprus
after 20 years.

I was 22 so I was happy
to meet Nick

and also show him around Cyprus.

And then the day at the park,

I was impressed that,
although everybody was running

to be with the president
and to take pictures

and enjoy that day,

Nick was by me

and he was very, very nice
and very polite.

I only came here
for a week because the park

and I felt an obligation
to come there.

I didn't want to be ignorant.

So I came here for a week

and I really had
no other intention.

But when I first saw Christiana,

just something hit me

and I knew that
I had to use every trick

I saw in the movies.

(laughter)

And then her friend,
and to me inside of me,

it's like my mother
was the reason I came here

and then I meet Christiana.

I wasn't really looking.

I never thought I would leave
my country

and I've, you know, it was...
But I really felt

that I didn't want to lose him.

So without even thinking about
it, it was, the answer was yes.

- Did you go back with him?
- No.

He told me I'm going to go back
and take care of things

- and come back.
- And come back and marry you.

Yeah, the next day he went
there, he called me.

He goes on,
when are we getting married?

I said, we just decided.

I said, okay,
but a few days went by

and I couldn't stay away.

I felt so... I wanted to see him.

So I went and to find him
in New York.

He said that he was planning
to come back here,

but he never did.

So yeah.

You never leave New York.

(groovy music)

So between Third Avenue
giving me the cash flow

and then making that deal
on 59th Street

for a million and a half,
gave me a good starting money

to look into other theaters.

I kept looking
for theaters all over

that were not doing so well.

Theaters that
were maybe up for sale

that needed fixing
and things like that.

So I opened up at one time
a movie theater

up by Columbia University,

the Columbia Cinema,

and we had a nice big premiere
of "La Bamba" there.

And meantime,
some of their adult theaters,

they just were walking away
from them because they were old.

The business was dying.

Early '80s, these theaters
were on their way out.

So I caught those theaters
on the way out.

So I was building up
my art theaters

and the regular movie theaters,

but I took a shot by taking one
of those old operations

to keep them going,
to make some money,

some more cash flow.

(waves crashing, wind blowing)

So that was
a cash flow place for me

because it was making some money

and I focused
a little bit more on it

and I doubled the profits there.

You do anything like they do
to any regular theater,

you have to upgrade it,
you have to clean it up,

put new furnishings,

make it a nicer experience
for the patron.

People do appreciate it.

She ever see you kiss a man?

No.

(chattering)

Well, basically a place
where people met mostly.

A lot of people
just went there to meet.

They also had partnerships
in the bath,

which I never dealt with.

This is a movie theater,

this is what movies
I wanted to see.

Now, whether you go there
to hang out and meet somebody

or what's the difference?

I mean, what do you do today
on the internet

that it's available everywhere?

(women screaming)

(indistinct conversation)

(indistinct yelling)

(atmospheric humming)

(indistinct shouting)

(mellow music)

(yelling)

(horns blaring)

(birds chirping)

Yeah, the city was pressured.

That was the years of Giuliani.

They basically wanted
to clean Times Square out,

so they expanded
their whole policy

throughout the city.

They went around
and making these charges

to all adult theaters.

So if they saw somebody
doing something,

then they had reason
to shut you down.

So they shut me down
and then I reopened.

But as long
as you did things legal,

they couldn't close you.

Wouldn't police every patron.

You know, things could happen.

Things happen
in regular theaters,

if you notice.

Going back many, many years,

what do people do
in movie theaters?

This is just the city
was focusing more

on the adult theaters.

(soft dramatic music)

But the neighborhood
never bothered

because we always run,
if I can say,

a respectable front,
not to provoke anybody,

not to have any pictures
in the front

so kids can see
as they're walking by,

but because the place has
been there for so many decades,

the patrons know where to come.

I think everything
could have its place.

It's how you do it.

You could have adult,
you could have regular,

you know, you have to do it with
a little respect for the area.

(piano music)

(heavy breathing)

At that time I was buying
the business,

but even though
the rents were low,

because I knew I wanted
to stay in this business

because I loved
what I was doing with a passion

and whether it was showing
adult movies, art movies,

or first run movies,
I just liked it.

I really was excited about it,

and I knew that in order
to stay in this business,

I need to protect the longevity

by buying the buildings.

So at one point,

I offered more money
and I bought the buildings.

Can I help you
with something, sir?

Yeah, you got this in a sneaker?

(chuckling)

I was in the neighborhood
so I thought I'd come in.

Why are you whispering?

- I'm whispering?
- Yeah.

Sorry.

- I just want to talk to you.
- Okay.

Why don't you have a seat?

I'll be with you in a minute.

The first one I bought
was Third Avenue

for a million dollars.

I tried to make it
a regular movie,

and I opened "Sea of Love"
with Al Pacino and...

But then these big companies

started building
these multiplexes.

Like overbuilt.

And then in '92,
I just developed it

and made the place
into apartments

and The VNYL upscale bar.

Is that a gay bar now?

All right, so where's
the theater we're talking about?

- Nick.
- This is it.

Where?

I don't see no theater.

Oh, this is it, The VNYL, bro.

- Is this a theater? No.
- Yeah.

This is a movie theater?

This was the Jewel Theater
in the old days.

This goes back,

it was a vaudeville house
with talkies,

Charlie Chaplin.

You know, for a nickel you came

and you slept overnight
in the old days.

In 1890, this was a place

where gentlemen
used to hang out,

respectable gentlemen
used to hang out...

- Like us.
- with doubtful

character women.

- What is it now?
- Now it's VNYL,

- Vintage New York Lifestyle.
- What was this, variety?

It's a multistory club.

Somewhere you can come
and have private parties

or if Abel wants to hang out
with his buddies

on the second floor
or the second floor mezzanine.

I bought the building
25 years ago.

Actually, it's a very,
very luxurious place.

Very fancy place.

Just like it was in 1891.

(mellow music)

When you go against
these big companies,

they just take away the product,

so what am I gonna show?

Go back to adult movies?

So I just figured,
okay, I'm better off.

I'll make it residential
and finish with that.

(indistinct talking)

Make some noise!

(cheering and applause)

(indistinct shouting)

Everybody knows
that the film studios

and these big chains,
at one point or another,

there is collusion.

Even the Justice
Department knows.

But the bottom line is
you try to prove that in court.

Did you ever think of trying it?

You can't beat these guys.

They have an army of lawyers.

The court system doesn't care

to waste their money
on issues like this.

So you always lose.

(train rumbling)

The only reason I did it
is because...

(piano music)

for seven years,
the theater in Queens,

they took
the first run movies away

and I was suffering.

But I refused
to close that theater

because a lady
gifted me that theater,

an old lady that was
like my second mother.

And there was no way
I was going to close the theater

and I was begging them for film

and nobody would listen.

And then I thought, okay,

if I keep it as a movie theater,

I'll give it
to these big chains.

They didn't want it.

It was an impossible situation.

So I sent them a letter
and I said,

"Okay, why don't you
take the theater?"

Take the business over.

Just leave it
as a movie theater.

I don't want to turn it
into a drug store

or a supermarket.

I just want to keep it
as a theater

"even if it's your business."

They didn't
even bother answering.

So I figured the only way

they're gonna
at least listen to me

or look at my offer
that it exists was to sue them.

And I sued them.

Patty, theater one,
what time is the next show?

(mellow music)

(indistinct conversation)

To my luck,
of course I didn't win,

because you cannot
beat the system.

After 50, 60 years,

Fox made an announcement

and said from May 2016,
"We don't care who you are,

we're giving everybody
the movies.

We want people to go
to the movie theaters.

We don't want to see
no more movie theaters closed."

The gray is what's available.

The screen is up there, so...

The screen is up there.

- How many seats do you want?
- Two.

The screen is up here,
you want to sit in the first,

second, third,
fourth, fifth row?

(indistinct remarks)

- In the aisle.
- Aisle.

Oh, you want to go back there?

- Back there, yeah?
- Yeah.

Okay.

Sixteen dollars.

I'll sign for this guy.

We want to get him to sign.

These big companies,

the only reason
they make statements like that

is because there's pressure.

There was an open investigation
from the Department of Justice.

So these big corporations,

what they don't like
is lawsuits.

So to avoid themselves
the headache,

all these big companies,

for the first time
after decades,

decided we're going
to give everybody the movies.

They said, "We don't want to see
movie theaters close down."

So I have to take them
at their word.

It doesn't matter,
the end result is,

for the first time
after seven years,

I was getting first run movies

and then Paramount
followed a month later,

Universal, Lionsgate,

and then the theater
came back to life.

(unintelligible) the owner of
this independent movie theater

here in Forest Hills, Queens,

says he could be facing closure,

and he's hoping
the success of that movie,

"American Sniper,"
helps him stay open.

But it all started because

Warner Bros. Gave me a movie.

A first run movie,

the first run movie
that I ever played there

in seven years,
"American Sniper."

And then the whole neighborhood
was up in arms

because they really didn't want
the theater closed.

So they all came to the theater
and supported it,

and their support
was so tremendous

that all the news...

Channel ♪,
Channel 11, Channel 2,

they all came to the theater
and it was unbelievable.

The people
didn't stop coming there.

This Queens resident
has been coming here

since he was a child.

It's a wonderful theater,
great neighborhood place to be.

Been coming here
since I'm a kid.

Some great memories,
wonderful shows with friends.

It's just a great place.

I was just standing
in front of the box office,

thanking every customer
that came out.

I was standing there from 11,
12 noon to 11 at night.

I'm bringing more people
that normally will not come

to the... will not go
to the movies.

They'd rather wait
and see the movie on TV.

That's the customers
that come there,

because that theater
has been there for 90 years.

Ninety years,
generation upon generation

have been coming
to that theater.

They like it,
they feel comfortable,

it's their home.

(sinister music)

(drill whirring)

(high-pitched whirring)

(screaming)

Well, in the '70s and 80s,
it was more like,

"Let's go to the movies."

Let's get there before,
a half hour,

we get tickets before an hour.

Let's wait in line,"
and things like that.

Now it's like,
"Let's get our reserved seat."

I'm going to sit at D5.

I come in five minutes before,”
and that's it.

Well, you enjoy the movie.

For example, now you're going
to see "Blade Runner."

- Two hours and 43 minutes.
- Yeah, two hours and 43 minutes.

So you want to be comfortable.

I love the "Godfather" movies.

I like these type of movies.

I like early
Martin Scorsese movies.

"Mean Streets" and...

Business is business
for the city.

They still collect
the real estate tax

and everything else.

But movie theaters
give character

to the neighborhood.

Movie theaters give life,
so it's about humans,

it's about people.

We just renovated the theater.

The idea was to make it like
the way it was built in 1920s,

because that's what we want.

We want people to come here
and feel those years.

And just like it was
in the 1920s

with nice solid door.

Right?

As you see, there's no urinals,

but we spend
a lot of money here,

so I wanted to show it.

Down the hallway,

you have three theaters
and two up here.

Originally the theater
was a single screen theater,

about 1,200 seats,
but now it's five.

The cafe will be part
of the theater,

so people can wait at the cafe,

have a drink, coffee,
or maybe nothing,

just sit there.

A movie theater
should be a relaxed time

that somebody
puts their cell phone away

for a couple of hours
and forgets about it,

and they can live without it
for two hours

and go in a dark theater
and enjoy a movie.

If you don't come out
to the theater,

you cannot do that.

Basically, we have
good old-fashioned popcorn,

good quality,
and at half the price

of what everybody else charges.

You don't need to be greedy,

you don't need
to rip people off.

They'll come more often
to the theater,

and I want people
to come to the movies.

-Yeah, we got people coming...
-Movies make people cry,

they make them happy.

Don't shoot me, shoot the crowd.

And I think
that's worth something.

There's a crowd,
what are you coming to see?

What movie are you going to see?

- Which one?
- "Battle of the Sexes."

"Battle of the Sexes"... we got
a battle going on right here.

I got a battle at home.

-I don't have to come...
-We all have

I don't have to come
to the movies!

- Right?
- Right.

- How'd you like the movie?
- Good, it was good!

Okay, he liked the movie.

You guys know the original?

You guys see the original?

I thought the script was better
for the original,

but I think the directing
and cinematography was better

- for the more... for the new one.
- Oh, really, that's interesting.

I think that this is probably
just gonna be the end of it.

I think they closed it
pretty well.

I think that if they ended here
I'd be fine,

but if they made another one

and explored
much more mature themes,

then it'd be great, too.

And I think
they could have also explored

a couple of different...
More concepts.

Because it could have
explored concepts

that this film didn't explore

such as the human psyche

and the human psyche

that this one
didn't explore as much.

Are you a filmmaker?

We're two.

Both of us are
kind of film nerds.

- I am, yeah.
- You guys shoot?

- Yes, we shoot.
- Excellent, all right.

Have you made
your own movie yet?

I've made small pieces
here and there.

- Just like one minute long.
- All right.

Got to start somewhere, right?

Vito.

- Where is Vito?
- Vito?

Yeah, he don't work here
no more?

(indistinct talking)

He's my boss.

They are part
of the theater sort of.

When was this opened,
this place?

1925 with the theater.

So whoever wants to shut down
this place is a mistake.

Actually, it's kind of
a holiday, I think,

for my neighbors,

so that's why we're not
that busy Friday.

Club, too.

(indistinct talking)

You see it? You see it, too?

(laughing)

I could see it.

The other one.

Sal, please pull
to the right, okay.

I can't go
to the right right now.

- There are the poles.
- Not right now.

- It's like when you can.
- Come on, don't make me

like I'm an asshole
in front of people.

(laughing)

My name is Sal Peretti.

I was born
in Union City, New Jersey,

and I've been in Jersey
all my life.

I started myself in 1942.

The war started in '41.

All the guys went away.

I was 12 years old
and I was an usher,

I sold candy, and I cleaned
the theater at night

for an old weak fella
that owned the theater.

I always was a manager
and Nick worked for me as a kid,

but Nick is very smart.

He told me, "I'm not going
to manage theaters all my life.

I'm going to own it,

and you are going
to work for me."

And that's exactly
what happened.

I'm working for him,
but I'm not killing myself,

you know what I mean?

You don't have
to say nothing nice.

His assistant hired me

and then, I think
I used to go a little late

because after
junior high school,

sometimes you go late.

So he called me in to fire me,

because he says,
"You come in late."

So I said,
"What are you talking about?"

I came from Astoria.

I paid money on the train.

I brought my sandwich with me
from home.

"You're going to fire me?"

So being Sal, who he is,
where he comes from,

from a poor
Italian-American family

in the Depression,
that hit a chord.

So he didn't fire me.

So that was the best thing
he ever did, then.

(soft music)

Welcome to the Alpine Cinema.

All right.

- This is...
- What a beautiful theater.

an old neighborhood theater.

The oldest in
the five boroughs of New York.

Has been continuously operating
for 97 years.

About 10 years ago,

this theater
would have been the victim

of another shutdown,

another theater closing,
a historic theater.

There was like
five theaters around here

and one by one got shut down,

and some of them within months.

So when it came to these,

both the Republicans
and the Democrats

had a big, big outcry
in the newspapers all over.

They were calling
to find somebody to buy it.

Nobody wanted to buy it.

I found this theater
in the newspaper.

I called him in his home
in Cyprus,

and he came right away
and took it over.

I do it because it combines

two things I like to do:
Make money

and keep
neighborhood theaters alive.

He's a great movie man.

He loves the movies

and I taught him the business
when he was a kid.

He's outsmarted me.

He knows the business
inside out.

So we discovered backstage
where about a hundred years ago,

they had a 12-piece orchestra

where they played
before the movie in 1921.

Then we started building.

We made the best theater
out of all these theaters.

For the first time
in the history of our country,

a majority of our people believe

that the next five years

will be worse
than the past five years.

How about the next 35?

Movies are part of our lives.

And if you don't want
to make them available,

how is a kid, 15,
14, 16 going to go

if he can't drive?

So why does everybody need
to take a car

and drive three, four,
five miles away to see a movie?

What movie you seeing?

I'm going to watch "It."

- Why?
- I don't know, it looks good.

- It looks good.
- I watched the reviews

and it looks entertaining.

I heard it has
a lot of jump scares.

Jump scares. Okay.

You guys like getting scared?

- Yeah.
- Yeah.

You didn't even go
to school yet, right?

- You didn't even go home yet.
- No, not yet.

We come here.

This is like your stop?

- Your stop on the way home?
- Yeah, of course.

So what do you tell them
at home?

- Doing your homework?
- Yeah.

- Studying hard.
- Yeah.

And then what,
you're watching a horror movie?

Yeah, every time.

Try to watch every movie we can.

- All you guys are same?
- Egyptian.

You're Egyptian?

- And this cat?
- I'm mixed.

- Mixed what?
- Moroccan and Vietnamese.

- And Egyptian.
- And Vietnamese.

All right, okay.

-You're mixed from...
-Half-Egyptian.

You're getting close shots.

There's another Egyptian,
I can see him from here.

Yep, he's Egyptian.

(mixed chatter)

I'm not a politician.

I'm a survivor.

I'm a kid
that grew up in New York

with all sorts of people

that coexisted
with those people.

So I know if I survived,

I'm here in this little theater
23 feet wide,

and all around me
I have 49 screens

that are built by the biggest
stock market companies ever.

My poorest competitor
is a billionaire up the street

and I'm still here.

So what I'm saying is,
surviving Times Square,

surviving the Mecca
of film exhibitors,

which is The Village,

and I'm still open
where others closed

and I don't have anybody
backing me up

or any film studios like others,

so I have no problem surviving

and coexisting
with my mosque next door.

Even I disagree
or disagree with their beliefs,

it doesn't matter to me.

I can coexist
and survive through all that

because that theater
needs to be open,

the people want it,
and you don't just walk away

because it may be
a losing proposition

or it's too difficult.

People like to go
watch movies with people.

That's fun.

That's what we are,
social animals.

Watching movies
like horror movies, "It,"

you're watching the movie
with your peers,

another 300 teenagers,
200 teenagers,

you're all laughing, it's fun.

This is what it is.

The movie may not be
the greatest movie,

but it's the whole experience.

(singing in foreign language)

(mellow music)

Ow!

(rapid gunfire)

(yelling)

For example,
look at Cinema Village

where we are right now.

Across the street,
the apartments are selling

for $10 million each.

I could build eight floors here.

I could get rent
for this movie theater,

a restaurant or something
that's 10 times more

than what I'm making
as a movie theater,

but that means I will have

to shut down the theater
for good.

(upbeat piano music)

Built in 1963 from 1800s,

a firehouse,
a famous engine, 72.

In 1963, build a little
small art theater.

The place shows
very independent films

that you don't get to see,
they crack through the holes

and they're never seen
in theaters.

You'll find them here.

Like now we're playing

executive producer
Martin Scorsese,

this wonderful film.

Maybe we get a few people.

Whatever we get,
that's fine with us.

It was one small theater
to begin with, narrow and long,

but in order to keep up
with the economics,

we separated
and made two theaters.

This is the original
projection booth

that we just took the balcony
and made a second theater.

In 1999, we closed the theater.

We were suffering economically,

and we just sit
in an empty theater deciding,

and I said,
"No, let's do something

to bring in more money,"

and the fact is that
only this theater

could survive in New York,

because the New York audience
is a kind of people

that are aware of movies.

So this is the projection booth
we had to create

in order to make
another theater,

because we needed
to have two theaters,

so we can have
more movies shown,

so the income will justify us
staying open.

As you see,
it's kind of unorthodox,

but we have to jump
on the stage.

When we come up,
there's nobody here,

so it's a matter of scheduling
so people don't see us.

And the way
things operate today,

we can basically operate
with a remote control

from downstairs.

Currently showing
the digital films.

And in the olden days we used
to show the 16 millimeter,

35 millimeter,
that we can still show.

And this is a booth we created
to have the other theater.

And stay, yeah, stay over there.

Go a little bit by the light,
just about there.

Jesse.

Do you think Daddy...

What?

Forget it.

What, Tracy?

I'm sorry
if I hurt your feelings.

We can move all your stuff
back in tomorrow if you want.

So basically about a year,
two years ago in this theater,

I decided that, well,
we need to make some money.

I can't just show movies
that 10 people come and say,

"Well, that was a great film.
It should deserve playing."

So basically,
I would charge the filmmaker.

I said, "Okay, you need
the movie to play in a theater."

I have a great location.

You guys need to pay me
some money.

And if you make
a great box office hit,

"you get 100 percent
of your money."

You remember Daddy kissing you
or hugging you?

Do you think
that's why I never...

Do you think
that's why I'm cold?

I don't think you're cold.

I think I'm cold.

Or maybe just not warm.

You're a good person.

I charge them anywhere
from, depends on people,

how long they've been
working with us,

could be five
to ten thousand dollars a week.

Ten thousand a week
to show the movie?

I mean, this guy's spending
half a million dollars

to make a movie.

Why not give Nick another five,
$10,000, or $8,000,

and they get to have Q&A,
they get New York Times review,

they get a lot of things.

And you know something?

When their movie's played
in the movie theater,

this is like the Mecca of
movie theaters now in this area.

This is a top-notch area.

(lively music)

Absolutely, yeah.

My son and daughter
are continuing,

they just finished colleges
in New York,

they graduated,

so both my daughter and son
are going to be...

Are working with me.

Then I have another daughter
who is coming in,

but she's going to go
to college,

so I don't think
she'll be involved.

Basically, I'm giving them
the responsibility to take over.

- What's going on?
- The other side of the world

and we work remotely together.

They're in our office in Cyprus,

and we're on Skype all day,
all night.

She's the everything
behind this.

She runs the behind it,
the behind the scenes.

-This is...
-But basically,

my wife controls everything
from Cyprus

through her management team.

Anything financial,

what everything

I don't worry
about what gets paid,

what doesn't get paid,

or hooked up with the banks.

Everything is overlooked
from there, from overseas.

This is another way you cut
your operation cost, too,

which we are... I like to think
we pass it on to the patron.

That's how we have
the most affordable price policy

in movie theaters.

So we got like six,
seven show times

after ♪:00 p.m.

You see ♪:00, ♪:15, ♪:20, ♪:30.

Here you can see
there's something like a school.

It's a big group,
maybe it's 200 people there.

Because it's the morning,

all groups or parties
are usually in the morning

because it's usually schools.

Alpine in Brooklyn is
doing the best business.

We do very big, very, very big

with the family movies
in Brooklyn.

It's... if you go there
on the weekends,

it's packed with families
and their kids.

For one, it's very reasonable.

We charge a reasonable,
the lowest price in New York,

and people just support it.

Like you got "Star Wars"
coming in.

We're already selling tickets
for Christmas for "Star Wars."

I mean, I care
not only about the money,

I'm a businessman,

but I care about
what the people get.

It's how you feel afterwards,
that's what I care.

To me, to run back and forth
and sell another 10 tickets

means nothing
to my pocket, basically.

The satisfaction
that the guy parked his car

and came there with his wife
to see a movie

and I got him in
before the movie started,

this makes it for me.

(mellow music)

(speaking foreign language)

He's doing his own operation,

and we're trying
to do everything behind

that has to do with financing

and the future of the family
to make sure

that we spend time together
and enjoy our home.

I want Nick to relax more
and enjoy his...

He made me many promises.

He promised that
he's going to be five years,

before 15 years,
he's going to relax

and enjoy everything.

It's getting worse
with his workaholic,

it's getting worse,
but now I'm saying no.

There is more things in life

like I'm doing now
my sculptures, my dance.

(sizzling)

I'd rather buy
an old movie theater.

How do you see
the next five years,

10 years of your life?

Just keep doing what I'm doing.

Keep doing what I'm doing.

If something comes up
where we find a location,

we'll open another theater.

I love the theater, one,

I'm still not
a hundred years old,

and I feel good
being part of this business.

I mean, I feel privileged
that I was part

of you guys making the movies
in my own way

even as an exhibitor
or as a businessman,

and I don't like everything
to become mass production,

that people have to drive
20 miles,

10 miles to go to only one.

Give the people a choice.

I mean, especially in New York,

there's something nice
about seeing some small movie.

Most of the guys we play here

would never get
their movie released

in a movie theater.

I think that's wrong.

(laughing)

This is
our youngest daughter, Phoebe.

- Phoebe.
- Silence.

This is the last...

(indistinct talking)

That's my daughter...

- Okay!
- Okay, guys.

Now, now, thank you, thank you.

My daughter also...

(solemn music)

I think movie theaters
are always going to be,

and I don't believe
in those fancy games needed

to get the people in,
like all those tricks,

and I mean, just basically
have good projection,

a comfortable place,

a nice dark theater
to watch a movie in.

That's what I think people like.

(upbeat music)

(singing in foreign language)

(mellow music)

(dramatic music)