Art films to get wider screening on O'ahu

By Michael Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

Wallace Theatres at Restaurant Row will feature art-house films exclusively, the multiplex's general manager says. Advertiser library photo • March 2001

Starting June 21, Wallace will dedicate all nine of its Restaurant Row theaters to the sort of fare now seen in its one designated "art-house" theater. Among the initial offerings will be the much talked-about "Enigma," a 2001 joint production by Mick Jagger and Lorne Michaels, starring Kate Winslet.

The Academy Theatre, which finds itself progressively less able to compete for first-run art-house and foreign films, will stay in the mix with a summer festival of documentaries.

It remains to be seen how Consolidated Theatres, whose Varsity house usually snaps up the most prized foreign and art-house films, and Signature Theatres, which also shows alternative titles, will respond.

Spearheading the new Restaurant Row 9 initiative is Don Brown, formerly of the Academy Theatre, who joined Wallace May 1 and now is general manager of the Restaurant Row 9.

Brown acknowledged that competitive pressure from Consolidated Theatres' Ward 16-plex and Signature's Dole Cannery screens played a role.

"Dole and Ward are in the same district, and (we were) all playing the same films," he said.

Brown said he expected to have no problems programming nine separate screens with indies, documentaries, revivals and foreign films without overlap. "I know from film festivals there's a lot of films that never see the light of day here," he said.

The theaters will fill a niche, Brown said, addressing the interests of a more sophisticated audience while also reaching out to ethnic viewing communities.

"In the 1940s and '50s, there were a lot of Chinese and Filipino film houses all over Hawai'i," he said. "That kind of died down after people started watching TV. But there are still populations that are being underserved — Koreans, Filipinos, Thai, Chinese from Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan."

Brown points to the success of "American Adobo," the Filipino-American movie now in its 10th week at Restaurant Row, as an indicator of the type of interest Hawai'i audiences have in ethnic films.

To draw customers, Brown is also looking to improve on the concessions the theatre makes available. "No more Goobers," he said. "We'd like to have tea, espresso, Lindt Chocolate."

Brown said Wallace's decision to turn Restaurant Row 9 into an art-house theatre complex comes at an opportune time.

"After Sept. 11, the percentage of people who were interested in seeing foreign films and documentaries went from about 8 percent to 15 percent. There was a meaningful shift toward openness. I think people are more curious about the world around them now."

The Academy Theatre's Ann Brandman agrees.

"I think that because of the intensity of world events right now, maybe in opposition to that, there's been more of a need to connect," she said. "Documentaries are coming to the fore — small stories of people in different places who share the same needs, desires, joys and sorrows that we do."

Brandman said she believes the evolving situation will mean a return to the original mandate of the Academy Theatre: "to present good films that educate and that serve multiple purposes."

"I think we'll have an opportunity to present themes that can involve discussion with community groups," she said. "I'd like to get the community and the university involved."