2023 Charlotteans of the Year: The Independent Picture House
Charlotte’s first nonprofit cinema measures success by more than ticket and popcorn sales
On March 23, the Independent Picture House screened Navalny, a documentary about the 2020 assassination attempt on Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Afterward, the cinema hosted a virtual discussion with investigative reporter Christo Grozev, featured prominently in the film. The film had won Best Documentary Feature at the Academy Awards 11 days earlier, and Grozev was everywhere.
“He was being interviewed on every different NPR program,” says IPH executive director Brad Ritter, “and then for us in our little three-screen independent theater to be able to interview him and engage the audience—it’s just a really cool experience.”
IPH is Charlotte’s first and only nonprofit independent movie theater, and community engagement is central to its mission. It can be slow going in a city not known for avant-garde taste. For two years, between the Manor Theatre’s closing in May 2020 and IPH opening in June 2022, Charlotte had no arthouse cinema at all.
“We still pretty much hear every day that, ‘Oh, I didn’t know you guys were here,’” Ritter says. “And we take that as a challenge.”
Last year, IPH showed 162 films, gave local filmmakers space to showcase their work, and hosted film tie-in events. This year, the cinema hosted Black, Latin American, and anime film series, among other events, and broke attendance records in June—then beat that record in July.
“This is a city that has a hunger and a need for diverse films and diverse storytelling,” says IPH programming director Jay Morong. Ritter expects IPH will meet that need for a while. “We signed a long-term lease,” he says, “and we’re set for the next 19 years.”
This year’s Charlotte Film Festival screened its movies, including the documentary A Binding Truth, at the Independent Picture House.
Allison Braden is a contributing editor.
