“Uncut Gems” [Was] to Open Cinefamily / Fairfax on Christmas 2019 [Updated]

“Uncut Gems” [Was] to Open Cinefamily / Fairfax on Christmas 2019 [Updated]

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Fairfax Cinema—the rebranded Cinefamily entity—will open next week with a 35mm run of “Uncut Gems,” the new Safdie Brothers movie starring Adam Sandler. Yet inaccuracies in THR reporting left readers scratching their heads, and roiling anger over the Cinefamily scandal spilled into social media and may have caused the filmmakers to rethink their plans.

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Unfinished Business: The Enablers

Unfinished Business: The Enablers

The future of workplace safety is up in the air. We don’t yet know if #MeToo will herald a new era of responsibility, or if it’s just the latest in a never-ending game of whack-a-mole. Changing the culture is a long-term project, and while (some) perpetrators have been held accountable, new ones take their place every day. For sustainable, lasting change, we have to walk and chew gum at the same time: as we hold jerks to account, we must also attend to the systems and structures that support and protect them.

On seeing a ‘life ruined,’ a hit of smug superiority can give a false sense of justice served—false because this downfall addresses only part of the problem. Increasingly, advocates and the press are putting enablers under the microscope

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On Toxic Masculinity, Cinefamily/Fairfax, and the Harkhams

On Toxic Masculinity, Cinefamily/Fairfax, and the Harkhams

August 2019 will mark two years since jerks like Hadrian Belove and Shadie Elnashai ruined Cinefamily. Two years since jerks on Cinefamily’s Board rushed to shut the organization down rather than fix it, and paid for a secret report allegedly clearing them of wrongdoing. Two years since jerks like Dan and Sammy Harkham oversaw its demise, grabbed what they could, and tried for a rebrand and a do-over.

We attempt to mark the occasion, visit a new cinema, and provide a programming note…

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Cinefamily / Fairfax Hires Lobbyist to Woo City, Community

Cinefamily / Fairfax Hires Lobbyist to Woo City, Community

Cinefamily / Fairfax’s Dan Harkham has brought a veteran lobbyist onto the team. Apex LA’s Margaret Taylor is expected to help the Harkhams secure a conditional use permit to allow beer and wine sales at the rebranded Fairfax Cinema at the Silent Movie Theater.

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Harkhams Make (Yet Another) Half-Assed Effort to Run Away from Cinefamily

Harkhams Make (Yet Another) Half-Assed Effort to Run Away from Cinefamily

Cinefamily ceased operations in August 2017 and Dan Harkham launched Fairfax Cinema shortly thereafter. But Cinefamily continues to exist as a legal entity. Newly-discovered state filings suggest Cinefamily finally closed. Except here’s why it didn’t.

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Fairfax Attempts Opening, Cinefamily Gets More Tax Woes

Fairfax Attempts Opening, Cinefamily Gets More Tax Woes

In late 2018 the Harkhams applied for a Certificate of Occupancy from the L.A. Department of Building and Safety for the Silent Movie Theater’s Fairfax Cinema (Cinefamily). As of this writing in early February 2019, the application is still pending. New documents indicate that plans for the venue may have changed yet again, possibly related to an alcohol licensing challenge with the state ABC.

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