What's Cinefamily? What happened there?

The Cinefamily was a beloved single screen theater in L.A. It showed anything and everything – from the highest of brows to the lowest – and was curated with earnest enthusiasm. This scrappy non-profit opened in late 2007, operated at the Silent Movie Theater on Fairfax, and established itself as an unlikely L.A. institution.

The organization was already internally riven when anonymous emails in August 2017 linked key Cinefamily leaders with allegations of sexual harassment and sexual assault. Within days, Cinefamily was closed. Six weeks later, the Harvey Weinstein news heralded the beginning of the #MeToo era; its future is still being written.

What's the story with this website?

This project began as an effort to restore Cinefamily to operations. A member, impatient for Cinefamily to reopen and frustrated with organizational silence, started talking with other stakeholders and reaching out to the board of directors. By the end of the ersatz investigation, we had talked to dozens of sources, and the goal of the project had shifted. We had come to believe the greatest need was for public accountability. We submitted our findings to the California Attorney General’s office, requesting an investigation.

This website was initially little more than a collection of links to different government entities. We encouraged stakeholders to report what they knew, and to join the call for accountability. Over time, this website continued to break news—like the Harkhams’ control over Cinefamily, their effort to rebrand as Fairfax Cinema, and their relationship to Brain Dead Studios. In November 2019, we revamped the website to make it a more user-friendly resource.

Isn't this long since over? I thought Cinefamily was closed and those guys were publicly shamed?

Cinefamily ceased operations in August 2017, but it remains a going legal concern. There is a designated legal process to wind down a nonprofit, and Cinefamily has not followed it. Many creditors are still waiting to be paid: some staff are owed wages, some members are owed refunds, and some vendors and distributors were never paid for their services. Many former staff and volunteers continue to deal with workplace trauma.

Social media did indeed lash out. While the targets of the public rage were credibly accused of wrongdoing, they were also targets of convenience. There has not yet been the full public accounting the board promised. (The board commissioned a secret report they claim clears them.) In addition to the #MeToo allegations detailed in the original press coverage, insiders described to this website a disturbing culture of lawlessness and impunity, rife with allegations of labor violations, improper corporate governance, regulatory cover-ups, financial embezzlement, and fraud.

The Board of Directors was ultimately responsible for the health and success of Cinefamily. Evidence indicates that board members either:

• were unaware of pervasive problems,
• ignored problems,
• participated in problematic behaviors, and/or
• covered up problems.

Whichever was the case for each individual director, the board was delinquent and failed to do its job. With regard to Cinefamily’s board oversight, no one has been held accountable.

What’s the connection between Cinefamily, Fairfax Cinema, and Brain Dead Studios?

Legal documents show both Cinefamily and Fairfax Cinema were founded by and are controlled by L.A. real estate developer Dan Harkham. Dan and his brother Sammy own the Silent Movie Theater (the historic L.A. building where Cinefamily and Fairfax Cinema are located). Dan and Sammy were board officers at Cinefamily, hiring Hadrian Belove.

Dan had sole power over the composition of Cinefamily's board of directors. As the board was publicly committing itself to recovery, reform, and transparency, Dan Harkham was filing a new registration for Cinefamily's successor entity-- which Dan and Sammy led the transition to.

At the time it stopped operating, Cinefamily reportedly had extensive assets—both cash and theater equipment—but pleaded poverty and refused to pay creditors. We do not know what happened to Cinefamily assets. Expensive equipment was reportedly still in Cinefamily’s possession in late 2017 and may be in use at Fairfax Cinema.

Brain Dead Studios appears to have more recently taken over the assets of Fairfax Cinema.

What's your goal? What do you think should happen? Who's “we”?

I’m the former Cinefamily member who made this site. While I’m pretentious enough to use the editorial we, I speak only for myself.

This conversation—what should happen—requires more voices than just mine. I do not have a comprehensive answer, but I believe any solution is likely to include (at least) three elements:

1. There should be a credible and comprehensive accounting of what happened at Cinefamily. The board once promised a town hall. Former staff have raised legitimate questions about the independence of the board’s secret investigation. Traumatized staff and volunteers who signed legal waivers fear repercussions for speaking out. Creditors wait for Cinefamily to follow the appropriate financial and governance processes.

2. Victims and creditors should be made whole. There should be a process for creditors to collect assets owed. A similar process should be available to allow Cinefamily’s non-financial victims to articulate and work through any trauma.

3. The L.A. film community should have confidence in the theater’s safety and responsibility moving forward. With the same people overseeing the same operation, there is no obvious reason to assume anything will change. Without structural change, personnel changes can be undone. Prior to closing, Cinefamily’s board raised the possibility of a board seat for members. We believe there is a role for both staff and the community in governance.

How is this credible? Why should I believe anything here?

We show our work by providing every document publicly available on Cinefamily and Fairfax Cinema. As we also provide unpublished and internal Cinefamily documents that have been given to us, we explicitly flag a document’s provenance so readers never have to wonder. The occasional update or correction in a post indicates that we work to get it right, and that we own up to it when we’ve gotten it wrong.

In addition to documents, we rely on human sources, including off-the-record sources. We seek to be as transparent as possible within our commitment to respect confidentiality. Sources include former staff, volunteers, and board members on all sides and from all time periods, as well as others in the L.A. film community who work(ed) with Cinefamily and/or Fairfax, including distributors, filmmakers, regulators, customers, and vendors.

We hope that two years of research earns us some credibility. This website is no anonymous email: we state who we are, our beliefs and motives, and how to find us. We share our conclusions with—and we seek clarity from—our subjects. In rare cases, we publish our own correspondence to ensure transparency. Some may not like our conclusions, but no one has presented any logical (or legal) objection.

No, really. What are you trying to accomplish? You seem kind of nuts.

We almost got through the conceit without lapsing into Frequent Gratuitous Observations, alas.

We’ve made our peace with how we’re perceived. We get it: yes, outrage is culturally sanctioned and appropriate, but preferably fleeting (unlike this site). Why would someone act as a watchdog for any entity, much less an inactive one? An honest answer might appeal to a sort of primal scream: after getting our heart broken, we got angry. "Let it go already" would be wise words we couldn't argue with.

But inaction has its own costs and consequences. This website believes our information is useful to someone, or may be some day. Some filmgoer, researching theater options for a safe evening out; an employee looking for a healthy and responsible workplace; a lender or vendor assessing the creditworthiness of a new client; a distributor who wants a trustworthy venue.

To put it another way, while we don't believe our presence affects much of anything, we believe our absence would be giving a sort of aid and comfort. If the Harkhams’ strategy is to ignore the press, wait until people have forgotten, and fabricate a PR tale for the Cinefamily rebranding, then the existence of this website is a complicating factor (at least in a technical and non-zero sense).

Also, I enjoy public records, and webhosting isn't expensive. Can you rationally justify all of your hobbies?

Fine, a little nuts.