commentary
What does Dan and Sammy Harkhams’ Cinefamily have in common with some of the most beloved brands of the 1980s? Ongoing allegations of workplace abuses, sexual improprieties, and board coverups — well into the 21st century.
Read MoreIn which we present a condensed history of Cinefamily and accountability and Cinefamily Accountability. Featuring Dan and Sammy Harkham and their Board of Directors, that one guy who traumatized everyone (and needed a bath), and Brain Dead Studios. Also we try to answer: so what are we doing here again?
Read MoreShortly before the October 2021 New People’s Cinema Club in New York, Cinefamily Accountability reported on connections between the “anti-woke” film festival and Cinefamily’s Hadrian Belove. New reporting details how the NPCC ended in tragedy.
Read MoreWe hope that Brain Dead Studios offers a more safe and responsible work environment than the one that the Harkhams oversaw at Cinefamily.
Read MoreAfter agreeing to talk with this website, Fairfax Cinema changed course. Then the anonymous Tweets began. Are the Harkhams falling back on an old playbook?
Read MoreRather than oversee Cinefamily or Fairfax Cinema, Dan Harkham develops hotels. What can we learn from a 20-year old dispute involving a Harkham strike, rabbis marching with bitter herbs, and a hotel rebranding?
Read MoreFairness for workers is a constant, never-ending struggle. Will Fairfax Cinema engage in the same shady practices Cinefamily allegedly engaged in? These practices may or may not be newly-illegal in California…
Read MoreDan Harkham is trying to open a theater and a hotel at the same time. This website unearths a Cinefamily Employee Handbook. How do those two things connect?
Focus, and ask again.
Read MoreAccording 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.
Read MoreNot an easy call.
Read MoreRonan Farrow’s new book comes out this week, and it seems to hit on some recurring themes.
From Rebecca Traister in The Cut:
Two new laws attack exploitative workplace practices reportedly at the heart of Cinefamily’s business model— employee misclassification and forced arbitration agreements.
Read MoreThe 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…
Read MoreFancy new seating, fancy new lighting, and “a fall opening with much the same program as Cinefamily.” Now, about that Certificate of Occupancy…
Read MoreThis installment on the political life of the Harkhams (Silent Movie Theater / Cinefamily / Fairfax Cinema) will analyze the family’s donations to politicians and to political action committees (PACs).
Read MoreAugust 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…
Read MoreA new set of laws went into effect on January 1. They probably would have helped workers at Cinefamily. Hopefully at Fairfax Cinema the Harkhams will increase their attentions to wage theft, workplace bullying, and sexual harassment and abuse.
Read MoreThere may be something satisfying about tearing down abusers, but don’t confuse that for justice, Masha Gessen warns.
Read MoreMoviepass did the least it could when it went bust: it gave pro-rated refunds. Cinefamily and the Harkhams didn’t even do that.
Read MoreCalifornia workers get new legal tools to fight sexual abuse and harassment on the job, and more legislation is pending.
Read More
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