Fairfax Attempts Opening, Cinefamily Gets More Tax Woes

Early last year, CinefamilyAccountability reported on the former Cinefamily folks’ plans to reopen in 2018 as Fairfax Cinema. It appears that the brothers Harkham & Co. are inching forward with the process: in late 2018 they applied for a Certificate of Occupancy from the L.A. Department of Building and Safety. As of this writing in early February, the application is still pending.

Other documents on file with the city indicate that plans for the venue may have changed yet again, possibly related to an alcohol licensing challenge with the state ABC. Dan and Sammy Harkham applied to sell beer and wine in July 2018. In late November, we noted this sort of license requires the theater to be a "bona fide public eating place." In early December, the Harkhams then filed another amendment to their building permit, noting a “change of use of [a] portion of [the] theater,” and for the first time mentioning food service with the addition of “uncovered outdoor dining.”

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The alcohol license remains unresolved. A protest against the application was recently lifted on a technicality related to filing dates, but as of early February another hold remains.

While Dan and Sammy Harkham, along with Erin Hensley and Kate Rouhandeh, try to keep the focus on Fairfax Cinema, they continue to be dogged by fallout from Cinefamily:

In December 2018, Los Angeles County filed yet another tax lien against Cinefamily and the Silent Movie Theater. (This is the second tax lien filed against Cinefamily since it ceased operations.)
Members and other Cinefamily creditors still report outstanding debts.
There has still been no public statement from the Cinefamily/Fairfax crew about any aspect of the Cinefamily snafu.
While Fairfax Cinema’s website and social media accounts remain silent, the various parody accounts seem to be active.

TL;DR

For the decade of Cinefamily’s existence, and for a certain sort of weirdo, the nonprofit single-screen cinematheque was the best thing about L.A.

In August 2017 we discovered Cinefamily was also a harmful place, especially for workers and for women. Reporting at the time focused on workplace sexual harassment, but when this website investigated we found a deeper rot. Former insiders told us of alleged assault, retaliation, wage theft, and embezzlement—as well as fraud against distributors, taxpayers, and regulators.

Cinefamily’s $2 million annual budget was subsidized by taxpayers and overseen by professionals. If the board of directors had done its job, damage may have been reduced, and Cinefamily might still exist. Instead, evidence indicates some directors were not only aware of problems, but were involved in covering them up.

This website provides original reporting as an ongoing call for institutional responsibility. We seek what the board promised: a credible and comprehensive accounting, victims heard and creditors paid, and a new approach to corporate governance and community accountability.

Please reach out with questions, complaints, tips.