Board of Directors
An October 2023 lawsuit filed by a former employee of Louis Black — of the Austin Chronicle, SXSW, and the Cinefamily Board of Directors — accuses Black of sexual assault and and forced labor. These and other charges are nearly identical to those made against other Cinefamily Directors in 2017.
Read MoreCinefamily founder and board member Sammy Harkham took a break between stints of film programming at his theater on Fairfax to write about Hollywood men behaving badly. We take a closer look at Sammy’s graphic novel and his broken promises of creating a safe and responsible workplace.
Read MoreWhat 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 MoreAfter months of pandemic-related shutdown, cinema-going in Los Angeles is ramping back up, and films are once more being shown commercially at the Silent Movie Theater. And once more, operations resume with another change in branding: the space is now called “Brain Dead Studios,” following its brief run as Fairfax Cinema and, before that, 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 MoreDan Harkham filed Cinefamily’s 2017 taxes. Most of the document is either missing or incoherent, but we try to make sense of the numbers.
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:
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…
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 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 MoreCinefamily 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.
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 MoreCalifornia files a tax lien against Cinefamily and the Silent Movie Theater. Again. The Harkhams and Fairfax Cinema should probably deal with this sort of thing.
Read MoreAfter yet another derailed attempt at straightforward communications with the Harkhams about Cinefamily, Fairfax Cinema, and the Silent Movie Theater, we release this letter, marking the one-year anniversary of the Board’s failure.
Read MoreFormer Cinefamily Board President Simon Oré breaks the board’s long silence and Shadie Elnashai teases a conversation. Dan Harkham and other board members keep on keeping their heads down.
Read MoreWe wrote a report about Cinefamily, the board of directors, the Harkhams, Fairfax Cinema, the Silent Movie Theater, and lots more. We sent it off to people in charge at the Attorney General, Secretary of State, Franchise Tax Board, IRS, and District Attorney. They let us know they got it.
Read MoreWe reached out to several indie distributors. Some had been approached by Fairfax Cinema, but none was prepared to do business with the Cinefamily rebrand, citing outstanding debts and “financial scammery.” Former Cinefamily members throw shade.
Read MoreThat missing legal disclosure about Dan Harkham’s control over the Cinefamily board of directors? It may, in fact, be a true computer error— albeit one that deprived the L.A. film community of critical information.
Read More![(Another) Cinefamily Board Member Accused of Sexual Assault [2023]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d859da3ebd96315b08954f5/1699988711942-SW9VYIV2GWA2E79O2RNA/louis+black.jpg)
