Moore Kills Secret Cinema

While the theater and live arts scenes in Philadelphia continue to grow and prosper, the film community continues to shrink into oblivion. Remember the TLA? The Roxy? The Sharon Pinkenson film program at the Prince? Now, I find out that Moore College of Art and Design has jettisoned Secret Cinema.

Over the last 15 years at Moore, Secret Cinema founder Jay Schwartz has screened some of the weirdest and most wonderful movies, cartoons, commercials and PSAs available on celluloid. But he says that last month, the school told him that his services were no longer needed. Worse, they sent word in an email. A three-sentence email.

Lame.

Today, a Moore spokesperson sent me the following statement from college president Happy Fernandez:

We appreciate the value Secret Cinema has brought to the Moore community as well as Philadelphia’s film community. For many years, Moore provided Secret Cinema with a venue free-of-charge and then at minimal cost. Due to the challenging economic times and the fact that in recent years few students have chosen to participate, the College has decided to end the agreement.

Lame.

On his website, Schwartz writes that the school’s move “throws our entire operation into jeopardy.” He’s asking fans to contact Moore on his behalf and tell them that they want their Secret Cinema. Meh. Forget Moore and move on, Jay. You can do better.