Harlem the historic New York City neighborhood in northern Manhattan is experiencing its second Renaissance in a century. It began in the 1990s driven in part by people in search of affordable homes who flocked to the many large and beautiful brownstones along parks and on tree-lined streets there that had sadly fallen into disrepair. Unlike so many examples of gentrification though this one has not driven away the indigenous black and Latino culture that was born in the first Harlem Renaissance that took place from the 1920s through the 1930s. That era saw an explosion of the arts of all kinds – literature poetry dance music and theatre. Today still more than 80 percent of the people living in Central Harlem are black; the majority of the other residents are Hispanic. The timing seems ideal then for MIST Harlem – the country's first minority-owned entertainment center: a combined multiplex cinema live performance venue and restaurant. Driven by all the promise of digital cinema technology the $21 million 20 000 square foot MIST Harlem is a place where emerging and established black and Latino filmmakers actors musicians and other artists from around the world now have a home for their creativity.?? The opening of MIST Harlem is the culmination of a 20 year dream to create a venue to feature the culture of the entire African and Latino diaspora said Roland Laird CEO and co-owner of the venue's operating firm My Image Studios. Without question the most enthusiasm has come from the film industry particularly independent filmmakers. My partners and I made a significant investment in one 4K digital cinema projector and two 2K digital cinema projectors upgradable to 4K as well as top-quality sound equipment. Located on West 116th Street between Lenox and Fifth avenues MIST Harlem has a 130-seat restaurant and three performance/cinema spaces which will present on a seven day a week schedule the best in film live music spoken word and comedy. MIST which opened for business on November 30 will present art-house indie films as well as Hollywood films that feature black and Latino actors or were made by black or Latino directors. Pre-opening film screenings included scenes from Sweet Dreams a documentary about women in post-genocide Rwanda by Oscar and Emmy award-winning sibling filmmakers Lisa and Rob Fruchtman; a film industry screening of Middle of Nowhere directed by Ava DuVernay the first African American woman to win best director at the Sundance Film Festival; and premieres of the films Otelo Burning (directed by Sara Belcher set in South Africa) and Elza (directed by French filmmaker Marette Monpierre in the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe). Otelo Burning and Elza began two-week runs at MIST Harlem on November 30. The Loneliest Planet starring Gael García Bernal began a one-week run starting on December 7. ??MIST Harlem's restaurant Harvist has not yet opened but has been named one of the most anticipated new restaurant openings by New York Magazine Time Out New York and the New York Daily News among others.?? MIST Harlem is housed in the first floor of the Kalahari the 250-unit award-winning LEED Gold-certified condo. Harlem has undergone steep growth in the past dozen years with several thousands of new homes created bringing about a significant increase in average income of the area. Despite this the historic neighborhood remains underserved by restaurant and entertainment so in this respect MIST is design to capitalize on the pent-up demand. The owners describe MIST as Harlem’s living room where old Harlem and new Harlem can socialize. They believe that MIST Harlem will also be attractive to the more than one million tourists that visit Harlem annually.??For brands and advertising agencies MIST Harlem will offer on-screen advertising as well as venue-wide integrated marketing opportunities. Additionally the venue will launch a membership club that rewards frequent patronage while gathering data that can help craft new MIST Harlem marketing initiatives with brand partners.? Shortly after the opening I spoke with Taneshia Nash Laird MIST Harlem’s chief marketing officer. The venture is clearly a labor of love for her and her husband Roland the CEO. It took them many years to get MIST Harlem off the ground. Of her husband and his partners she says “They pounded the pavement looking for investors. Everybody thought we were insane.” The question many people asked was “Is there an audience for this.” But the Laird’s had done their research. One important statistic they uncovered was that in the past decade on 116th Street alone there have been 3000 new housing units built. “That can only increase the demand for services ” she says. Their financing came from New Markets Tax Credits with Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group as the tax credit investor. NMTC was created when during the Clinton administration and continues as a government program that encourages investment in urban and rural businesses and real estate ventures. From the very start they decided to build a complex that was capable of showing Hollywood films even though Hollywood movies will never be a primary focus of MIST Harlem. “We have to be realistic ” says Nash Laird which is why they went with DCI-compliant technology. One theater seats 164 and has a Christie-CP4220 4K and the other two seat 92 and have a Christie CP2210 2K DLP in each. This is new construction so there were no virtual print fee deals available. MIST Harlem currently has distribution agreements with Sony Lionsgate and ICF. Other distribution deals are in the works. “Ideally we will have one Hollywood film and two independent films” running at the same time she says but if Nash Laird was concerned about finding content those fears are subsiding. She has already received a call from the representatives of her favorite director in the world. They are making plans to show one of his personal films. She told me his name and he is a world famous artist but she asked me not to reveal it until the deal is completed. “MIST isn't just a cinema ” she says. “We are what we like to call a converged entertainment center; we do cinema we do live performances we have a restaurant and a bar in the lobby of our vast space that has reminded some as a hotel. But we were clear that on the cinema side it would be important to invest in digital cinema projectors. That investment would be key for providing the cinematic experience one looks for when they go to the movies. And with the DCPs we are right in line with the majors.” As for patrons many of the first screenings have been standing-room-only and interest remains high. “Someone called me from Vermont and she came to a screening ” Nash Laird says. “It’s amazing that there’s this audience. The key for us is our membership club.” MIST charges a one-time fee of $25 that Nash Laird says returns a minimum of $20 in benefits that members can spend at the theatre. Members will also be invited to free screenings. Nash Laird acknowledges that MIST Harlem might not have been conceivable before the advent of digital cinema technology. Still she fully understands that the technology can only take them so far. “I personally think the move to digital has somewhat democratized the industry ” she says. “We recently projected a Blu ray with our 4K at MIST for an industry screening for awards contention of an indie film that has done big business and the director was taken in by the incredible resolution. We just have to pick the right films.”
