The Wake

Photo by Ben Lansky

The red and white glow of the Oak Street Cinema marquee has been welcoming cinema stars and audiences for over a decade, but after two years of financial struggle, it seems the beloved movie house is likely to be sold to investors to make way for retail development and housing.

“It is really a financial reality,” said Stephen Zuckerman, president of Minnesota Film Arts (MFA), which owns the Oak. “The theater would need a lot of changes, and we just don’t have the money to do it.” MFA and a group of developers who own property near the theater are currently negotiating the sale, but nothing has been finalized.

“Nothing is ever done until it is done,” said Susan Smoluchoski, an MFA board member. “The theater has been up for sale three times in the past and has yet to be sold,” Zuckerman added.

Oak Street Cinema opened in 1916 near the corner of Oak Street and Washington Avenue, where it served as a film venue under the student-friendly moniker, the Campus, until it closed in 1989. It wasn’t a film venue again until 1995, when a group led by Bob Cowgill, now a professor at Augsburg College, founded Oak Street Cinema. Since its inception, Oak Street Cinema has housed multiple film festivals, including the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival, and brought the works of local, foreign, independent, and art filmmakers to the dedicated cinephiles of the Twin Cities.

In 2003, Cowgill and the Oak Street Cinema merged with the U Film Society to create MFA. The goal of MFA was to bring independent, international, and historical cinema to the Twin Cities and greater Minnesotan audiences, as well as to establish film as a community-supported art form. However, when Cowgill accepted a teaching job at Augsburg College in 2004, just six months after the formation of MFA, the board was forced to find a new executive director. Then the troubles began.

“We wouldn’t have gone through the merger if we had known [Cowgill] wasn’t going to stay long term,” said Zuckerman. “We were under the impression that he was going to be our leader.”

The MFA quickly hired Jamie Hook as the new executive director; however, he was fired 11 months later in September of 2005 after it was discovered that he neglected to apply for several grants and accumulated more than $75,000 in debt for the organization. Hook was never replaced, and the staff of Oak Street Cinema dwindled down. Since then, co-founder Al Milgrom and MFA board member Tim Grady have been keeping the Oak alive with their own money.

Today, over two years later, the theater finds itself with virtually no paid staff and mounting debt. Cowgill, angered by a lack of cooperation from the MFA, started a group called Save the Oak in a last attempt to rescue the theater he founded. But Zuckerman feels his argument is, “looking in the mirror,” and that a major reason the Oak is in its current state is because Cowgill left. Whether it was a lack of marketing and managerial skills, or the loss of Cowgill, the fate of the theater lies in the result of the current sale discussions.

“The theater is up for sale, but we are not expecting a wrecking ball to hit any time soon,” said Andrea Ferber, MFA office coordinator. Although a story recently run in the Star Tribune said the theater was likely to be demolished after the 26th Annual Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival, Milgrom claims this is false. “As sure as the swallows return to Capistrano, the annual ‘Nightmare on Oak Street’ stories surfaced again this year in the papers,” Milgrom said in an e-mail message sent out to MFA board members.

“Let me assure you faithful supporters and film friends, contrary to impressions left, both the Oak Street Cinema and Bell Auditorium will be (and are) in business after the fest in May and who knows how long after.” he said. The theater will keep running until the sale is finalized, but both Milgrom and Zuckerman acknowledge that a sale is necessary. “We are all hoping that the sale will regenerate the [MFA],” Zuckerman said.

Bickering aside, everyone agrees that the show must go on. The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival, running from April 17 through May 3, may be the last time movie lovers can enjoy the cinematic experience that Oak Street Cinema has to offer. Although the building’s future has yet to be signed away, the sale seems likely. When it happens, the Twin Cities will loose far more than just a movie house. Oak Street Cinema is a respectable establishment that has honored and loved both film and the community for years. One can only hope that tradition will continue.