Picture from Film Forum website
With the holidays coming up, keep in mind that that someone on your holiday gift list is sure to be a film lover. While the obvious gift is purchasing someone’s favorite movie on Blu-ray, DVD, or via Itunes, we at Arts America like to think of the bigger picture. Here are some holiday gift ideas for your fellow independent film fans:
1. A gift certificate to a local indie theater — Here’s a little known secret among indie film fans — most of those theaters that specialize in our favorite independent and foreign films often offer gift certificates. Treat your fellow film lover with the gift of film on the large screen and purchase one of these treasures for their holiday viewing pleasure. For an example, New York’s Angelika theater offers gift cards.
2. Arts Museum Memberships like the Museum of Modern Art — If you’re lucky enough to live by a great arts museum like the MOMA, chances are they might have a great membership deal that includes various film screenings, entrances to film festivals and Q&A’s with directors and actors. MOMA has a fantastic package in the vein of their Film Plus membership, which offers unlimited free museum admission, entrance to 1,500 free films a year, and $5 guest tickets.
3. Tickets to a film festival — Since there are film lovers everywhere, there’s a good chance that there’s a film festival in a city or town close to you. Or, even better, consider treating a loved one to a weekend trip or vacation to a festival a little further away. Don’t just think of the famous festivals like the Tribeca Film Festival. There’s the Action on Action Festival in Pasadena, California, which is one of the fastest growing festivals in America or the Nantucket Film Festival, which is known to promote cultural awareness and the art of screenwriting.
4. Membership to a local indie house — Similar to items number one and four on this list, another wonderful gift idea for an indie movie fanatic is a full membership to their local indie art house. A great example is the gift membership you can purchase at a place like New York City’s Film Forum, a nonprofit independent movie theater. The fee is tax deductible, and the membership itself offers discounted tickets to films and a different array of privileges depending on your membership level.
Whatever you choose to purchase this holiday season, keep in mind — not only will you be granting the gift of great independent film to someone, you’ll be supporting independent film itself.
