Scanning the Landscape

August 26, 2022 in commentary

In 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?

Arthouse 101 for Hypebeasts

July 12, 2022 in commentary

We hope that Brain Dead Studios offers a more safe and responsible work environment than the one that the Harkhams oversaw at Cinefamily.

Harkhams Fade into Background as Operations Resume

May 06, 2021 in original reporting

After 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.

TL;DR

For the decade of Cinefamily’s existence, and for a certain sort of weirdo, the nonprofit single-screen cinematheque was the best thing about L.A.

In August 2017 we discovered Cinefamily was also a harmful place, especially for workers and for women. Reporting at the time focused on workplace sexual harassment, but when this website investigated we found a deeper rot. Former insiders told us of alleged assault, retaliation, wage theft, and embezzlement—as well as fraud against distributors, taxpayers, and regulators.

Cinefamily’s $2 million annual budget was subsidized by taxpayers and overseen by professionals. If the board of directors had done its job, damage may have been reduced, and Cinefamily might still exist. Instead, evidence indicates some directors were not only aware of problems, but were involved in covering them up.

This website provides original reporting as an ongoing call for institutional responsibility. We seek what the board promised: a credible and comprehensive accounting, victims heard and creditors paid, and a new approach to corporate governance and community accountability.

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