Barrymore Film Center coming to Fort Lee; will include 260-seat cinema

FORT LEE — Relics of the borough's history in film will find a new home when the Barrymore Film Center opens in 2019.

The borough discussed an update on plans for the center – which is named for actor John Barrymore and will include a 260-seat cinema  – at last week's Mayor and Council meeting. Mayor Mark Sokolich said the council plans to solicit bids in the spring and award a contract by the fall.

"There is no other institution in the state of New Jersey like this one," said Tom Meyers, executive director of the Fort Lee Film Commission. "This is the state that gave birth to the American film industry."

The Film Commission's film archive will move from the Fort Lee Museum to the new film center, which will be part of the second tower of The Modern, which is nearly completed. The commission's relationships with other film archives and museums – such as the Museum of the Moving Image in New York City – will let it borrow collections to showcase aspects of film industry such as women filmmakers, Meyers said.

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"This is important to us as Alice Guy Blaché, who built Solax Studio in Fort Lee, is the first woman director and filmmaker and made hundreds of films in Fort Lee," he said.

In addition to the exhibits, Meyers said the center will offer programs to teach film making, including a "boot camp" for students and working with interns from programs such as the NYU Costume Studies Program and Moving Image graduate program. 

The center's theater will showcase classic American and foreign films, art house films, silent films from Fort Lee's early days in the film industry and newer films from students and other filmmakers, Meyers said, adding the center will also play host to film festivals.

"We believe we can become one of the leading film centers in the nation given that our film center will be built on the street where the American film industry was born, a few short blocks from the first homes of Fox Studio and Universal Studio," Meyers said.

Sokolich said the center is a perfect fit for The Modern's soon-to-be-completed apartment complex, as it can draw in people not only from Fort Lee, but other towns, which will in turn support businesses near the center.

While entry to the museum will be free, programs such as the boot camp will have charges to offset costs and the film commission has created a nonprofit organization in the Friends of the Barrymore Film Center to apply for grants and seek donations.

The plans were on display at borough hall Thursday as the Fort Lee Film Commission held its 13th annual Jersey Filmmakers of Tomorrow Bergen County High School Student Film Festival Awards Ceremony.

Sokolich said the next step in the process is continuing to finalize the plans before going out to bid.

"This is going to be a considerable investment by the community, so we're insisting it be done perfectly," Sokolich said. "We're really excited about it. We think if this is done right, this can become a trophy for Fort Lee."

As reported in May, the borough gave the film commission a $1.6 million boost toward the project in a bond ordinance. Other construction funding will come from a $1.8 million contribution from developer SJP Properties, donations raised by a nonprofit dedicated to the film center, and tax dollars generated from redevelopment zone 5, which includes The Modern and Hudson Lights retail area.