Sag Harbor Partnership Announces Last Round Of Fundraising Efforts To Purchase Cinema

The year 2017 is running out—and so is the Sag Harbor Partnership’s opportunity to raise $8 million to buy the Sag Harbor Cinema.

The community organization has until December 31 to raise the money to purchase the Sag Harbor Cinema property on Main Street from its owner, Gerald Mallow. While the cinema’s facade and front lobby had to be torn down after suffering serious smoke damage from a fire on December 16 last year, the main screening room survived.

In April, the partnership announced plans to raise the $8 million to buy the property with a plan to rebuild the cinema and rename it the Sag Harbor Cinema Arts Center, adding two more screening rooms and introducing community art programs to its offerings.

So far, the effort has raised a little more than $6.5 million. A representative of the partnership said on Monday that the deadline to raise the money is still set as December 31, and if the goal of $8 million is not met by that time, the partnership will cancel the budget for the cinema and refund all donations.

“We are so grateful for the outpouring of support we have received from residents, small businesses and people from across the East End who have supported this effort over the past eight months,” said April Gornik, vice president of the partnership, in a press release on Monday.

“Our mission, since the beginning, has been to preserve the power of independent film and educational programming through cinema arts on the East End. As we prepare to close on this deal, and begin the reconstruction phase of our effort, we hope everyone will join us in this effort to build our beloved cinema a new state-of-the-art home on Main Street.”

To help push donations over the $8 million mark, the partnership announced a new set of fundraising efforts. After raising $50,000 last week, the partnership announced that an anonymous donor had matched that with another $50,000.

The partnership has launched a “Save A Seat” campaign, where those who donate $5,000 or more can name a seat in the screening room after their favorite movie, actor or anything dear to their heart.

As a preview of the type of programs the Cinema Arts Center will show if completed, the partnership also announced an “American Values” series for this winter: 10 films meant to celebrate, explore and challenge elements of American life. While no definite location for the film screenings has yet been set, they will be hosted by some famous names, including Oscar-winning actress Julie Andrews, who would host a screening of her 1964 war drama, “The Americanization of Emily”; journalist Carl Bernstein, speaking after a showing of the 1976 dramatization of the Watergate investigation, “All the President’s Men”; and Carter Burwell, introducing the 2010 remake of the western “True Grit,” for which he composed the music.

Those looking to donate before the year is up can still visit sagharborcinema.org/donate.