In a city where streaming has left many movie theaters in the dark, the Clay Theatre's upcoming revival strikes a nostalgic chord among San Francisco’s film aficionados. The historic movie house, situated at 2261 Fillmore Street and a mainstay since at least 1913, plans to light up the silver screen as early as 2026 after a five-year closure, as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle.
The Clay's comeback story is bolstered by venture capitalist Neil Mehta, a former local who's steering the theater's renaissance, with Ted Gerike, founder of Los Angeles's microcinema Now Instant, spearheading creative direction for the project much like a love letter to this cultural cornerstone and its legacy infrastructure and with a slew of new additions promises to resonate with both long-time film buffs and fresh-faced cinephiles alike. According to SFGATE, the renovated space will include 200 seats and host over 500 screenings annually, boasting 35mm and 4K digital projection capabilities, while maintaining the theater's landmark features.
Membership in the Upper Fillmore Revitalization Project, the organization behind this awaited facelift, appears to usher in a multifaceted era of cinema; Gerike envisions the Clay as both a venue supporting local voices and a portal to global cinematic dialogues, as he expressed, per the San Francisco Chronicle and with an ambitious slate of programming that echoes the neighborhood's diverse and vibrant film history, this is a development many residents and movie-goers yearn to see unfold.
The Clay's planned renovation has been warmly received in a cityscape still reeling from the impact of the pandemic on the arts sector, including Marc Huestis, a local filmmaker, Gary Meyer, co-founder of the Landmark Theatres chain, and others like Steve Indig, a former Landmark marketing director, who see Mehta's plans as a hopeful tilt towards the resurgence of San Francisco's storied silver screen relay point among local theaters that foster an intimate atmosphere for patrons desperate to dive into the world of indie films and cinematic storytelling again, something John Waters, the cult director with a history at the Clay.
