Many rumors circulate about the role that Landmark has played in trying to promote their location. One set of tales says that they did more than simply run art films to hurt Key Cinema, even going so far as to work with their booking agents to prevent a number of alternative films from reaching the south side. Another set of tales says that’s all wrong, and that the problem rests with Landmark’s Chicago office and their negative attitudes toward smaller markets. A final set of tales focuses upon the Simon family’s role, and their loss of interest as their members have relocated to other cities.

Enjoyable as such rumors are, they all probably miss a key point. Art, international, and alternative cinema attract some distinctive demographics that you don’t see attending the multiplex. They are demographics that you find in a number of central Indiana census tracts. If Landmark fails to serve those markets, there is real opportunity for others.

You are correct that an independent art theater could do the job. But any locally owned or managed multiplex might find that they could devote one or more screens to something more than the dozen films you can see everywhere. A few are currently flirting with this approach. Support for them might help to create a greater range of alternatives than we now see at the Crossings.

Regarding the Keystone Arts: They are just responding to the local market here- they get better turnout for movies like The Blind Side than they do for most art films, so they show a fair number of mainstream films. Why people feel compelled to go to that theater to see movies they can see elsewhere is a mystery to me, with a few exceptions. (Sex and the City and Inglourious Basterds both played well to people who brought their drinks over from the theater’s “Indie Lounge”, from what I hear.)

The sad thing is that the theater’s early emphasis on art films helped to kill off the Key Cinemas- and now that the Key is gone, the Keystone Arts followed the money by showing more mainstream movies more often.

I am now convinced that the only solution is for someone to start a new, independent art theater- with two to four screens, and Hi-Def video projection (but with a film projector as well, for those times wben it is needed)- in Indianapolis. Finding the money for such a venture wouldn’t be easy, especially now- so I’m hoping that some eccentric multi-millionaire in the area has an itch to start an arthouse.