Film Institute Breaks Ground for Expansion

On Wednesday the Bryn Mawr Film Institute broke ground on the final phase of its creation, a plan to add two new screening rooms, renovate the current screening rooms and renovate and add new restrooms.

A $5.5 million campaign will pay for all of that, plus pay off some of the organization's debt.

The additional theater auditoriums, which will have about 145 seats each, will entice film distributors and allow the theater to move around its showing and keep offerings fresh, said Pat Wesley, Director of Development and Communications.

This phase has always been part of the institute's plan. It is the final phase in the theater's 8-year-old life.

In order to make it work, the institute did a land swap with Main Line Health Realty. They traded ownership of their parking lot for a piece of grassy land located directly west of the institute's building.

Inside the new and current theaters, the "creature comforts" will be improved, Wesley said. Existing restrooms will be upgraded, and the expansion will have its own restrooms. Also, a light and sound buffering area will be added to the theaters so that patrons' comings and goings during a film are less noticeable.

The $5.5 million campaign also paid for new digital projectors, which are up and running. "Over the summer it became evident that by 2013 a lot of films would not be available for 35 mm," Wesley said.

Wesley said they hope to have everything completed by this time next year.

"Our entire history has been one of asking the community for money," she said. "They have been remarkable."