Film Forum

200 Varick Street | also 204 Varick Street, 209 West Houston Street, 51 King Street | Hudson Square | built 1926

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Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

  1. 1990

    Film Forum opens at 209 West Houston Street after months without a theater

    After its Watts Street cinema closed in 1989 and was torn down, Film Forum opened in 1990 in a new space it leased for 20 years, located between Sixth Avenue and Varick Street. The 10,000-square-foot cinema was twice the size of the old one and had three screens, with 137, 148 and 173 seats. The Watts Street marquee was saved and put up again at the new entrance.

    “Film Forum signed a 20-year lease at 209 West Houston Street, between Sixth Avenue and Varick Street, and opened there in 1990 after several months without a venue.”

    Source: Wikipedia

  2. 1990

    Karen Cooper tells her architect to build something between Bauhaus and Pee-wee

    Director Karen Cooper wanted the theater near the 1 subway line, a requirement that programmer Bruce Goldstein explained by saying its audience had followed it downtown from the Upper West Side. She also gave the architect a playful brief, asking for a cross of Bauhaus modernism and the set of Pee-wee's Playhouse, and picked the lobby art herself. The building, a former printing plant, cost $3.2 million.

    “Cooper designed the building, instructing the architect that it should resemble "a cross between the Bauhaus and Pee-wee's Playhouse", and selected the artwork hung in the lobby.”

    Source: Wikipedia

  3. 1994

    Greenwich Village preservationists honor a theater that is technically in SoHo

    In 1994 the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation gave Film Forum a Village Award. The honor came even though the cinema, on West Houston Street, technically lies in SoHo rather than the Village.

    “In 1994, Film Forum was honored with a Village Award by the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, even though it is technically in SoHo.”

    Source: Wikipedia

  4. 2007

    A board member buys a King Street brownstone to house Film Forum's offices

    In 2007 a member of Film Forum's board bought a brownstone on King Street so the organization's offices could move in. The house stands around the corner from the Houston Street cinema.

    Source: Wikipedia

  5. 2018

    May

    Film Forum closes for a $5 million rebuild that adds a fourth screen

    Announced in September 2017, the project added a fourth auditorium in adjoining space and rebuilt the other three, which had been left untouched since 1990. New seats were wider with more legroom, and the floors were steepened with stadium seating at the back. Stephen Tilly, who designed the earlier Watts Street theater, oversaw the work. The theater shut in May 2018 and reopened that summer.

    “The screening rooms had not been altered since the building opened in 1990... The theater closed for construction in May 2018 and reopened that summer.”

    Source: Wikipedia

  6. 2021

    April 2

    Film Forum reopens after almost 13 months dark, with 38 seats in its biggest room

    Closed for nearly thirteen months by the COVID-19 pandemic, the theater welcomed audiences again on April 2, 2021, though the city then capped attendance at 25 percent of capacity. That meant 38 people at most in the biggest auditorium and 20 in the smallest. Masks were required, concessions were suspended, and reserved seating replaced first-come admission until March 2022.

    Source: Wikipedia

  7. 2021

    September

    Remnants of Hurricane Ida flood into a Film Forum screening

    Water from the remnants of Hurricane Ida got into the building in September 2021 while a film was playing, and the audience was sent out. Damage was slight, and screenings resumed the next day.

    “In September 2021, water from the remnants of Hurricane Ida entered the building during a screening and the audience was evacuated; damage was slight…”

    Source: Wikipedia

  8. 2023

    July 1

    Karen Cooper steps down after 51 years and Sonya Chung takes over

    Cooper, who had directed Film Forum since 1972, stepped down at the end of June 2023 and stayed on as an advisor. Novelist Sonya Chung, a former Skidmore College English teacher who had worked in the theater's development department, became director on July 1. She left in December 2025.

    Source: Wikipedia

  9. 2026

    February 23

    Tabitha Jackson, former Sundance Film Festival director, takes over Film Forum

    Film Forum named Tabitha Jackson its director on February 2, 2026; she started on February 23, making her the third person in the job in under three years. She had begun at the BBC and later directed the Sundance Film Festival from 2020 to 2022. Her role oversees programming instead of making day-to-day selections.

    “Tabitha Jackson was named director on February 2, 2026, and took up the post on February 23, the third person to hold it in under three years.”

    Source: Wikipedia

Further reading

Nearby

All 79 buildings with stories in Hudson Square