{"id":200830,"date":"2026-04-17T16:05:36","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T16:05:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/200830\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T16:05:36","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T16:05:36","slug":"how-gregory-hernandez-is-bringing-independent-cinema-back-to-the-bronx","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/200830\/","title":{"rendered":"How Gregory Hernandez Is Bringing Independent Cinema Back to the Bronx"},"content":{"rendered":"

As CinemaCon continues in Las Vegas, where some of the most passionate advocates for the theatrical experience are unveiling new films\u2014including Christopher Nolan<\/a>, Steven Spielberg<\/a>, and Tom Cruise<\/a>\u2014it\u2019s an excellent reminder of how central the experience of going to the movie theater is to growing up, and how crucial the theaters is are as communal spaces.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why this is a great week to introduce readers to Gregory Hernandez, the founder of the Bronx Independent Cinema Center<\/a>. Hernandez\u2019s mission is to reintroduce the film world to this vital borough, a historic, vibrant piece of the country\u2019s largest city that, for too long, has been underrepresented in film and industry access. Hernandez has identified the lack of dedicated spaces for independent film screenings and networking and aims to fill the gap by creating a dedicated cinema center, which will include incubator programs and career development opportunities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We spoke to Hernandez about his dream of restoring the Bronx\u2019s rich theater history (it was once home to more than 100 theaters\u2014it now has two, for a borough with 1.4 million residents), the patience required to see this vision through, and why a theater is much more than a place to watch a great film.<\/p>\n

\"\"Bronx Career Expo, put on by the Bronx Independent Cinema Center.<\/p>\n

Gregory, thanks for joining us. To start, can you introduce yourself and explain how the Bronx Independent Cinema Center came to be?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a filmmaker from the Bronx\u2014born and raised in what is statistically the poorest congressional district in the country, just blocks away from Yankee Stadium. I grew up going to the movies on 161st Street, and when that theater closed, it really hit me. I realized we didn\u2019t have a neighborhood movie theater anymore.<\/p>\n

Which is shocking for a borough the size of the Bronx.<\/p>\n

When I started looking into it, I learned there were only two movie theaters in the entire borough, serving nearly 1.4 million people. In 2022, I debuted a documentary I made about literacy in the Bronx. At the time, we only had one bookstore in the borough\u2014we have two now\u2014so there\u2019s clearly a correlation between a lack of independent third spaces and access to culture and education.<\/p>\n

Where did your doc screen?<\/p>\n

That documentary screened at an AMC in Bay Plaza, which wasn\u2019t easy to get to. Only one theater was open then because of the pandemic, and that experience made something very clear to me: we need more spaces like this, especially for people who remember what these neighborhood theaters meant, and for younger people coming up now. That same year, I founded the Bronx Independent Cinema Center. I serve as executive director, and we\u2019re a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Our belief is simple: bring people together to watch films, talk about movies, history, and trivia, and connect people to careers in the industry\u2014whether as filmmakers, film workers, or people who want to be in the orbit of the business.<\/p>\n

Film is community. It\u2019s education, career readiness, and workforce development. And if we don\u2019t have spaces for local audiences to gather, how do we continue telling our stories visually?<\/p>\n

\"\"At the Bronx Career Expo, held by the Bronx Independent Cinema Center.<\/p>\n

The idea of keeping talent in the borough comes up again and again in your work. Why is that so important to you?<\/p>\n

I know so many filmmakers who leave the Bronx because they don\u2019t see opportunity here. So the question is: how do we keep that human capital? There\u2019s so much raw, undeveloped talent. I have a background in workforce development, and I believe deeply in training people in different career pathways and trades\u2014getting them certified, getting them into union pipelines, and into real industry jobs. We can talk about statistics and income levels all day, but at the end of it, I shouldn\u2019t have to leave my borough to go to the movies. I shouldn\u2019t have to leave my borough to train for the industry I want to work in. This is New York City. We\u2019re one of the five boroughs. The industry needs to come uptown.<\/p>\n

What does your long-term vision for the Cinema Center look like?<\/p>\n

Our North Star is a dual-screen cinema: one screen dedicated to arthouse and local independent films, and another for commercial and classic films. But it\u2019s more than a theater. It\u2019s a space for exhibition, career development, and community engagement. We\u2019re now in our fourth year. We\u2019ve done indoor and outdoor screenings, workshops, series, and one-off events, fireside chats with industry professionals, career expos, and panels. We\u2019ve brought the industry to the Bronx. Now we need to build something permanent.<\/p>\n

\"\"Bronx Career Expo.<\/p>\n

How are you approaching finding a permanent space?<\/p>\n

We\u2019re talking with churches and community centers that aren\u2019t in use and exploring how to convert them. I\u2019m a homeowner in the Bronx\u2014I\u2019m staying here. I believe this can be a viable engine for economic and workforce development. It can boost tourism. We could host major festivals here. We\u2019re already doing Bronx Film Week, and we want to establish a full Bronx Film Festival. If you\u2019re a filmmaker from the Bronx, your film should be able to premiere here. We can be a first-run cinema center that\u2019s educational, entertaining, and part of a vibrant workforce pipeline.<\/p>\n

Have you spoken with other independent cinema leaders as you work toward that goal?<\/p>\n

Yes. I\u2019ve spoken with folks at BAM Film Forum, IFC, and Stewart Cinema. Emmeline Stewart, who runs a dual-screen theater, recently moved from Greenpoint to Long Island City. I\u2019ve talked with the Maysles Documentary Center<\/a> in Harlem, the Long Island Cinema Arts Center, and even driven up to Bedford Playhouse. There are also vibrant Black-owned cinemas in Maryland and Baltimore that people should really check out. I also want to shout out people like Eileen Lovell in Canarsie and Melissa Lide of Alfredo Cinema in Brooklyn. Karma is creating a cinema focused on short films. I think we\u2019re seeing a real resurgence\u2014maybe even a renaissance\u2014where people realize they can watch at home, but they can also go to a curated local theater and experience something communal.<\/p>\n

Where are you operating from now?<\/p>\n

We currently operate out of an incubator space through a college. We have office space and run screenings, workshops, and a monthly film club there. We\u2019ve identified four potential locations in the Bronx and spoken with all the owners. Three don\u2019t want to sell.<\/p>\n

The fourth\u2014where we\u2019ve put all our chips\u2014is a former church space in the Tremont area that could operate as a single-screen cinema. It would be our first home. It\u2019s about a million dollars to acquire.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re working with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand\u2019s team to apply for congressional direct spending. The plan is in three phases: acquire the property, apply for capital funding to renovate it, and then secure additional funding\u2014whether from elected officials, banks, or loans\u2014to make it viable in the long term. If things align, we hope to move out of the incubator and into our own space by the end of this fiscal year. With additional capital funding, we could fully build out a robust cinema center.<\/p>\n

What has it been like advocating for this project at the city and state levels?<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve got to put on every hat. I was in Albany shaking hands with elected officials, and everyone has different priorities. Some focus on healthcare, veterans, mental health, and housing. You have to make the case that this supports entrepreneurship, workforce development, and economic growth. I even had an assembly member look at me and say, \u201cYou\u2019re the theater guy.\u201d And I had to respond: \u201cIt\u2019s not just a theater\u2014it\u2019s more than a theater.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a process that sounds like it requires considerable patience and perseverance. <\/p>\n

People doubt you at first. Then they start to know you. Then they take you seriously. Consultants told me nonprofits really need to pass that three-year benchmark. Now we\u2019re in year four, with three tax returns. Elected officials know who we are. City Council has funded us before. They\u2019ve attended our events. We\u2019re building a reputation in real time.<\/p>\n

\"\"Gregory Hernandez<\/p>\n

How do you keep going when funding doesn\u2019t come through right away?<\/p>\n

I still work other jobs. Nobody is on a salary. If I stop, everything stops. So it\u2019s about patience and pragmatism. I don\u2019t treat \u201cno\u201d as no\u2014I treat it as \u201cnot yet.\u201d We ask for feedback. We improve. We ask the community who\u2019s good at grants, who knows who. We\u2019re trying to connect with people like Kerry Washington, Julia Garner\u2014anyone who believes in this mission. An independent theater is democratic. Every generation can come. You can see a new franchise movie or a restored classic you never got to experience in theaters. That communal experience is essential.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your current team like?<\/p>\n

We focus on partnership and delegation. My colleague Bernadette Mahoney leads our history-of-cinema project. Our volunteer Gordon Taft leads research and assessments. We work with Fordham University, Monroe, CUNY, and the Bronx Historical Society. We\u2019re also realistic: we need funding for operations, for capital, and for programming. Even as a nonprofit, it\u2019s a business model\u2014ticket sales, space rentals, tours, education, and content creation. This is why we\u2019re constantly refining our pitch deck and strengthening our data. Before the end of the decade, I believe we\u2019ll have our forever home\u2014a multi-screen cinema that truly belongs to the Bronx.<\/p>\n

Featured image: Gregory Hernandez.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As CinemaCon continues in Las Vegas, where some of the most passionate advocates for the theatrical experience are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":200831,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,79697,9,24,63,129,131,130],"class_list":{"0":"post-200830","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-the-bronx","8":"tag-bronx","9":"tag-cinemacon-2026","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-city","12":"tag-nyc","13":"tag-the-bronx","14":"tag-the-bronx-headlines","15":"tag-the-bronx-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}