2017 ANNUAL REPORT DEAR SUPPORTERS AN EVENTFUL YEAR 2017 was nothing less than monumental for Film Streams. We welcomed one of the As I look back at my time as Chair of the Film Streams Board of Directors, I am struck by greatest actresses of our time, Julianne Moore, for our seventh gala at the Holland the extraordinary growth our organization has experienced and I am incredibly proud Center and broke our previous fundraising record with Feature VII. We celebrated of how this growth has come in service to our mission and community. Our staff and the 10th Anniversary of our original home, the Ruth Sokolof Theater. And most operating budget have doubled over the past few years, but what is most important is the significantly, thanks to the completion of a successful capital campaign that involved work this translates into: more outstanding new releases reaching a big screen in Omaha, more than 700 individuals, families, foundations, and corporations, we celebrated more opportunities for our community to interact with visiting filmmakers and guest the restoration and reopening of the historic Dundee Theater on December 1st. artists, more film-education offerings for audiences of all ages, and more time and space devoted to using the power of film as a springboard for face-to-face conversations. All the while, we continued to provide meaningful programs for our community, celebrating the art of film while maximizing its potential to build connections and I have served on numerous boards and committees for nonprofits on a local and national improve the quality of life for our audiences. And I’m pleased to say, those audiences level. Film Streams’ fiscal responsibility is a model for other nonprofits. Film Streams are growing. We proudly welcomed more than 70,000 patrons for our programs in 2017. was a sound organization when I first joined the board in 2009, and it has become Close to 6,000 students from dozens of schools attended daytime education screenings. even more so in the years since. The 2012 purchase of the building that houses the Another 1,000 took advantage of free programs for students on the first Monday of Ruth Sokolof Theater, our home in North Downtown, was a major step toward long- every month, and more than 1,600 underserved children and families enjoyed free term sustainability. And now our expansion to the renovated Dundee Theater, paid in popcorn and tickets to diverse film offerings through our Widman Engagement Fund. full through our successful capital campaign, gives us more ways to fulfill our mission. Already, the Dundee has enhanced our programming capacity and elevated our potential Each of these numbers represent experiences that can shift individual perspectives, promote for community impact, while reactivating a beloved historic cinema for Omaha. empathy, and impact lives. The shared experiences we’re providing for community members are contributing to the vibrancy of our community and, we hope, to a more just society. This is a great time to be part of Film Streams. As a patron, as a member, as a volunteer, as a funder, as a community partner — whatever your involvement, please know how much we I couldn’t be more pleased to report that our first months operating two venues value your role and how excited we are about what the future holds at both the Ruth Sokolof have yielded results well beyond our expectations. One of the most heartening Theater and Dundee Theater. After two years as Chair, I am pleased to welcome my talented figures is how significantly membership has grown: we are currently proudly serving colleague Dan Lonergan as the new leader of this terrific board of directors. I look forward to more than 3,400 households, a more than 66% increase since this time last year. working alongside Dan, Rachel, and the entire Film Streams team as we enter a new era for Our staff cares so much and works so hard. Our board is wonderfully engaged and this organization and we expand the presentation and discussion of film in our community. committed. When you choose to support our organization through membership and financial contributions, it is incredibly heartwarming and wonderfully validating. See you at the movies. Best wishes and thanks for a wonderful year, Sincerely, Rachel Jacobson Paul G. Smith Film Streams Executive Director Film Streams Board Chair, 2016-2017 NEW RELEASES Most Popular New Releases 1 — Downsizing 2 — Lady Bird 3 — The Academy Award-Nominated Short Films 4 — Loving Vincent 60 5 — The Florida Project 6 — Jackie 7 — I Am Not Your Negro NEW 8 — Beatriz at Dinner 9 — The Disaster Artist RELEASES 10 — The Beguiled SHOWN Most Popular Documentaries 1 — I Am Not Your Negro IN 2 — Kedi 3 — An Inconvenient Sequel Downsizing 4 — Jane 2017 Dundee Grand Re-Opeining 5 — Obit 2017 Snapshot 6 — Age of Brooklynn Prince, the breakout star From 28 different countries of Sean Baker’s The Florida Project 34 — Signatures on a petition from Millard West High School students requesting a run of 13 feature-length documentaries on topics such as Loving Vincent global warming, urban planning, the Black Lives Matter 73 — Number of proud cat people who posted photos with the hashtag #kedicatsofomaha movement, Jane Goodall, and the prophetic voice of 89 — Age of Agnès Varda, an icon of the French New Wave, who released the fantastic, James Baldwin Oscar-nominated Faces Places in 2017 47 Oscar nominations, 32 Independent Spirit nominations, 26 Cinema Eye Honors nominations, and 24 Gotham Award Nominations In a year when Hollywood’s gender inequities were laid bare and just 11 percent of the top 250 new releases featured women directors, a quarter of the films we screened were directed by women REPERTORY FILMS 10 YEARS Around 8,300 Omaha cinephiles saw more than 90 repertory classics in 2017 OF FILM 4 themed series, including salutes to cinema AT THE luminaries Douglas Sirk and Julianne Moore 147 showings of family-friendly favorites through RUTH our Forever Young series SOKOLOF 5 free screenings including an outdoor showing THEATER of The Wiz in collaboration with Midtown Crossing and the Empowerment Network, and Selena at Beasts of the Southern Wild El Museo Latino Ten for Ten Great Directors: Douglas Sirk Forever Young Family & Restorations & Repertory Winter 2017 Children’s Series Revivals A five-film tribute (all on 35mm) to an auteur who used the Ongoing The past year brought a host of new restorations, including: 2017 Members Select winner The Series maligned genre of melodrama to explore race, class, and Sponsored by WOODMENLIFE. gender roles. Graduate (1967); Night of the Living Dead (1968); Our year-round series for all ages featured 33 titles in 2017, Kill, Baby...Kill! (1966); Desert Hearts (1985); and Julianne Moore: Selected Work including new international animated filmsThe Breadwinner a double feature of No Maps on My Taps (1979) and My Life as a Zucchini, 90s delights like The Sandlot, and, and About Tap (1985). Spring 2017 for good measure, every single Harry Potter movie. Our tribute to Feature VII guest Julianne Moore spanned the OMAHA STEAKS CLASSICS actress’ remarkable career, from scene-stealing supporting Sights on Sounds Special Thanks to Omaha Steaks for roles to stand-up-and-take-notice leading turns. Ongoing supporting Film Streams’ classics and repertory programming. Fans of great stories and great music were treated to biographical Ten for Ten films on departed music legends Leonard Cohen and Chuck Summer 2017 Berry and punk gods the Stooges and the Ramones, as well as concert documentaries from the Rolling Stones, Talking Heads, For the tenth anniversary of the Ruth Sokolof Theater, Film Streams and the monumental 1967 Monterrey Pop Festival. board members and staff surveyed the 1,600 films that illuminated Special Thanks to WoodmenLife for our screens since 2007 and created a group top-ten series. supporting Film Streams’ Forever Young Family & Children’s Series. Gender Revolt! A Celebration of Queer Cinema Summer 2017 Generously supported by Sam Walker. Presented with UNO Women’s and Gender Studies Program, this 10-film series featured a sing-along toHedwig and the Angry Inch (2001), a panel of national scholars weighing in on Dee Rees’ Pariah (2011), and a Q&A screening of The Watermelon Woman (1996) with director Cheryl Dunye. EDUCATION Courses Special Thanks to the following We offered six illuminating, multi-week seminars in 2017, More than 8,500 students attended free events for their support of Film Streams’ all programmed and taught by Film Streams Education Daytime Education Program: the Director Diana Martinez, PhD. at our cinemas in 2017, including: John W. Carson Foundation through the Nebraska Arts Council and Nebraska Cultural Endowment, Film/Style I & II 5,983 from 63 schools and 17 districts the Gifford Foundation, and the Ike and Roz Friedman Foundation. Winter & Spring 2017 for screenings and discussions within our Two Courses introducing students to the aesthetic techniques Special Thanks to the University of employed by some of the medium’s most influential and Daytime Education Program Nebraska at Omaha for supporting Film Streams’ monthly Student challenging filmmakers. Night. At both Film Streams’ Ruth Sokolof Theater and Dundee 1,664 young people, their families, and The Auteur: Alfred Hitchcock Theater, the first Monday of every chaperones who enjoyed free admission month, all regular shows are FREE Spring 2017 for full-time students, any grade Participants explored the recurring themes and stylistic through our Widman Fund and any age. signatures that define Hitchcock’s work. The Hollywood Musical 1,030 attendees for our monthly Student Summer 2017 Night, sponsored by the University of A study of how the musical, from its early days to the present, depicts moments of utter delight as well as glimpses of Nebraska at Omaha complex social realities.