In the mood for a movie? Check out the newly renovated Sie FilmCenter
Funding for the renovations came from community donations, as well as state entities including the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade and the Colorado Office of Film, Television and Media. Donors and community partners made the renovations possible, sourcing the funding over the last six months.
“We’re proud to support enhancements that help honor filmmakers’ work and give Denver audiences a truly world-class cinema experience,” said Liane Clasen, a longtime Denver Film donor.
The 16-year-old facility acts as a hub for local festivals as well as a home base for Denver Film. The reality of long-term wear and tear on the technology required for exclusive festivals and popular screenings became too glaring to ignore, said Kevin Smith, Denver Film’s CEO.
“Our team had done a really good job making the old projectors and equipment last as long as they did, but they didn’t have a lot of time left,” Smith said. “The seats were pretty deteriorated, as well.”
The new chairs aren’t recliners — you’ll need to head to a larger theater for that experience. According to Smith, bringing that specific experience was never the intention of the Sie’s renovations.
“When we had the opportunity to redo these seats, it was not about bringing in these huge loungers like you’d see at a multiplex,” Smith said. “At the Sie, you’re coming in and you know the bartender, you know the box office employee, they know you. At an AMC, you’re likely not having a conversation with anyone.”
While only one of the three screening rooms has the new chairs, the other two got new chairs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
That same time period was the nail in the coffin for the chairs that were just replaced. The culprit? Excessive cleaning.
“We were cleaning the chairs in House One every day per the CDC guidelines, and we didn’t realize at the time that we were slowly destroying the old seats,” Smith said. “We’d been making it work, but there was a point where they really needed to go.”
The state of the chairs meant there was no way to repurpose them. The Sie explored the idea of reupholstering the original chairs, but a complete overhaul ended up making the most financial sense. This meant a reduction in seat count, from 40 to 33.
“The new seats make this room great for rentals or a cocktail hour,” Smith said. (People can rent theaters for private events and screenings.)
Smith said the upgrades come at a perfect time, as the Denver Film Festival gears up to celebrate its 50th year in 2027. Denver Film is currently in the process of archiving footage and records from past film festivals, hoping to bring back a more art-driven aesthetic.
Even with renovations, the Sie maintains ties to film ways of the past, remaining the only independent theater in Denver that can screen 35-millimeter film.
“Cinemas have looked at maximizing profit and aren’t really giving films the care to make sure they’re being presented in a way the filmmaker intended,” Whitney Miller, Sie’s technical director, told Rocky Mountain PBS last year.
That effort to revive history was a factor in the renovations, as well.
“We were focusing on finding the coolest versions of equipment that were nods to the past, while also looking toward the future,” Smith said. “I think a lot of people are looking for a different experience, which is what you’re going to find here.”
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. To read more about why you can trust the journalism of Rocky Mountain PBS, please visit our editorial standards and practices page.
