D.C. cinephiles are saying goodbye to a local hub for indie flicks, film festivals and $5 screenings of cult classics. 

Landmark’s E Street Cinema, located in Penn Quarter, will cease operations this month after struggling to recover from the pandemic, according to the Washington Post. The theater has served film-frenzied Washingtonians for 21 years, with showings varying from studio new releases to low-budget, independent projects, along with foreign films and late-night performances of the cult-classic “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”

The eight-screen theater’s luminescent marquee, adorned with a glowing “E” in its center, stands out from the art deco and neoclassical architecture of the surrounding downtown neighborhood. E Street Cinema’s interior, with a top floor devoted to ticket sales and a bottom level housing concessions stands and theaters, has mustard-yellow walls, geometric carpets, vinyl barstools and lines of framed movie and film festival posters — a time capsule of the District in the 1970s.

Coining itself as “the District’s most Metro-accessible movie theatre” due to its position two blocks from the line-connecting Metro Center, the locale has attracted both long-term D.C. area residents and college students — including GW’s movie mavens – for a generation.

In a statement to the Post, Landmark Theatres’ Head of Brand and Marketing Mark Mulcahy said the cinema will close its doors after struggling to recover financially following the COVID-19 pandemic. While the location’s website has removed all showings starting this Monday, a spokesperson from the theater informed the Washington Post that the theater will stop screenings on March 6.

Landmark’s Atlantic Plumbing Cinema, the chain’s other D.C. outlet, which is located in the Shaw and Howard University neighborhood, will remain in operation.

A representative from Landmark’s E Street Cinema, who requested anonymity due to company policy, told The Hatchet that the shift of viewers to streaming services initially harmed the cinema, as more films were quickly added to digital platforms after theater releases. But he said attendance numbers at E Street have increased in the past six months, with a “healthy boom” this winter. He said that patrons have expressed their sadness over the loss of the “critical” space for movie fans seeking alternative programming from the blockbusters at larger chains.

“We’ve been a platform for independent filmmakers to live their dreams and get their debuts on screen, a safe space for people to dance and throw props around during midnight screenings, a home for cinephiles and creative minds to share thoughts and memories,” the representative said in an email. “Our role has been important to film culture in DC and that can mean a lot of things to a lot of people.”

The representative declined to comment on the reason behind the location’s closure.

Matthew Carrera, a junior studying public health, said he attended his first E Street screening to see “Dune: Part Two” last spring. After tickets were sold out at AMC Georgetown, he said a friend suggested going to the downtown, indie theater. He said E Street greatly contrasted from the “soulless” AMC, which he said lacks the “old timey cinema” character of smaller theaters, like the E Street Cinema, and he returned recently to watch the Oscar-nominated drama “The Brutalist.”

“I think that the Landmark’s E Street Cinema did a great job of blending that downtown vibe with the old-timey cinema,” Carrera said. “You walk in with the classic overhang above you, and then you go down, and there’s a big open space with popcorn and concessions. You can’t get that just anywhere nowadays.”

Carrera said that he thinks the closing will dampen downtown D.C.’s nightlife scene, given the theater’s location in the “heart of the city.” He said the screenings he attended were sparsely populated, which he appreciated at the time, as he and his friends were able to watch films relatively solitarily, but he now realizes that this apparent perk could have led to the theater’s closing.

“I guess a blessing was a curse in the end,” he said.

Yishen Li, a local coordinator for scientific organizations, said he’s gone to E Street every year to see the annually broadcasted collections featuring that year’s five Academy Award nominated live action and animated short films, with E Street being one of the only theaters in D.C. that offers those showings. Li said he seeks out the shorts because they “make you think” about topical issues, like animal and human rights violations in South Africa and mental health in the new age of artificial intelligence. 

Li said the theater has acted as a “popular library” by spotlighting independent films that deal with “deep” themes, like a documentary about China’s one-child policy he saw at the theater in 2001 — which he now forgets the name of — that help expand people’s knowledge of film and the world around it.

“You’re not just here for the fun,” Li said. “You’re here to learn, to grow and to be engaged.”

Dennis Renner, a retiree who has lived in the District since 1976, said he was sad to hear about the closing of his go-to spot for awards-nominated films that aren’t normally featured in large theater chains. 

“It offers you films that no other theater offers, films that you know aren’t Marvel comic films, and your traditional fare,” Renner said. 

Renner said he goes to E Street roughly once a month. He said the theater’s ambience promotes socialization because the lower section of the theater includes a bar, food options and places to wait and talk to friends in anticipation of a cinematic experience.

Renner said one memorable film he saw at E Street was the controversial Oscar-nominated film “Emilia Pérez,” about a Mexican cartel boss’s transition to living as a woman starring Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez and Karla Sofia Gascón. He said the film was “a very topical movie” and its current day relevance ensured it “sticks out.”

Renner said local theaters like E Street that feature films outside of the mainstream should be protected by consumers by choosing the smaller names over big chains. He said the loss of a place like E Street is a hit to D.C.’s cultural identity because the theater was unique to the city and a neighborhood institution, unlike major chains.

“I think people need to just really rally behind and say, no, enough is enough, and support local support local businesses,” he said. “Support local establishment rather than going, you know, for the trendy.”