Theatre
3 Screens
Kan-Kan Cinema
1258 Windsor St., Indianapolis, IN 46201, USA
- Official Website
- 317-800-7099
Send Message- Daniel Arthur Jacobson
Programming Director
Key Contacts- Daniel Arthur Jacobson
In the early 2000s the Kan-Kan was a dream, unknowingly shared by a few people in Indianapolis. Friends Tom Battista, his son Ed, Sam Sutphin and his son Ben had, in the course of their travels, noticed how cities’ independent movie theaters often reflected and embodied local culture and community. Indianapolis, they decided, deserved a place like this.
Perseverance and stick-to-it-iveness led to five years of planning and fund-raising and the formation of a new 501c3—Indianapolis Film Project, Inc. It took a village, literally. Louise Henderson,a veteran film festival manager, joined the team as IFP’s first executive director and the Windsor Park Neighborhood Association backed the founders for a year’s worth of Zoning Board hearings. Finally greenlighted for construction, the sparkling new arthouse rose from the former swamp.
As planned by the founders, an investor-owned restaurant, commandeered by award-winning chef Abbi Merris, became a tenant of the Kan-Kan and four new businesses opened in the renovated and rezoned houses next door—Amelia’s Bakery and Café, a craft and garden shop, Stomping Ground, a skate shop and a hair salon, Golden Hour. Coincidentally, the other 30+ boarded-up houses within 1200 feet of the theatre were gradually purchased and fixed up by young folks moving to the area.
Sounds perfect, right? Not quite.
On March 13, 2020, the date of the Kan-Kan’s official grand opening, the country closed for COVID and the Kan-Kan shuttered itself to the general public. While the country withdrew, the Kan-Kan’s devoted start-up team staged workshops, private screenings and outdoor movies; and developed a menu of streaming opportunities for its newly formed membership base.
Eighteen months later, on August 15, 2021, the Kan-Kan finally officially opened— quietly but well-prepared. Onward and upward.