Micro-Cinema City: Pairing Shorts with the Perfect Pour at Wine Cellar Cinema
In the new series Micro-Cinema City, we take a look at the DIY spaces and under 50-seat theaters across Los Angeles that are experimenting with different ways to exhibit exciting films and interact with audiences in new ways.
It didn’t look like a cinema. There was no marquee. No ticket booth. It was a quaint storefront with bay windows on a bustling La Brea Avenue. But for the sold-out audience going to Wine Cellar Cinemas, that was all part of the charm. The aptly named Curated Wine Shop played host to a screening of short films. The theme that night was Women Do Genre, and the minds behind Wine Cellar Cinemas, David Baxter and Dallas Miller, selected four short genre films, that ranged from a dark comedy about a vegetarian cult that screened at Sundance, to a single location showcase for some grisly special effects makeup. All of the shorts that night were directed by women.
There was a buzz as filmmakers and film lovers gathered for a pre-screening glass of Tempranillo or Merlot. If you wanted, the shop offered a tasting menu that the Wine Cellar Cinemas team created that paired a wine with each film screened, also all by female winemakers. As it got close to showtime, the audience crossed the threshold into an adjoining room retrofitted into a makeshift movie theater, where Baxter poured the first glass of the flight and told the crowd the story of the wine.
When it comes to the pairings, “we just take it very sincerely in a weird way, because it is something that that I’m very passionate about and I love doing,” Baxter said. The duo decide on pairings based on a few factors. “Maybe there’s something about the story or the filmmakers and how that matches with the winemakers or the story of the wine. But then aesthetically and tonally, what is it about the experience of drinking this wine that matches. Sometimes you’re countering that, where you’re like, ‘This movie’s a lot’. When a movie is grizzly and gnarly, you might want something to make you feel clean.”
Baxter started out in film. His last job was at Sundance, where he was on the digital team as the festival was forced to go all digital during COVID. As festivals went back to in-person, Baxter found himself falling in love with all things wine. Wine Cellar Cinema was an effort to stay in touch with all his friends and contacts in the film world. “The creative side of things is really what you miss if you ever leave the entertainment industry.”
He started the podcast Vintertainment with his best friend Miller, where the two paired wines with films, and grew an audience there. They wanted to do a live event and paired a short with a repertory film at their first screening. They saw the short was what got the audience in the door. “That was kind of a hit of that night, which is what put it in our head, ‘Oh short films and have the creators there.’ That makes us something more special than just showing a movie,” Baxter said. “We don’t watch shorts at home, even people in the industry.”
Miller and Baxter leaned on their contacts to get an initial crop of films that they could program for the series. They then expanded their search online. The response from the makers of short films was enthusiastic. “I think from the filmmaker POV, you get your festival run. And then that’s it. It’s like it doesn’t exist as far as the world is concerned after that,” said Baxter. “That’s sad… Short films are as evergreen as feature films.”
On the night of Women Do Genre, Baxter told the crowd what made them want to put on the series. “Wine and movies are two things that are meant to be shared.” Miller then hyped up the crowd before the lights dimmed, asking “Who loves women? Who loves genre? Who loves women doing genre?!” The energy didn’t feel like a movie was about to start; it felt like the audience was a part of something alive.
What makes Wine Cellar Cinemas sustainable is that it was grown through community. At an early iteration, a producer of one of the films broke down what equipment the team would need to get the best picture and sound for future screenings. Miller and Baxter made the upgrades and worked with the wine shop to paint out skylights and black out windows. They swapped tips with Coffeehouse Cinema, another micro-cinema forming at the same time. And they grew their social presence being a part of Substack’s “Filmstack” community, a growing group of filmmakers and film writers supporting each other using the platform as a meeting place.
After the screening and Q&A, the shop stayed open past its normal hours to let the crowd discuss the films, meet the filmmakers and network. It ended up being a boon to Curated, who sold more wine that night than they did for the World Cup Final a month earlier.
As for Baxter and Miller, “the response has been so good that we’re having to rethink everything. We’ll have to pivot quite a bit to take in the extra demand and make sure that we live up to expectations.” They have already added a non-alcoholic pairing and are sharing their thoughts about how they’re improving and growing on their site. According to Baxter, the pair try to keep it all in perspective. “We have only done it a few times. We’re taking it one day at a time.”
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