Huntington, N.Y., theater survives amid commercial multiplexes.

Byline: Keiko Morris

Mar. 5--Huntington's Cinema Arts Centre has survived for more than three decades in the very tough business of showing movies. And, in recent years, the nonprofit's co-director likes to think that the big chains have learned a few lessons from a theater like his.

The film center -- which opened the leading Oscar contender, "Brokeback Mountain," on Long Island -- had its start in a friend's dance studio, with a library projector and bed sheets for a screen. Today, there are three screens, including a main auditorium seating 300, with comfy seating, a cafe with such goodies as soups, chili, Greek spinach pies, salads and mini pizzas, and programming that includes film series, discussions with directors and concerts.

"Listen, why are theaters suddenly trying to upgrade the seats, and they have little restaurants where they sell pizza?" asked Vic Skolnick, co-director of Cinema Arts Centre. "People copy what we do."

The Cinema, like other small theaters, is limited by resources. "We don't have the money to be cutting, cutting edge," Skolnick said, "but we're cutting edge in programming and things we bring to the community."

The commercial theaters are hardly striving to replicate Cinema Arts Centre's ambience. There are no video games in the Huntington theater's lobby and no commercials before the movie showings. But in a general sense, the commercial chains and Cinema Arts Centre share similar aims and similar challenges: They're both involved in the same fight for a share of ...