CINEMA ARTS VEnUE

DENIZEN Theatre is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) arts organization, located at Water Street Market in the heart of historic New Paltz, NY.

Operating a 70-seat stadium style Cinema Arts Venue with an attached Filmmaker Lounge, the DENIZEN focuses on carefully curating high-quality independent movies that are not readily available to the public so that they can be fully experienced on our big screen. We are committed to making the best of cinema and arts experiences accessible to everyone in the Hudson Valley.

We offer Movies Every Weekend, where we invite filmmakers, documentary subjects, film historians, and other luminaries to New Paltz to stay the weekend and present their films on Friday and Saturday nights. These events may include special musical performances and director or commentator Q&As, and often result in thought-provoking, intimate discussions that spill over to our Filmmaker Lounge and local restaurants.

In the Summer we present the SUMMER SHORTS FILM FEST bringing the very best of short-form cinema to the Hudson Valley. In addition to our regular programming and series, we also present special one-off events.

PLAN YOUR VISIT

The DENIZEN Theatre is located about 80 miles north of New York City in the heart of downtown New Paltz, a thriving village at the foot of the Shawangunk Mountains. The village boasts fantastic restaurants, quaint boutiques, and access to a plethora of walking, hiking and biking trails.

New Paltz is accessible by car and public transit via the TRAILWAYS bus to Main Street, New Paltz or the METRO-NORTH train to Poughkeepsie.

DENIZEN Theatre is located on Main Street at New Paltz’s Water Street Market: a quaint European inspired shopping village described by locals as their community gathering place. known as the village within the village.

Every business is independently owned and operated. It’s the perfect place to shop, dine or drink before and after a screening or special event.

WHO WE ARE

J.J. Kandel

(Programming Director) J.J. Kandel is a producer, director and actor. Kandel is the Founder and Managing Partner of STAGE TO SCREEN NYC. Stage to Screen films include Sparring Partner, Still Happy, 10 K, Good Luck (In Farsi), and The Mulberry Bush. J.J. is the founder of THROUGHLINE ARTISTS, SUMMER SHORTS FILM FEST, and co-founder of the SUMMER SHORTS festival of new American short plays® presented at 59E59 Theaters in NYC, for 13 consecutive seasons. Screen directing credits include Sparring Partner by NEIL LABUTE (with CECILY STRONG, 2022 Tribeca Festival, available online at The New Yorker); Stage directing credits include True Love Will Find You In The End by NEIL LABUTE (World Premiere); Lucky by SHARR WHITE (World Premiere); In This, Our Time... by ALEXANDER DINELARIS (World Premiere); and Wedding Bash by ANDREW LEEDS and LINDSEY KRAFT.
As an actor, J.J. Kandel's film and television credits include 10 K (2017 Santa Barbara International Film Festival) and The Mulberry Bush written and directed by NEIL LABUTE (2016 Tribeca Film Festival); Chuck with LIEV SCHREIBER and NAOMI WATTS; Zero Dark Thirty and The Hurt Locker (Best Picture 2010) both directed by Academy Award® winner KATHRYN BIGELOW; We Need To Talk About Kevin; Billie & Billy (DIRECTV); and Law & Order (NBC). New York theater credits include Falling Short directed by Academy Award® and Golden Globe® winner ALEXANDER DINELARIS; The Killing (World Premiere) by WILLIAM INGE; Sundance directed by MATTHEW PENN; Intermission by WILL ENO (World Premiere); and The Great Pretenders directed by BILLY HOPKINS with AMY IRVING. J.J. Kandel is an actor member of Ensemble Studio Theatre in New York City, SAG-AFTRA, and Actors’ Equity Association.
Warren Etheredge

(Lead Film Programmer) Warren Etheredge is a Storyfinder™, a successful producer, published author, staged playwright, veteran festival programmer and much sought-after public speaker. He has conducted over 3,500 interviews. As a writer, Warren recently scripted Downwind (d. MARK SHAPIRO & DOUGLAS BRIAN MILER) which bowed at Slamdance 2023 and Thread (d. CAROLINE KAYE) which will hot the festival cirucit later in 2023). As a producer, credits include Personhood (d. JO ARDINGER), Furever (d. AMY FINKEL), Hapa (d. ABBY ALISHIO), Last Requests (d. COURTENAY JOHNSON), The Lost Mariner (d. TESS MARTIN), Even The Walls (d. SAMAN MAYDANI & SARAH KUCK), Every Beautiful Thing (d. SONYA LEA) and the webseries, The Enchanted Kitchen w/SASHA GRAHAM. [Sharp-eyed readers will note Warren now only produces works created by women, with an exception made for GEOFF MARSLETT’s The Phantom 52 that premiered at Sundance in 2019.] He teaches screenwriting and filmmaking at the University of Washington and Cornish College for the Arts. He is one of the founding faculty of TheFilmSchool and The Red Badge Project , helping combat veterans work through PTSD and other issues by teaching them the art of storytelling. He has hosted multiple television series including The High Bar , his Emmy®-nominated television series devoted to “raising the bar.” He served as the VP of Curation & Acquisitions for TOM SKERRITT’s start-up, Triple Squirrels (formerly Heyou) Media and as the Chief Storytelling Officer for Enthrall Sports. He is the Co-founder and Curator for the Walla Walla Movie Crush , shorts programmer for The Seattle Jewish Film Festival and BendFilm Festival and Director of Film Programming for the Gesa Power House Theater .