About Us

The Loft Cinema has been a mission-driven, membership-supported nonprofit arts organization since November 2002, serving the greater Tucson area and all of Southern Arizona.

Without The Loft Cinema, audiences in Southern Arizona would not have access to the many films and visiting filmmakers who have enriched Tucson’s cultural identity. Our signature events are screenings with filmmaker Q&As, with more than 450 film industry professionals and scholars visiting the theatre to date. We screen new independent and foreign films and documentaries, along with classic art films, interactive events including a monthly short film contest, sing-a-longs and cult favorites. Every year The Loft Cinema has dozens of community partners working to create community and raise awareness of a myriad of issues.

The Loft Cinema hosts an annual international film festival in the fall (the Loft Film Fest) and a free children’s film festival every July (the Loft Kids Fest).

The Loft Cinema is a member-supported cinema, with more than 5,000 memberships representing more than 7,000 individuals. Since 2002, attendance at The Loft Cinema has more than quadrupled, with more than 235,000 people attending films at the cinema in 2018.

The Loft Cinema is a member of the Sundance Institute’s Art House Project, based on our excellence of programming and service to the community. The theatre was selected to be an official venue of the Sundance Film Festival in their Sundance USA program in 2012, 2013 and 2014 (the final year of Sundance Film Festival USA). The Loft Cinema was one of 7 American cinemas to be a collaborating partner with Film Forward: Advancing Cultural Dialogue in 2012, an honor The Loft also enjoyed in 2011.

Tucson is one of the smaller communities among the list of cities with independent, nonprofit, mission-driven art houses like The Loft Cinema. While we are a member of the Sundance Art House Project and we meet annually with our colleagues from similar cinemas, we, like all the other theatres, are unique. Independent art houses reflect their own communities, and The Loft Cinema is uniquely programmed to meet the needs of the many communities-of-interest that we serve.

The Loft Cinema is one of 8 cinemas in the US to receive a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the Coolidge Corner Theatre Foundation for Science on Screen, a series of films introduced by scientists. The Loft has a Science on Screen advisory committee that includes Joaquin Ruiz, University of Arizona Executive Dean of Letters, Arts and Sciences, John Paul Jones, Dean of the UA School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, and Jim Gentile, CEO of the Tucson-based Research Corporation for the Advancement of Science.

Voted Best of Tucson from 2003 – 2016 by readers of the Tucson Weekly, The Loft Cinema has received several other awards, including Lumies from the Tucson Pima Arts Council for Emerging Arts Organization and Best Established Arts Organization. The Loft Cinema was named a staff pick for Best Variety of Films in the 2017 Best Of Tucson.