Ever since 1972, when Steve and DeDe Leiber opened the original Upstate Films in the Starr Building in downtown Rhinebeck, the not-for-profit organization has been diversifying the array of cinematic choices available to mid-Hudsonites with regular screenings of independent, foreign and classic movies, documentaries and animation. And now it’s got a brand-new venue in a surprising, small-scale location in a busy urban neighborhood.

Upstate’s viewing spaces have expanded over time: A second screen was added at the Starr Cinema in 1999. Woodstock’s Tinker Street Cinema was part of the Upstate Films family from 2010 to 2020. Under new owners Paul Sturtz and Jason Silverman after the Leibers retired, Upstate acquired and reopened the Orpheum Theatre in Saugerties in 2021. A traveling version

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