For years, Jim Tomashoff of Chantilly would drive miles to downtown Washington to view the latest independent or foreign film at the Key, the Biograph, or the Inner and Outer Circles. But as he got older, traffic worsened and his impatience grew. So instead of resigning himself to the commute — besides, the Key and the Biograph had closed their doors — he quit his job with SAIC and founded a movie house with co-owner Mark O'Meara.
That movie house, the Cinema Arts Theatre, has been delighting audiences at Fair City Mall in Fairfax for almost five years.
"The response from the community has been overwhelming," said Tomashoff.
Tomashoff and O'Meara have been operating Cinema Arts Theatre since August 1999. Specializing in independent and foreign films, the movie house also occasionally presents mainstream fare such as "Finding Nemo," "Chicago" and "Seabiscuit."
"It's not as plastic or as buzzy as the chain theaters," said McLean resident Cheryl Jones, who came to see "Touching the Void" with some friends. She liked the theater's personal touch. "You can help yourself to your own cup of coffee."
Despite its size and status as an independently-owned and operated movie house, the six-screen theater was recently recognized as the top theater nationwide in box office sales for the opening weekend of the new Robert Altman film "The Company," based on the Joffrey Ballet in Chicago.
"For us, to be the No. 1 theater in the country is just amazing," said O'Meara, a Fairfax resident, who also owns the University Mall Theatre just south of Fairfax City. "I never expected that to happen."
Both O'Meara and Tomashoff suspect that what makes their movie house so successful is its intimacy. Each talks to patrons regularly, sometimes surveying an audience during a movie's opening weekend. The movie house also has a weekly e-mail list with over 5,000 subscribers, as well as a film club.
"They like the smallness. They like the atmosphere. They like the selection of movies," O'Meara said.
TO SELECT MOVIES, the partners work with a film booker in New York. They also scan movie reviews and releases on the Internet. In selecting movies, they keep in mind suburban tastes.
"We know that they'll like independent films that are uplifting and very heartwarming," Tomashoff said of Cinema Arts' patrons. "Comedies do well. Social satires do well."
Except for the third installment of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, the Cinema Arts Theatre has shown all the Oscar nominees for best picture for the past year.
"This is one of the only theaters in the area that shows certain kinds of films," said Burke resident Cindy Rueda, who added that she liked seeing foreign films especially. "That's what we like about it."
In operating the business, both owners were surprised at first with the competition they faced with the bigger theaters in getting prints, or actual copies of the film. The movie house's suburban location didn't attract distribution companies in California and New York. The theater's smaller size has also meant that distribution companies have overlooked the movie house in search of bigger theaters.
"When we started, they all thought, city, city, city, city," O'Meara said. "Most of the companies have come around now."
Yet both O'Meara and Tomashoff realize their strength is their location in the heart of Fairfax County. Patrons come not only from the immediate area, but from Reston, Manassas, Alexandria, and even Maryland, among other places. Some patrons come from the District, because they find that parking is easier.
"We used to get a lot of people from Maryland until Bethesda Row opened," O'Meara said.
Because of its success, O'Meara and Tomashoff have just signed a 15-year lease on the space. They plan to continue their involvement in the community by co-sponsoring April's Jewish Film Festival with the Northern Virginia Jewish Community Center.
"It's a tremendous sense of satisfaction that we're doing something for the community," Tomashoff said.
O'Meara agreed. "It's fun. I love dealing with the public," he said. "It's really a labor of love."