ORIG 05/02/19 An interior of Tin Pan Theater in Bend on Thursday, May 2, 2019. (Ryan Brennecke/Bulletin photo)

BendFilm is getting into the cinema business.

Primarily known for its film festival each October, BendFilm has bought Tin Pan Theater, a 30-seat movie house at 869 NW Tin Pan Alley in downtown Bend. The nonprofit’s mission is to celebrate independent films and filmmaking.

According to Executive Director Todd Looby, BendFilm bought the name and assets of Tin Pan Theater, including all equipment, accounts, vendors and contacts in a sale finalized Wednesday.

After consulting with the BendFilm board and a business consultant, BendFilm settled on a price of $131,500 with Tin Pan’s founders, Micah and Esme LaVoy.

Tin Pan’s business model dovetails well with BendFilm’s independent film mission, and the sale did not come about by accident.

The LaVoys opened Tin Pan Theater in spring 2012, screening newly released art-house and foreign films. After the September 2013 closure of Regal Cinemas’ Pilot Butte 6, Tin Pan served as the only area theater showing independent films year-round. The LaVoys had been running the theater from Astoria, where they moved three years ago, Micah LaVoy said.

“We had always kind of thrown around the idea of, ‘Hey, we should send this to BendFilm. This would be a perfect fit,’” said Micah Lavoy. “We just knew it needed somebody in the community there.”

BendFilm’s efforts to get people together to view and discuss films made it an easy decision.

“The types of films that we will program, and that have been programmed at the Tin Pan, are the thought-provoking things that you will not see otherwise,” Looby said. “You would, more or less, in Bend, be forced to see this at home on Netflix when you’re only with your family at the most. And most likely, you’re by yourself.”

Tin Pan will continue to screen new indie fare, while also having BendFilm’s considerable festival library at its disposal.

“We’re hoping that we can continue our signature of putting a short from the festival in front of these new features,” Looby said. “We’ll still continue to showcase the great work of emerging filmmakers that we meet during the festival, and put them next to some of the greats of either foreign cinema or independent stuff. That’s a really cool opportunity.”

BendFilm also plans to add special programming. Ellen Shelton, a BendFilm programmer, will host a four-part series on important world cinema, such as Iranian films. “Food for Thought,” a weekly series of matinee films, will be followed by a meal and further conversation at restaurants such as Joolz.

Buying a venue such as Tin Pan had been part of BendFilm’s strategic plan for about two years, Looby said. “It just happened a lot quicker than we anticipated.”

The process quickened after Looby ran into Micah LaVoy at First Friday Art Walk last September.

“I was just going to say, ‘We’re hoping to be in a position to open a theater, and if you ever had any interest in selling,’” Looby said. “But before I could say that — I was just asking in general about the theater — he goes, ‘You know, I’ve been wanting to talk to you.’”

The two agreed to reconvene after the October film festival.

“This is his baby,” Looby said. “He and Esme built something really remarkable, incredible and unique. It’s one of his children, and (Micah) wanted it to go to a person or organization or person where he knew it would build on everything that he always wanted the theater to do and to be. … And BendFilm could take it there.”

The purchase has depleted BendFilm’s rainy day fund, he said. Anyone seeking to “lighten the financial load of the purchase in exchange for recognition and VIP treatment,” as BendFilm puts in its press release, should email Tracy Pfiffner, BendFilm’s marketing and development manager, at tracy@bendfilm.org.

Reporter: 541-383-0349, djasper@bendbulletin.com