City: Omaha, NE

Category: Tours & Attractions

Telephone: (402) 933-0259

Address: 1340 Mike Fahey St.

Insider Pick:

Description: When Omaha native Rachel Jacobsen moved back to her hometown, she did it in a big way. Jacobsen’s Filmstreams—the city’s only true art house theater—opened in July 2007 and spurred both local interest in art film and new growth in the city’s North Downtown neighborhood (neither a small feat).The nonprofit theater now plays host to a number of programs: the screening of first-run American independent films; documentaries and foreign films that don’t play elsewhere in town; repertory film selections that focus on classic films, themed film series, or the history of cinema; arts in education programming that teaches high school students how to interpret classic films; and community outreach that includes lecture series, forums, and question and answer sessions with directors, filmmakers, and actors.What once seemed like a wild idea in Omaha now has fans hooked: The theater’s innovative programming and fearless screenings of artistic films isn’t being done anywhere else, and Omahans realize it. Since Filmstreams opened, film series have been curated by director Alexander Payne, NPR host Kurt Andersen, and actor Laura Dern. Two theaters seat in total just more than 300 patrons, and films run seven days a week. The lobby’s snack bar offers traditional movie fare alongside locally produced coffee and desserts, and, most recently, wine and mixed drinks. Current cinema options and showtimes are available on the Filmstreams website.