Detroit’s east side recently welcomed a new establishment, The Fourth Wall, a wine bar and microcinema located in the space formerly home to the tiki bar Lost River.
After soft launching earlier this month, the space plans to host a “lowkey grand opening” on Thursday, promising a unique experience curated by owners Matt Megener and Kar Green.
Mergener, who has been involved in the Detroit film industry for years, says he and his wife Green hope to center community at The Fourth Wall, featuring local filmmakers, visual artists, and food, as well as partnering with other programmers. The owners will focus on both wine and non-alcoholic drinks, with a few beer selections. Cocktails will be served upstairs at sister bar Apt. Disco, and customers can move freely between the two spaces with drinks from either. (Earlier this month, Lost River announced on Instagram that it will hold pop-up events at The Fourth Wall into next year until it finds a smaller new space of its own. So, Lost River fans won’t have to miss it much longer.)
At The Fourth Wall, films will screen continuously throughout the day, providing a background to chatter and mingling. Once a day, there will be a scheduled showtime for a “sound on” movie where people are encouraged to stay quiet and enjoy the show. A full schedule of films will be announced each month on Instagram, including matinees, late-evening showtimes, and midnight screenings.
“Will it be the most pristine cinemagoing experience? Na. But we don’t expect that,” The Fourth Wall wrote on Instagram. “We want a communal space where you can grab a bite of incredible food, watch a movie, grab a drink, and after it’s all over chat about what you just saw — good or bad.”
Every Sunday, local nonprofit Cinema Lamont will partner with The Fourth Wall for a Sunday brunch double feature with a menu provided by Gajiza Dumplins, which The Fourth Wall says will offer “the only South Asian brunch in Detroit.”
The dumpling spot, which launched as a pop-up before settling down at Lost River, will host a permanent residency at The Fourth Wall, offering a dinner menu from Thursday to Saturday, and a completely different brunch menu for Sundays.
From food to film, The Fourth Wall will be heavily Detroit-focused.
“It’s definitely going to be a communal space where we can screen stuff from local filmmakers, we’ll have guest programmers come in and do a lot of stuff,” Megener says. “We’ll program some of it, Cinema Lamont will definitely be involved in programming on Sundays, but we also want other people involved in helping choose the movies and kind of bring light to the space, so I think that’s a unique part of the space, too.”
Additionally, The Fourth Wall will host discussions with film professionals, which was kicked off by the Detroit Film Theater’s programmer Elliot Wilhelm earlier this month.
“There’s just not a ton of that going on in the city right now. There’s a few groups kind of scattered, but having a dedicated space for film — for people to meet up either casually or on set nights — would be great,” Megener says. “We hope to have programmers, people that have been in the industry for a while, documentary filmmakers, editors, anybody that’s been involved in the industry that has an interesting point of view and knowledge that I think would be beneficial for filmmakers or just Detroiters, we hope to bring through the space.”
In its heyday, Detroit was once home to many movie theaters, but today it has only one mainstream first-run theater: the Bel Air Luxury Cinema on Eight Mile Road. (Rapper Big Sean has been working to open a new first-run theater in the city.) The Detroit Film Theatre is more focused on art house and international films (Cinema Detroit, another art house theater, closed earlier this year), while the Redford Theatre and Senate Theater typically screen classics.
Along with showcasing Detroit filmmakers, The Fourth Wall also wants to showcase local art on its walls and already has three artists set to display their work in the coming months. Upcoming featured artists include Ouizi during November and December, Jon Deboer during January and February, and Corey Tut in March and April. Megener says an open call will be put out to local artists who want to be featured after next spring.
In the future, the owners say they hope to expand to have a dedicated film space alongside the bar, which Megener envisions as a cozy one-screen theater with around 40-50 seats. The current space, which already has a recently updated sound system, will continue to morph and change over the next few weeks based on feedback.
“It’s definitely meant to be a communal space and have community input, we just want to hear from you, stop by the bar, talk to us,” Megener says. “My wife and I are there a lot behind the bar and just screening films and even upstairs in Apartment Disco, so if people have ideas, come see us.”
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