For The Love Of Film

Raizine Bruton, who often just goes by Rai, at Best Video in 2025. Karen Ponzio File Photo for the New Haven Independent. 

Raizine Bruton didn’t grow up going to the movies. Instead, at around five years old, she started watching old black-and-white movies with her stepdad on Turner Classic Movies (TCM), much to the amusement of her siblings.

That passion for film and cinema never waned, Instead, it served as the catalyst behind her creative career. From working at the city’s now-defunct Criterion Cinemas for over a decade, the writer, cinephile and lifelong New Havener eventually found her way to Best Video Film and Cultural Center (BVFCC), where she now serves as the executive director.

Throughout her five years at BVFCC, a video rental spot, coffee shop and beloved third space, she has seen the nonprofit through multiple transitions. Originally, she started out as a barista and archive staff member. Then she was promoted to administrative manager, while Julie Smith was still serving as executive director. A little over a year ago, she stepped into her current leadership role.

Though the work as executive director of a nonprofit is exhausting, “I still love the creativity I get to use in my job,” Bruton said.

That leadership work, which has included everything from an emergency fundraising appeal to expansive new creative collaborations, has been decades in the making. As a kid, Bruton developed a love for old movies because of their relatability. Even though they dressed “stuffy,” the heroines were still feisty and the men still swoon-worthy. She could see parts of her life in the movies, despite the time period and actors being different.

Besides movies, her favorite thing to do as a child was read. She said she was talking to a core group of friends recently whom she had known since middle school, and it was literature that often kept them together.

“I don’t know know how we lasted so long,” she said. “Because there are so many instances where I would try to make friends, and my thought process was, ‘Let’s all read books!’”

Her love of reading morphed into a love for writing, and though Bruton did not think much about her career as a young person, she knew she “just wanted to be around film.” She started writing movie scripts in her teens, thinking that might be the tie she found to the film world.

In 2010, Bruton began her studies at the University of New Haven, where she enrolled in a five-year masters degree, double majoring in English teaching and communications. She studied there for a year and a half, but was unable to finish due to financial constraints.

It was there, however, she encountered a shift in perspective. During a history class, Bruton watched the 1964 film The Pawnbroker, and analyzed it while writing a paper about the Holocaust. From that moment, she realized that movies and films could be used as educational pieces and not just entertainment.

“Watching that film and having someone explain it really kind of helped me think about film differently,” she said.

After college, Bruton worked at Criterion Cinemas for ten years, as a way to keep her relationship with film thriving. In 2021, former BVFCC barista Jules Larson suggested that she pick up a second position at the Hamden space, which was still figuring out what its nonprofit status meant.

Larson, who went on to organize a film series with Bruton, made a compelling pitch: BVFCC has a collection of over 42,000 DVDs, and roughly 300 VHS tapes. It was and is a cinephile’s paradise. Bruton jumped into an interview, leaving a note after that expressed interest in spending time with the films behind the counter.

When Bruton got the job, she immediately took to Hank Hoffman, the executive director at the time. Bruton said she felt very “empowered and supported” by Hoffman, who encouraged her to put on screenings and taught her the steps needed to host successful community events.

Six months after she started working at BVFCC, Hoffman announced he was stepping down, and would be taking on a smaller role. But the culture of community care remained, Bruton remembered: Julie E. Smith, who assumed Hoffman’s role in 2022, was an immediate hit with Bruton. Smith had an unmatched love for her community, and a great eye for decor.

“The types of chairs you’re sitting in matter when you’re going to be here for a long period of time on your laptop,” Bruton said, referencing Smith’s sense for interior design.

Bruton also talked about how Smith continued Hoffman’s legacy of community building and empowerment of everyone with a dream. That included Bruton, who Smith promoted to administrative manager, and started asking for help with operational management. So when she stepped down in late 2024 due to a family emergency, it made sense that Bruton jumped in as interim executive director. In March of 2025, the board voted to make that position official.

Bruton said that a main goal of hers is to be in collaboration with even more groups around the Greater New Haven area. BVFCC already does screenings at Lyric Hall and East Rock Brewery; as of last fall, the nonprofit has also started doing food and clothing drives with Loaves and Fishes.

“We also try to be mindful about trying to go for a certain vibe based on the location,” she said.

When asked what feels the easiest about her job, Bruton said, “nothing feels easy anymore.” However, she added that the most enjoyable part was interacting with her colleagues and customers.

“I love the creative parts, I do, but the budgetary restrictions are always weighing on the back of my mind,” she said.

BVFCC’s total budget this year was nearly a million dollars, but with all the spending necessary to cover payroll and operations, the total profits were a little over $64,000. Bruton said most of the organization’s income comes from grants, various fundraising, and the cafe. Fundraising events include the New Haven Great Give, their Oscar showing, and music and media festivals like one happening this October.

Bruton said it is also important to her to have a place for everyone. She explained she tries to organize events that appeal to all age groups, and invite people into things that they may not have originally thought they would have enjoyed.

Hoffman, who served as executive director of BVFCC from 2019 to 2022, still remembers that first interview with Bruton. He had Bruton interview with Matt Elliot, the then-manager of the cafe, but the moment he met her, he wanted her working there.

“Rai was someone who took interest in the whole place,” Hoffman said. “Some people are mostly interested in one aspect or another, but she got the whole idea of Best Video.”

Hoffman is still on the board at BVFCC, and noted how grateful he’s been to watch Bruton develop her administrative skills, as she now oversees 13 staff members. He added that Bruton took over the organization during a period of intense financial uncertainty, and she has taken care of it all admirably.

“She was indomitable,” he said. He remembered how, when Bruton first took over, she hired a financial advisor who advised her the best thing to do was to start closing up shop. She refused, instead working with the board to throw a crisis fundraiser. The fundraiser was incredibly successful, and the nonprofit raised $70,000—enough to keep the doors open.

Hoffman expected nothing less. He said from the moment he got to know her, he knew he wanted Bruton in a leadership position in the future.

“Best Video is incredibly fortunate to have had Rai walk in, become an employee, and understand why the organization is meaningful to other people in the community, and have her contribute to that,” Hoffman said.

Smith, too, had high praise for Bruton. Smith, who had worked for the Town of Hamden’s Department of Arts & Culture, first met Bruton when she came on as executive director. She said she took one look at Bruton and thought, “this is somebody who is very talented, super smart, and has their stuff together.”

As they worked alongside each other, Smith said she immediately recognized the leader in Bruton, and marked her as the one she wanted as her successor to the position.

Though Smith had to step down earlier than expected, she said Bruton has “been a rockstar, … and gone above and beyond what was expected of her.”

Smith added that she is so proud of Bruton, and is excited to see what more will come from her future years as executive director.

Alongside her work, Bruton is also a mother to a 3-year-old daughter, and credited her workplace’s inclusive parental policies. She reminisced about her earlier days at BVFCC, shelving DVD’s with her baby strapped peacefully to her chest. Now, when her daughter isn’t in daycare, she brings her into the office to toddle around while she works.

She still makes time to consume film, too. Bruton’s recently watched (and rewatched) and enjoyed movies are The Handmaiden, A Private Life, and Nosferatu.

She highlighted the importance of using DVD and VCR technologies instead of streaming, and supporting local business. She said at BVFCC, “there are films that one can’t find anywhere else or one would have to pay a lot to see,” and they get new movies every week.

“With DVDs, it’s like holding a piece of history,” she said.

Learn more about BVFCC here. This article comes from the ninth and current cohort of the Arts Council's Youth Arts Journalism Initiative (YAJI). From June 29 through August 21, YAJI students pitch, report, write and edit stories with Arts Paper Editor Lucy Gellman, Program Assistants Abiba Biao and Grayce Howe and Mentor Ruby Szekeres. Zahara (Zazie) Gazzola is a sophomore at Wilbur Cross High School and the ACES Educational Center for the Arts.