The original Angelika Film Center, in Greenwich Village. (Photo by Sonja Stark)

Since 1989, snooty New York film buffs have descended on the intersection of Houston and Mercer streets to take in the latest independent and foreign flicks at the Angelika Film Center. The Angelika has since extended its brand to Texas, but is set to grow again. And this time, it’s targeting the D.C. area.

Well, the suburbs, that is. Angelika announced yesterday that it will operate an eight-screen cinema in Fairfax at Mosaic, a new mixed-use development set to open this fall. And from the press release, the new Angelika theater is shaping up to be pretty damn fancy for a movie theater:

The sleekly designed soaring three level, glass enclosed lobby includes a café, a lounge and a creative concession stand. A striking three-tiered crystal chandelier accented in blue neon and a dramatic oversized illuminated rendering of the winged face of Angelika adorn the lobby and are signature elements of the other three Angelikas operating in the U.S.

That sounds very nice, and definitely a break from the airport-style cattle-call vibe that governs the average suburban multiplex. And it’ll be a far cry from the Angelika mothership back in Manhattan, where moviegoers descend grimy, dank escalators to tiny screening rooms with bad sight lines and limited insulation from the Subway lines running underneath. (Don’t joke! It’s all very charming!)

The auditoriums at the Fairfax Angelika will feature wall-to-wall screens, stadium-style seating and digital sound—exactly the opposite of that classic, dingy, art-house feel. But, hey, it’s going to be at an upscale shopping plaza in the suburbs.

And, to boot, the Angelika is the second niche, out-of-town theater chain to announce this year that it is settling down in Northern Virginia. Back in January, Austin, Tex.-based Alamo Drafthouse Cinema announced that it will be opening the first of several planned Washington-area locations in Ashburn. (You might recall that Alamo tried to claim that Ashburn was “D.C.” and we called them on that nonsense.)

It’s still a bummer that all these nifty movie theaters are moving into distant suburbs. But at least Fairfax is Metro-accessible. Kind of.