Half-birthdays are generally ho-hum occasions, but when it comes to the Martha’s Vineyard Film Center, exceeding expectations are fast becoming the norm.

Martha’s Vineyard Film Center in Vineyard Haven is naming its theatre space in honor of Baltimore philanthropist Marilyn Meyerhoff, who has given the largest-ever donation to the Martha’s Vineyard Film Society, founder and director Richard Paradise said Thursday.

Mr. Paradise declined to disclose the amount of the gift, but said it was a multi-year commitment that would “provide sustenance for the coming decade and ensures that the MV Film Society will flourish.”

In 2004, Michael Collins read a letter that changed his life. It was signed by 35 witnesses and concerned a double murder trial in the Philippines. While most people might feel badly after reading about such an event but do little more to help, Mr. Collins was moved to act. The defendant, Paco Larrañaga, had been imprisoned for seven years despite 35 witnesses, dubbed the “unheard 35,” who put him at a cooking lesson the day of the murders,

The Martha’s Vineyard Film Society made a giant leap toward its dream of a permanent home on Thursday night when the Martha’s Vineyard Commission approved a new 6,000-square-foot, 190-seat theatre at the Tisbury Marketplace overlooking Lagoon Pond off Beach Road in Vineyard Haven.

The developer for the project is architect Sam Dunn, who built the marketplace in 1984. The tenant will be Richard Paradise’s itinerant, nonprofit film society.

Richard Paradise glides around the nearly constructed building on the corner of Tisbury Marketplace, walking quickly to show off the next feature, spreading his arms wide as he elaborates on what is to come. “So just like in a new theater on the mainland, it’s gonna have stadium seating where every seat is a great seat,” he says while standing on the wooden platform.