Discover where to find 35mm prints, rare restorations, and curated retrospectives across new york venues including Film at Lincoln Center, Museum of Modern Art, BAM, and more.
Let’s tell the truth: the city’s repertory cinemas are mounting a wide mix of retrospectives, tributes and restored prints this weekend.
Who: repertory venues across New York’s five boroughs. What: single-title screenings, multi-film tributes and thematic showcases. When: this weekend. Where: theaters citywide. Why: to foreground the sensory value of theatrical presentation and the tactile experience of film.
Curation ranges from traditional 35mm showings to modern 4K restorations. Institutions are assembling lineups that highlight auteurs, genre favorites and lesser-known works. Some programs offer intimate tributes. Others present large-scale retrospectives and technical restorations.
The emperor has no clothes, and I’m telling you: cinema on celluloid remains a distinct experience. Projection format, film grain and physical prints alter how a work reads. These screenings are both preservation and persuasion, reminding audiences what is lost when films live only in digital files.
Below is a concise roadmap to notable programs playing across the city. Each venue emphasizes a specific focus: legendary directors, regional cinema, technical restoration or thematic curation. Use this guide to plan a night out or a weekend marathon at venues that continue to keep cinematic history alive on the big screen.
Use this guide to plan a night out or a weekend marathon at venues that continue to keep cinematic history alive on the big screen. Film at Lincoln Center is presenting a tribute to an acclaimed actor with a program that includes films projected on 35mm. Let’s tell the truth: screenings on celluloid change the viewing experience. Projection on original formats foregrounds texture, grain and frame composition in ways digital transfers often smooth over.
Nearby, the Roxy Cinema has curated a Valentine’s Day slate of prints that mixes mainstream crowd-pleasers with provocative art-house selections. The programming aims to bridge nostalgia and contemporary curiosity. Couples and serious cinephiles will find different reasons to attend, from the comfort of familiar titles to the jolting pleasure of lesser-seen works.
Archives, preservation labs and repertory houses are foregrounding newly restored prints alongside long-running retrospectives. The emphasis is on material integrity: where possible, venues screen restorations that replicate original aspect ratios, color timing and sound mixes. The result is restorations that serve scholarship and casual viewing alike.
Many series pair restorations with contextual programming. Panels, shorts programs and director Q&As aim to situate each print within its production history and cultural moment. The emperor has no clothes, and I’m telling you: without context, restored images can feel prettified rather than instructive. Curators are responding by coupling aesthetic care with critical framing.
Smaller cinemas and nonprofit film societies continue to champion experimental work and marginalized voices. These series often rely on 35mm and archival prints rescued from private collections and regional archives. The work requires funding and technical expertise, but it widens the repertory available to New York audiences and preserves films that might otherwise disappear.
Program notes and ticket pages now routinely list the source materials and restoration houses involved. That transparency helps viewers assess how faithful a new print is to its theatrical origins and who made the preservation choices.
Museum of the Moving Image has opened a wide-ranging retrospective that revisits a landmark era in film. The program includes occasional single-print showings on 35mm. These screenings feature classic comedy ensembles that continue to draw repertory audiences. Let’s tell the truth: archival prints still offer a distinct viewing experience that digital copies rarely replicate.
At BAM, a new series examines cinema industry labor and the people behind the camera. The series is programmed in collaboration with an influential film journal and foregrounds crew roles often omitted from mainstream programming. The emperor has no clothes, and I’m telling you: industry narratives rarely credit the technicians and artisans whose work shapes what audiences see.
BAM is also running daily screenings of a newly completed 4K restoration of an independent vampire film. The screenings pair historical context with improved image fidelity, allowing viewers to compare restoration choices with original exhibition standards. I know it’s not popular to say, but these restorations raise urgent questions about taste and authorship in preservation.
Programming at both institutions balances celebration with critical framing. That transparency helps viewers assess how faithful a new print is to its theatrical origins and who made the preservation choices.
That transparency helps viewers assess how faithful a new print is to its theatrical origins and who made the preservation choices. Let’s tell the truth: cultural gatekeeping still shapes what reaches screens, even as programming grows more diverse.
The Museum of Modern Art has commissioned contemporary Korean filmmakers to curate a strand highlighting lesser-known Seoul productions. The move signals a shift from curator-led canons toward collaborative selection with living artists.
The curatorship foregrounds films that circulated locally but rarely crossed international exhibition circuits. Film texts are presented with contextual materials and filmmaker commentary, allowing audiences to evaluate restoration and interpretation choices.
At the same time, the Film Forum programs thematic series that place silent-era comedies, mid-century neorealist works, and recent restorations in dialogue. The venue continues to screen a newly completed 4K restoration of an influential Italian film, offering the title in a condition closer to its original projection quality.
The emperor has no clothes, and I’m telling you: institutions are no longer conserving in solitude. Archives, living artists and specialty cinemas increasingly negotiate which films are preserved, how they are framed, and who sees them.
Expect ongoing collaborations between museums, restorers and filmmakers as a persistent feature of programming and preservation practice. Institutions report that such partnerships shape both acquisition priorities and public presentation.
Institutions report that such partnerships shape both acquisition priorities and public presentation. IFC Center balances repertory programming with late-night genre shows. Audiences can see director’s cuts and theatrical versions of cult titles. Midnight slots highlight contemporary provocations alongside revival fare.
Anthology Film Archives is mounting a Valentine’s Day block of offbeat romantic films. The venue is also running an experimental advertising series that pairs historical moving-image ephemera with scholarly context. The program aims to show how commercial materials inform film history and preservation choices.
Nitehawk Cinema mixes family-friendly animation with surprise screenings of obscure international prints. The approach preserves mainstream appeal while maintaining repertory risk-taking. Let’s tell the truth: these houses are betting that programming variety keeps audiences engaged and critical.
Let’s tell the truth: the houses betting that programming variety keeps audiences engaged and critical are not guessing. Metrograph programs a deliberately eclectic slate on 35mm to reach distinct publics.
The schedule pairs literary film adaptations, regional cinema, and cult favorites in the same week. Curators mount concurrent retrospectives on notable directors alongside themed cycles on Southeast Asian currents, actor-focused spotlights, and European auteurs.
This multifaceted approach serves two clear aims. It gives the dedicated cinephile access to restorations and archival prints. It also offers the casual moviegoer provocative double bills that are easy to sell and simple to understand.
The emperor has no clothes, and I’m telling you: the strategy trades programming purity for breadth. That trade increases ticket sales and critical attention while preserving institutional relevance in a crowded repertory market.
Let’s tell the truth: repertory cinemas survive by offering something streaming cannot fully replicate. That trade increases ticket sales and critical attention while preserving institutional relevance in a crowded repertory market.
Across venues, the emphasis on physical prints and high-resolution restorations underlines a broader cultural commitment to film preservation. For viewers, the chance to see a movie projected from a 35mm print or a recent 4K restoration offers texture, grain and color rendering that compressed streams rarely achieve. Check each institution’s listings for showtimes and program notes, and arrive early for Q&A sessions, panel discussions or archival introductions that frequently accompany repertory screenings.
The emperor has no clothes, and I’m telling you: the value of these presentations is not sentimental alone. Preservation efforts feed scholarship, restore filmmakers’ intentions and sustain a public record of cinema’s technical history. Expect more curated events and restorations as archives vie for audiences and relevance in an increasingly digital marketplace.