Watching a film at a movie theater is special — and watching an old 35mm print in its original form even more so. “I think that people get used to seeing things digitally and I certainly do too — but then you see a beautiful 35mm print, it’s a whole other experience,” says Jake Perlin, Executive Director at Cinema Conservancy. The nonprofit contacts theaters with film projectors across the country to screen 35mm prints they reproduce. They narrow their field to American independent film, with a focus on projects of historical and social significance that, for one reason or another, have gone under-seen and have piqued Perlin’s interest, from Nothing But a Man to The Little Fugitive. Once he chooses a movie, Perlin strikes a new 35mm print from the negative or high-quality positive; he also helps to untangle legal rights so that a film can be re-introduced.
Seeing these forgotten movies on 35mm, or any movie the way the artist intended, is essential for any man that calls himself a film buff. Using this list, provided by Perlin and the Cinema Conservancy, you should be able to find a theater that does so just a road trip away.
The Theaters, from Los Angeles to Toronto
Pacific Cinematheque, Vancouver, BC
New Beverly Cinema, Los Angeles, CA
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
University of Colorado Boulder International Film Series, Boulder, CO
University of Miami Cosford Cinema, Miami, FL
University of Chicago Doc Films, Chicago, IL
Harvard Film Archives Cinematheque, Cambridge, MA
AFI Silver Theatre, Silver Spring, MD
Trylon Microcinema, Minneapolis, MN
Webster University Film Series, St. Louis, MO
IFC Center, New York, NY
Eastman House Dryden Theatre, Rochester, NY
Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH
Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Oklahoma City, OK
NW Film Center, Portland, OR
Toronto International Film Festival, Toronto, ON
The Belcourt Theatre, Nashville, TN
Austin Film Society, Austin, TX
The Texas Theatre, Dallas, TX
University of Wisconsin-Madison Cinematheque, Madison, WI
