The George Eastman Museum is hosting the 5th Nitrate Picture Show this weekend (May 3–5) and will welcome hundreds of international visitors to Rochester to experience cinema in its purest form on the big screen. The Dryden Theatre at the George Eastman Museum is the only theater outside of California that can project nitrate films in the United States and one of only a handful in the world. The 3-day festival attracts visitors from across the globe; 20 different countries outside of the US will be represented this year. Over the past five years, the festival has attracted more than 1,400 visitors from 25 different countries.
The titles of the 10 programs that will be screened have been kept secret and will be revealed to festival attendees for the first time at 9 a.m. on Friday, May 3. People have traveled across the country and the world to get here with only the knowledge that they will be seeing some of the best nitrate prints from archives around the world. Over the past three years, festival goers have experienced such films as Casablanca, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Phantom of the Opera, Portrait of Jennie, and Anchors Aweigh. To be among the first to hear the program revealed, join us at 8:45 a.m. on Friday.
WHO: The George Eastman Museum/ The 5th Nitrate Picture Show
WHAT: The film titles that will be screened over the weekend have been kept a secret until the festival begins at 9 a.m. Friday. The official program reveal will take place during the press conference. Single-screening tickets will go on sale at 9 a.m. for each of the 10 programs, $20 general admission/ $18 for students and museum members/ $5 for ages 17 and under.
WHEN: Friday, May 3
TIME: 8:45 a.m.–9:15 a.m. (doors open at 8:30 a.m.)
WHERE: The Dryden Theatre, 900 East Avenue, Rochester
SPEAKERS:
- Festival Directors, Jared Case and Deborah Stoiber (George Eastman Museum)
- Nitrate Picture Show Social Media Correspondent, James David Patrick (Cinema Shame)
PHOTO/ INTERVIEW OPPORTUNITIES:
- Festival Executive Team, Jared Case, Deborah Stoiber
- Festival Founder, and Silent Cinema author, Paolo Cherchi Usai
- Festival pass holders discovering program titles for the 5th Nitrate Picture Show
- International visitors in the Dryden Lobby and Dryden Theatre reacting to the program reveal
- Nitrate prints on benches as part of the Nitrate Touch demo in the Potter Peristyle for an up-close look at nitrate
MEDIA RSVP: Please contact Kellie Fraver, Public Relations Manager, George Eastman Museum, at kfraver@eastman.org, (585) 327-4813 or (585) 314-1552 (mobile).
