70mm will do.

September 5, 2011 7:49 AM

How am I going to see Lawrence Of Arabia?

I've been waiting forever to see Lawrence Of Arabia in a theater. I missed it when it was playing at the IFC a few years back. In today's thread, somebody mentioned it was playing in Seattle... a city I just moved away from! AAAAARGH!

I'm back in NYC... help me find a screening! The internet is useless for this. I don't mind a few hours in the car.

posted by zvs to sports, hobbies, & recreation (13 answers total)

I've heard that the Somerville Theater (outside of Boston, not the one in NJ) is in the slow process of installing a 70mm. If so, I would assume they'd run LoA when they get it up and running.
posted by rmd1023 at 8:06 AM on September 5, 2011

Well, you're out of luck -- nobody ever shows old movies in New York....

Your best bet is probably to watch these sites:
Museum of the Moving Image
MoMA film screenings
Film Forum
Film Society Lincoln Center

You could also camp on this.

In70mm.com is a site specifically for 70mm showings, but has limited listings (including Seattle). This is a list of 70mm theaters (including the status of those that have closed). I'd say you have between a dozen or a score of options in the tri-state area.
posted by dhartung at 8:16 AM on September 5, 2011 [1 favorite]

Well, you're out of luck -- nobody ever shows old movies in New York....

Not true at all. The 92nd Street Y's downtown screening room (92YTribeca) has an amazing film program and shows lots of old movies. I don't know that they will ever show THAT movie, but it could never hurt to write an email to their film programmer and made a case for it.

Full disclosure, I produce events for them.
posted by hermitosis at 8:38 AM on September 5, 2011 [1 favorite]

Your sarcasm detector may be miscalibrated
posted by b1tr0t at 8:40 AM on September 5, 2011 [3 favorites]

I guess it is. I do actually hear this complaint a lot though, mostly from people who only know to check Fandango.
posted by hermitosis at 8:47 AM on September 5, 2011 [1 favorite]

The prints - 35mm and, I assume, 70mm - are distributed by Sony Pictures Repertory. You could try emailing them and asking if they have any active bookings in the NYC area (though they may not want to tell you - hard to say).
posted by bubukaba at 9:15 AM on September 5, 2011

My title is misleading. I don't care if it's 70mm so long as it's in a theater.
posted by zvs at 9:40 AM on September 5, 2011

No worries. [NOT HERMITOSIS-IST]
posted by dhartung at 9:51 PM on September 5, 2011

BAM the IFC Center and Symphony Space also have repertory programs.

The Paris and Ziegfeld occasionally screen old films.

LoA has screened every few years since I moved here 11 years ago.
posted by brujita at 1:26 AM on September 6, 2011

The Cleveland Cinematheque plays a lot of good sh*t on the screen.
posted by dgeiser13 at 1:31 PM on September 6, 2011

Seeing LoA in 70mm is one of the greatest moments I have experienced in a motion picture theater. I have seen the restored print three times projected in 70 and I highly recommend going out of your way to see it in the format it was shot in, a 35 reduction print just will not do!.

It screens twice a year at the Los Angeles Cinematheque.

You might call them (they are very friendly and helpful) in trying to track downa screening near you.

H
posted by silsurf at 8:11 PM on September 6, 2011

There's a great website called Alt Screen that features a one-page listing of all NYC film screenings like this. I would just keep an eye on this page because if it gets shown in NYC, I imagine it'll show up on Alt Screen.
posted by soonertbone at 10:58 AM on September 8, 2011

I don't know if you already caught a screening somewhere, but the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria is screening the picture in 70mm on November 5th and 6th.
posted by Nathaniel W at 11:40 AM on October 21, 2011