Dryden Theatre

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Dryden Theatre The George Eastman Museum's exhibition space for showcasing its unparalleled collection of motion pictures, as well as new foreign and independent films.
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The Dryden Theatre at George Eastman House is the Museum's largest exhibition space for showcasing its unparalleled collection of motion pictures, selections from archives around the world, as well as new foreign and independent films. With such diverse programming, the Dryden remains an essential part of the Museum experience and continues to be an important institution not only for the Rochester community, but internationally as well. The Dryden Theatre was constructed in 1951 after George Eastman House received a generous donation from George and Ellen Dryden. The first film to be shown at the Dryden was Jean Renoir’s silent film Nana (1924). James Card (1915 – 2000) established the motion picture collection at George Eastman House. Card was a pioneer in the archival world and he single-handedly helped contribute to the appreciation of film as an art form. FILM
The projection booth is equipped with two reel-to-reel 35mm/16mm Kinoton projectors, and two 35mm Century projectors. Both sets of projectors have adaptable lenses for the following aspect ratios:

1.18: 1
Silent 1.33: 1
Academy 1.37: 1
1.66: 1
1.85: 1
Anamorphic 2.39: 1

VIDEO
The Dryden Theatre is equipped with an InFocus SP 777 DLP Projector. Video capabilities include: BetacamSP, Blu-ray, DVD, DigiBeta, U-Matic and VHS. SOUND
The theatre is outfitted with an up-to-date sound system designed to reproduce soundtracks for both contemporary and archival screenings. Designed and installed by Boston Light & Sound, it features a Dolby 7.1 system, able to reproduce the following stereo formats: Mono, Dolby A-Type, Dolby SR, Dolby Digital, and also DTS. NITRATE
The Dryden Theatre projection booth is also customized to handle highly volatile Nitrate film. Discontinued around the mid-20th Century due to its highly flammable nature, nitrate film stock – the combination of a silver nitrate base and orthochromatic or panchromatic emulsion – provided a shimmering, luminous motion picture experience for moviegoers during the entire first half of movie history. One of only a handful of venues in the world that is still safely equipped to show 35mm nitrate prints, the Dryden Theatre is occasionally able to re-introduce audiences to this special kind of cinema magic with classic films from our vaults or other leading archives. Because no nitrate film stock is being produced today, these rare screenings of vintage prints may represent your only opportunity to experience this distinctive aesthetic visual pleasure.

Full Time (DCP)📅 Friday, October 16, 7:30 p.m.🎬 Series: Labor Film SeriesJulie (Laure Calamy) can’t catch a break. For a...
10/15/2026

Full Time (DCP)
📅 Friday, October 16, 7:30 p.m.
🎬 Series: Labor Film Series

Julie (Laure Calamy) can’t catch a break. For a single mother raising two children in the suburbs of Paris but working in the city, the commuter train is a lifeline — and it’s suddenly been severed during the latest transit strike. Without the train, Julie can’t get to her job as the head maid at a five-star hotel, or to the interview for a better job she has lined up. Out of desperation, Julie turns to neighbors and her own gutsy resourcefulness to get to work and barely makes it back in time to pick up her kids before bedtime. Worse yet: it’s only Monday. Julie is at her breaking point and soon finds herself bending the rules to stay afloat in a ruthless society as her responsibilities pile up. Anchored by Calamy’s powerful performance, Full Time is an impossible race against time and a kinetic thriller assembled from the everyday obstacles faced by working parents everywhere.

DCP from Music Box Films.

10/14/2026

Join us THIS FRIDAY, October 16 at 7:30 p.m. for the next installment in our Labor Film series, FULL TIME

Addams Family Values (DCP)📅 Thursday, October 15, 7:30 p.m.🎬 Series: Latin Cinematic Heritage | Free to AllLegendary Pue...
10/14/2026

Addams Family Values (DCP)
📅 Thursday, October 15, 7:30 p.m.
🎬 Series: Latin Cinematic Heritage | Free to All

Legendary Puerto Rican actor Raul Julia returns as Gomez, the patriarch of the Addams family. After being reunited with his brother Fester (Christopher Lloyd), Gomez and Morticia (Anjelica Huston) have a third child. They hire a nanny, Debbie (Joan Cusack), to care for the child and to keep his older siblings, Wednesday and Puggsly (Christina Ricci and Jimmy Workman, respectively) from trying to murder him. When Wednesday becomes suspicious of Debbie’s motives, the nanny convinces the parents to send the children to camp. As the youngsters try unsuccessfully to fit in at camp, Debbie puts her plan in motion to marry Fester, kill him, and steal his fortune. Superior to the original in every way, this madcap adventure leans into the gothic macabre so familiar in Latin-American countries.

DCP from Paramount Pictures via Swank.

The Birdcage (DCP)📅 Tuesday, October 13, 7:30 p.m.🎬 Series: ImageOut of the ArchiveAdapted from the celebrated French-It...
10/12/2026

The Birdcage (DCP)
📅 Tuesday, October 13, 7:30 p.m.
🎬 Series: ImageOut of the Archive

Adapted from the celebrated French-Italian farce La cage aux folles (1978), The Birdcage tells the story of Miami drag club owner Armand Goldman (Robin Williams) and his star performer and partner Albert (Nathan Lane) as their beloved son Val not only announces his engagement, but requests they feign heterosexuality for his fiancée’s conservative political figure father (Gene Hackman). This hilarious yet at times touching comedy benefits enormously from acclaimed screenwriter Elaine May’s substantial wit, and yet it is the marvelous cast which really brings the film to life. Robin Williams especially enriches the film with a sense of balanced absurdity and authentic frustration, allowing truth to break through his character’s mask at just the right moments.

DCP from Park Circus.

🚨 ‼️Title reveal! 🚨 ‼️This is our last announcement for the November Nitrate Weekend, which also features A STAR IS BORN...
10/12/2026

🚨 ‼️Title reveal! 🚨 ‼️

This is our last announcement for the November Nitrate Weekend, which also features A STAR IS BORN (1937), DAISY KENYON (1947), and HAMLET (1948).

At 7:30pm on Friday, November 20 we will screen MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (1935). This Best Picture-winning film, adapted from the 1932 novel, stars Charles Laughton as the mercurial Captain Bligh whose abuses of his crew inspire a revolt, led by Fletcher Christian (Clark Gable). Nominated for eight Academy Awards in total, including three for Best Actor (Gable, Laughton, and Franchot Tone), this definitive cinematic vision of the story will be presented in a 1946 re-issue print from the George Eastman Museum collection.

Tickets for all four screenings are now on sale on our website: https://bit.ly/4ywZEEx

$25 general admission, $20 for museum members, $10 for students and children.

🚨 ‼️ Title reveal! 🚨 ‼️November Nitrate Weekend returns with four screenings on November 20 and 21. Watch this page for ...
10/11/2026

🚨 ‼️ Title reveal! 🚨 ‼️

November Nitrate Weekend returns with four screenings on November 20 and 21. Watch this page for the next few days as we reveal all the titles screening!

At 4:30 p.m. on November 21 we will screen DAISY KENYON (1947). Celebrating her Nitrate Dryden premiere, Joan Crawford takes on the title role, a post-war career woman caught in a love triangle with a married lawyer (Dana Andrews) and a troubled soldier (Henry Fonda). Refusing to pass moral judgment on his heroine, director Otto Preminger instead imbues her with agency, putting Daisy firmly at the heart of this melodrama. Previously screened at the 2025 TCM Film Festival, this wonderful print comes from the Library of Congress.

Tickets on sale now at https://bit.ly/4AXXGiN

$25 general admission, $20 for museum members, $10 for students and children.

Here's what's on our screen this week! Which is your must see?
10/11/2026

Here's what's on our screen this week! Which is your must see?

🚨 ‼️ Title reveal! 🚨 ‼️ November Nitrate Weekend returns with four screenings on November 20 and 21! Watch this page for...
10/10/2026

🚨 ‼️ Title reveal! 🚨 ‼️

November Nitrate Weekend returns with four screenings on November 20 and 21! Watch this page for the next few days as we reveal all the titles screening!

At 8 p.m. on November 21, we will screen HAMLET (1948). The first non-American film to earn the Academy Award for Best Picture, Laurence Olivier directs and stars in this Shakespearean adaptation. Gorgeous black-and-white cinematography highlights the innovative filmmaking from the experienced stage director.

Tickets on sale now: https://bit.ly/4AYrVWS

$25 general admission, $20 for museum members, $10 for students and children.

Made in EU (DCP)📅 Friday, October 9, 7:30 p.m.🎬 Series: Labor Film SeriesIva works in a clothing factory in rural Bulgar...
10/08/2026

Made in EU (DCP)
📅 Friday, October 9, 7:30 p.m.
🎬 Series: Labor Film Series

Iva works in a clothing factory in rural Bulgaria battling a persistent, yet mysterious illness. When it is revealed that she is the first case of COVID in her small town, the news spirals into an endless series of accusations — first from the factory owners eager to shift responsibility, then from her fellow co-workers, her son, and eventually her entire community, even though Iva hasn’t left her small town in years. With Iva’s public demonization escalating as the first victims of the virus emerge, she is quickly turned into a social outcast.

DCP from Heretic Films.

Women Talking (DCP)📅 Thursday, October 8, 7:30 p.m.🎬 Series: The Art of Music in the MoviesSarah Polley’s adaptation of ...
10/07/2026

Women Talking (DCP)
📅 Thursday, October 8, 7:30 p.m.
🎬 Series: The Art of Music in the Movies

Sarah Polley’s adaptation of Miriam Toews’s 2018 novel of the same name earned the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Taking place exclusively in a rural Canadian Mennonite colony, it is discovered that the men of the community have been drugging and ra**ng the women, forcing an arrest that takes all of the men into the city to bail out the offender. Left alone, the women congregate to make a decision about what they must do: nothing, stay and fight, or leave the community forever. Over a day of debate, social ills are revealed and questioned, pitting the safety of women in a patriarchal society versus their security. The stellar cast includes Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, and Oscar-winners Frances McDormand and Jessie Buckley. The score by Hildur Guðnadóttir uses simple instruments and female voices to capture the tone and setting.

DCP from Park Circus.

Address

900 East Avenue
Rochester, NY
14607

Telephone

(585) 327-4800

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