Dryden Theatre

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.

The Twelve Chairs (35mm)📅 Saturday, May 30, 7:30 p.m.🎬 Series: 100 Years of Mel BrooksBrooks' second feature is set in R...
05/29/2026

The Twelve Chairs (35mm)
📅 Saturday, May 30, 7:30 p.m.
🎬 Series: 100 Years of Mel Brooks

Brooks' second feature is set in Russia shortly after the Bolshevik uprising, where a hapless clerk (Oliver!'s Ron Moody) and his treacherous companions (Frank Langella & Dom DeLuise) search the country for twelve chairs, one of which contains a fortune in hidden jewels. Like Brooks' previous film, The Producers, the protagonists are hopeless treasure hunters who are forever outwitted by their own inept plans. This black comedy is frequently pointed to by critics as one of Brooks' best and funniest.

The Japanese Paper Film Project📅 Friday, May 29, 7:30 p.m.🎬 Series: AAPI Heritage Month ScreeningsIn the 1930s, several ...
05/28/2026

The Japanese Paper Film Project
📅 Friday, May 29, 7:30 p.m.
🎬 Series: AAPI Heritage Month Screenings

In the 1930s, several Japanese companies produced films made on paper (“kami firumu”) instead of celluloid. The Japanese Paper Film Project preserves the surviving movies and promotes scholarship about these films. From 1932 to 1938, two Japanese companies dominated the paper film market. Most well-known are REFCY, based in Tokyo, and Katei Toki (“Home Talkie”), based in Osaka. They produced animated and live action films, often in color. Moreover, many of the films contained synchronized sound tracks on 78 rpm vinyl. Given the short period of production, the varying paper quality, and WWII’s devastation, very few Japanese paper film prints survive. Now, almost ninety years later, the handful of surviving prints are beginning to deteriorate. Thus, this project is racing against time to preserve the films before they disappear entirely.

This special presentation, compiled specifically for the Dryden Theatre, will include a talk from Project Supervisor Eric Faden and be accompanied by music from Duo Yumeno, a koto and cello duo, for the silent films in the program.

This program is free to all!

05/28/2026

Join us TOMORROW NIGHT, May 29, at 7:30pm for a special presentation from The Japanese Paper Film Project! This event is FREE to all! 📜📽️

Enemy (DCP)📅 Thursday, May 28, 7:30 p.m.🎬 Series: Lose YourselfBefore the blockbuster hits of Arrival and Dune, director...
05/27/2026

Enemy (DCP)
📅 Thursday, May 28, 7:30 p.m.
🎬 Series: Lose Yourself

Before the blockbuster hits of Arrival and Dune, director Denis Villeneuve began his English-language career with this surreal thriller starring two Jake Gyllenhaals. Based on the novel The Double by Nobel laureate José Saramago, Enemy follows Adam Bell, a disaffected history professor in a troubled relationship, whose world is upended when he discovers that he has a doppelgänger, an actor named Anthony Claire. Anthony's wife, however, begins to distrust her husband, and the two men find themselves ensnared in a web of deceit. Featuring strong supporting performances from Mélanie Laurent, Sarah Gadon, and Isabella Rossellini, Enemy creates an oppressive atmosphere around the two leads, drawing us further into their subconscious. With a hefty helping of Eyes Wide Shut thrown in, this film is sure to keep you guessing, with an unforgettable ending that will make your skin crawl.

Introduction by and post-screening discussion with Selznick student Nicholas Rall.

Seconds (35mm)📅 Wednesday, May 27, 7:30 p.m.🎬 Series: George Award Winners: James Wong Howe | AAPI Heritage MonthJames W...
05/26/2026

Seconds (35mm)
📅 Wednesday, May 27, 7:30 p.m.
🎬 Series: George Award Winners: James Wong Howe | AAPI Heritage Month

James Wong Howe provides the amazing camerawork for one of cinema's most complex, terrifying works of science fiction. A mysterious organization gives a middle-aged man a new lease on life: thanks to a staged death and the wonders of plastic surgery, the stodgy businessman metamorphoses into sexy artist Rock Hudson. But he soon finds his fantasy life to be an empty trap. Daring and disturbing, Seconds unfolds new layers of anxiety that linger long after you've left the theater. Profound, powerful filmmaking.

June at the Dryden: Larks on a String (Tuesday, June 30, 7:30 p.m.)Private moments are hard to come by in post-war Czech...
05/24/2026

June at the Dryden: Larks on a String (Tuesday, June 30, 7:30 p.m.)

Private moments are hard to come by in post-war Czechoslovakia. Whether it’s the recitation of a poem, a philosophical conversation, the playing of a saxophone, or a simple flirtation, all are looked on with suspicion by the government and its agents. Following a group of “bourgeois” citizens forced to work in a scrapyard connected to a women’s prison, Larks on a String takes a critical view of the country’s Communist regime. A professor, a prosecutor, a dairyman, a barber, and a cook toil to destroy the emblems of the past while the administration sets up photo ops and romance blossoms across the fence. Made in 1969 but banned until after the Velvet Revolution, master Czech director Menzel (Closely Watched Trains) explores the personal cost of totalitarianism.

June at the Dryden: Silent Movie (Saturday, June 27, 7:30 p.m.)Mel Funn (Brooks), a washed-up Hollywood director, announ...
05/23/2026

June at the Dryden: Silent Movie (Saturday, June 27, 7:30 p.m.)

Mel Funn (Brooks), a washed-up Hollywood director, announces his plans to make a contemporary silent movie. With the help of collaborators Dom Bell (Dom DeLuise) and Marty Eggs (Marty Feldman), Mel sets out to recruit a top-notch cast (Burt Reynolds, Liza Minnelli, Paul Newman, Marcel Marceau and Anne Bancroft) in order to secure funding for his magnum opus. Mel Brooks gambled big — and won — with this boldly uncommercial attempt at recapturing the magic and hilarity of the pre-sound era. Brooks’s affectionate homage is not entirely silent, but the one spoken word of dialogue comes, ingeniously, from the least expected mouth. Though not the smash success of Blazing Saddles, this loving satire has, like Young Frankenstein, aged beautifully, and there’s a cadre of fans who argue it’s as good — if not better — than anything else Brooks directed during the 1970s.

The Producers (DCP)📅 Saturday, May 23, 7:30 p.m.🎬 Series: 100 Years of Mel BrooksFrom the masterful comic mind of Brooks...
05/22/2026

The Producers (DCP)
📅 Saturday, May 23, 7:30 p.m.
🎬 Series: 100 Years of Mel Brooks

From the masterful comic mind of Brooks comes the original film farce that inspired the smash Broadway musical. Gene Wilder plays a meek accountant dragged into a scheme by money-hungry producer Max Bialystock (Zero Mostel). In their attempts to produce a flop, they create one of the most memorable and comedic musical numbers in film history: Springtime for Hi**er. Preceded by the Oscar-winning animated short THE CRITIC, featuring Brooks' sharp wit and tongue in the face of modern art.

Dark is the Night (35mm)📅 Friday, May 22, 7:30 p.m.🎬 Series: Boris Barnet
05/21/2026

Dark is the Night (35mm)
📅 Friday, May 22, 7:30 p.m.
🎬 Series: Boris Barnet

Okraina (35mm)📅 Thursday, May 21, 7:30 p.m.🎬 Series: Boris Barnet
05/20/2026

Okraina (35mm)
📅 Thursday, May 21, 7:30 p.m.
🎬 Series: Boris Barnet

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900 East Avenue
Rochester, NY
14607

Telephone

(585) 327-4800

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