The 3rd Nitrate Picture Show will return to the George Eastman Museum May 5–7, 2017
Passes for the Festival of Film Conservation on sale beginning December 12
The George Eastman Museum will present the 3rd Nitrate Picture Show this spring. The festival will be held May 5–7, 2017 at the Dryden Theatre, the George Eastman Museum’s historic venue for film exhibition in Rochester, NY. Festival passes for the Nitrate Picture Show, the world’s festival of film conservation, will go on sale at 12:01 a.m. (EST) on Monday, December 12, 2016. Passes will be available for purchase through the museum’s website at eastman.org/nps.
The 3rd Nitrate Picture Show will continue in the tradition of exhibiting pristine archival films on flammable stock from archives and museums in the United States and around the world, including prints from the Eastman Museum collection. Over the past two years, hundreds of people from more than 25 different countries have made the trip to Rochester to indulge in the nitrate experience at the George Eastman Museum. The official program, which is kept secret until the first day of the festival, will be announced at 10 a.m. on Friday, May 5.
“The Nitrate Picture Show is unlike any other festival of film preservation in that its ‘rules of the game’ are far more challenging—and often unpredictable,” said Paolo Cherchi Usai, Senior Curator, Moving Image Department, George Eastman Museum. “Our selection is based primarily on the physical condition and on the pictorial beauty of the prints; the quality and reputation of the works themselves comes next.”
“The festival is a true collaboration among our peers in a broad group of collecting institutions,” Cherchi Usai continued, “which gives our attendees the opportunity to experience a diverse film program, workshops, lectures, and demonstrations, and come together to observe the aura of cinema as a live event."
Festival passes for the Nitrate Picture Show range in price from $125 to $250, and include admission to the festival’s entire film program, including ten nitrate screenings. The festival will also feature lectures, workshops, and other opportunities to experience the art and science of film preservation, from print conservation to archival projection.
TICKET INFORMATION
Festival Passes: May 5–7, 2017
Passes include admission to all screenings and lectures, plus complimentary entrance to the George Eastman Museum May 5–7, 2017. Patrons receive a special gift and recognition on-site and in print.
- Patron Pass: $250
- Festival Pass: $150
- Student/Eastman Museum Member: $125
Workshop: How to Make Nitrate Film: Friday, May 5
Hour-long workshops will be offered in two individual sessions on Friday afternoon. Limited availability. Advance registration required. See website for times.
- Tickets: $50
Guided Tour of the Louis B. Mayer Conservation Center: Friday, May 5
Hour-long tours of the museum’s nitrate vaults will be offered at two times on Friday. Limited availability. Advance registration required. See website for times.
- Tickets: $50
Guided Tour of the George Eastman Museum Technology Vault, Friday, May 5
Hour-long tours of the museum’s technology collection will be offered at two times on Friday. Limited availability. Advance registration required. See website for times.
- Tickets: $50
Can’t wait until May to see nitrate on the big screen? The George Eastman Museum is screening a 35mm nitrate print of The Fallen Idol (Carol Reed, 1948), a 2015 Nitrate Picture Show favorite, on Friday, December 30, at 8 p.m. Tickets will be available at the Dryden Theatre box office.
About the George Eastman Museum Nitrate Collection
The museum holds one of the country’s largest collections of nitrate prints, preserved at the Louis B. Mayer Conservation Center, a state-of-the-art facility located 12 miles southwest of Rochester. The George Eastman Museum is also a member of the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF), the world’s leading group in the field of film conservation and preservation, and the museum’s collection of over 28,000 titles covers the entire history of cinema, from Edison and the Lumière brothers to contemporary works by Peter Greenaway and Tacita Dean.
About the George Eastman Museum
Founded in 1947, the George Eastman Museum is the world’s oldest photography museum and one of the largest film archives in the United States, located on the historic Rochester estate of entrepreneur and philanthropist George Eastman, the pioneer of popular photography. Its holdings comprise more than 450,000 photographs, 28,000 motion picture films, the world’s preeminent collection of photographic and cinematographic technology, one of the leading libraries of books related to photography and cinema, and extensive holdings of documents and other objects related to George Eastman. As a research and teaching institution, the Eastman Museum has an active publishing program and, through its two joint master’s degree programs with the University of Rochester, makes critical contributions to film preservation and to photographic preservation and collections management. For more information, visit eastman.org.