Until the last few years, a 35mm print was the primary medium through which a film could be seen in a public venue. But with the advent of the DCP, we now have a new standard format, one that over the course of less than a decade has almost completely redefined the way films are seen across the country. Archives, whose mission it is to bring to audiences these films in their original format, continue to do so. So, while it’s no longer the only game in town, film is still alive and (fairly) well in the archival and museum community, in the U.S. and around the world. Between the worlds of the archive and the multiplex, there exists a small subset of cinemas in the United States that still show 35mm film, and their numbers are increasing. Over the last three years, five new cinemas in New York opened with 35mm film capability. These places occupy a hybrid space that blurs the lines between the archive and the first-run cinemas. This group of commercial theaters are, in a way, becoming more like archives, with curated presentations of archival elements, introductions and film notes, and an audience who are there to see the film at least in part because it’s on film. While my talk will primarily focus on cinemas in the U.S., I will also provide updates on 35mm film screenings at some commercial and non-profit venues in London, Paris, and elsewhere in Europe.

Brian Meacham Brian Meacham received a Certificate in Film Preservation from the L. Jeffery Selznick School of Film Preservation at George Eastman House in Rochester, New York in 2006. From 2006 to 2013 he worked as public access coordinator and film preservationist at the Academy Film Archive in Los Angeles. Since 2013, Brian has been Archive and Special Collections Manager at the Yale Film Study Center, where he oversees acquisition, inspection, cataloging, and preservation of the Yale Film Archive. He has overseen the preservation of more than a dozen short films in the collection and helped launch and program the ongoing 35mm screening series, “Treasures from the Yale Film Archive.” He represents Associate archives on FIAF’s Executive Committee.