George Eastman Museum to host West Side Story screening and conversation with Rita Moreno

George Eastman Award recipient and actress Rita Moreno will have a conversation on stage in front of audience members with Jared Case, curator of film exhibitions, prior to a special film screening of West Side Story (1961) at the George Eastman Museum’s Dryden Theatre on Tuesday, October 28 at 7:30 p.m. EDT.

Tickets to the event are $50 and can be purchased online beginning Monday, October 6 at 10 a.m. for George Eastman Museum members. Any remaining tickets will be released to the general public on Wednesday, October 8, at 10 a.m. 

Moreno will accept the George Eastman Award at a ceremony and gala the following day, on Wednesday, October 29 at 8 p.m., also at the Dryden Theatre. More information can be found at eastman.org/eastmanaward2025.

Moreno received an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance as Anita in West Side Story (Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins, 1961). In 1977, she became the third artist to have received competitive Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony awards (EGOT). Moreno has received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States, from President George W. Bush; the National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama; the Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award; the Kennedy Center Honor for her lifetime contributions to American culture; and the Peabody Career Achievement Award.

About West Side Story
The 1961 film adaptation of the Broadway musical (1957) earned ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress for its breakout star, Rita Moreno. The tale of a turf war between rival teenage gangs in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen and the two lovers who cross battle lines has captivated audiences for seven decades. The Leonard Bernstein–Stephen Sondheim score is just one of the reasons. One of the first films shot in Super Panavision, West Side Story (Robert Wise, Jerome Robbins, US 1961, 153 min., 35mm) on the wide screen highlights legendary choreographer Jerome Robbins’s athletic and dynamic choreography. The moving love story and kinetic gang conflict are brilliantly captured by versatile directors Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. 

Sponsorship
Canandaigua National Bank and Hungate Construction are the Corporate Sponsors for the West Side Story film screening, along with Ibero-American Action League, Latinas Unidas, and Full Court International as Community Sponsors. 

About the George Eastman Award
The George Eastman Award was established in 1955 as the first award to recognize the enduring artistic value of the oeuvre of a film actor, director, or cinematographer. The first two presentations of the award in 1955 and 1957, known as the Festival of Film Artists, were a tribute to the legends of the silent film era (1915–1930). Since then, the George Eastman Award has honored a range of actors, directors, and cinematographers.

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 400,000 photographs, 31,000 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 its L. Jeffrey Selznick School of Film Preservation’s graduate program (a collaboration with the University of Rochester) makes critical contributions to film preservation. The George Eastman Museum is supported with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. For more information, visit eastman.org.