Screening Thursday, May 29 at 7:30 p.m.
Becky Sharp (Rouben Mamoulian, US 1935)
The stunning original Technicolor nitrate print of Becky Sharp (1935) will open the ninth Nitrate Picture Show, Thursday, May 29 at 7:30 p.m. at the George Eastman Museum’s Dryden Theatre.
The Nitrate Picture Show is the first and largest festival in the world devoted entirely to screening original nitrate prints, showcasing films made between the 1910s and the 1960s, from the silent era to Technicolor features, noir classics, and experimental shorts.
Directed by Rouben Mamoulian and starring Miriam Hopkins, Becky Sharp holds a unique place in cinema history as the first full-length feature produced in three-strip Technicolor. Adapted from William Makepeace Thackeray’s Vanity Fair, the film follows its sharp-tongued and ambitious anti-heroine through the shifting currents of British society during the Napoleonic Wars. Bold in both its visuals and tone, Becky Sharp mixes sly comedy with pointed drama, all delivered at its most expressive and self-conscious.
“This landmark in the history of motion pictures was beautifully restored about twenty years ago, but even the most meticulous restorations cannot do full justice to the palette of 1930s Technicolor,” said Peter Bagrov, Senior Curator, Moving Image Department, George Eastman Museum. “The film has not been publicly projected on nitrate for at least half a century. Seeing an original nitrate print of this legendary film is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
Praised for its remarkable image quality, nitrate film is subject to chemical decomposition, and the majority of nitrate prints are no longer projectable. This print of Becky Sharp, provided by the Eye Filmmuseum in the Netherlands, is one of only a few surviving nitrate copies struck during the film’s original release. Made from the camera negatives by Technicolor technicians at a time when the process was still closely guarded, its hues remain vivid to this day.
The George Eastman Museum's esteemed nitrate vault, the Louis B. Mayer Conservation Center, is a state-of-the-art facility that houses more than 24,000 reels of nitrate film, meticulously preserved under strict temperature and humidity controls to maintain the beauty, clarity, and safety of this remarkable medium. The museum’s Dryden Theatre is the only institution on the East Coast that is able to project nitrate prints, some of them more than a hundred years old.
The full festival program will be revealed during a press conference on Thursday, May 29 at 10 a.m at the Dryden Theatre. No registration is required for the press conference.
Festival Admission
Regular Pass: $225
Member/Student Pass: $175
Individual Screenings - General Admission: $27
Individual Screenings - Students & Museum Members: $22
All passes include access to weekend screenings, lectures, exclusive events, and complimentary admission to the George Eastman Museum. A limited number of individual tickets may be available at the Dryden Theatre box office or online during the festival; however, due to the high number of passes sold, the availability of individual tickets is not guaranteed. Passes can be purchased here.
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, New York estate of entrepreneur and philanthropist George Eastman, the pioneer of popular photography. Its holdings comprise more than 400,000 photographs, approximately 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.
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Rare Media Opportunity: A behind-the-scenes tour of the Louis B. Mayer Conservation Center, located in North Chili, New York, will be provided to the press on Wednesday, May 28 at 9 a.m. Space is limited to fifteen people. Please email [email protected] to reserve your spot.