Curator's Choice
Dr. Peter Bagrov is currently the senior curator of the George Eastman Museum's Moving Image Department. From 2013-2017 he was the Senior Curator at Gosfilmofond of Russia, the Russian state film archive, and recieved a Phd from the Institute for Cinema Studies in Moscow. He takes his wide ranging film expertise to work in this bi-monthly series at the Dryden, where he scours the film archives for precious cinematic gems. From rarely screened prints to milestones in film history, the Curator's Choice series at the Dryden will offer some of the most unique and envied cinemagoing experiences in the world.
The Centennial Club
There are several prominent actors, actresses, and directors reaching the 100th anniversary of their birth in 2025, including Robert Altman, Tony Curtis, Angela Lansbury, Jack Lemmon, Paul Newman, Sam Peckinpah, and Peter Sellers. Through a series of short series throughout the year, the Dryden will celebrate these cinematic luminaries the best way we know how—by bringing their films to the big screen for everyone to enjoy.
Dates and Titles:
January 3: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Richard Brooks, 1958, 108 min., 35mm)
January 10: Hud (Martin Ritt, 1963, 112 min., 35mm)
January 17: Cool Hand Luke (Stuart Rosenberg, 1967, 127 min., 35mm)
January 24: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (George Roy Hill, 1969, 110 min., 35mm)
January 25 (2 p.m.): Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (George Roy Hill, 1969, 110 min., 35mm)
January 31: The Sting (George Roy Hill, 1973, 129 min., DCP)
February 19: Mister Roberts (John Ford, Mervyn LeRoy, Joshua Logan, 1955, 123 min., 35mm)
March 8: Gaslight (George Cukor, 1944, 114 min., DCP)
March 22: The Picture of Dorian Gray (Albert Lewin, US 1945, 110 min., 35mm)
April 11: The Mirror Crack’d (Guy Hamilton, UK 1980, 105 min., 35mm)
April 18: Sweet Smell of Success (Alexander Mackendrick, US 1957, 96 min., 35mm)
April 25: The Great Race (Blake Edwards, US 1965, 160 min., 35mm)
May 24: Lolita (Stanley Kubrick, US/UK 1962, 153 min., 35mm)
June 4: Ride the High Country (Sam Peckinpah, US 1962, 94 min., 35mm)
June 7: Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Stanley Kubrick, US/UK 1964, 95 min., DCP)
June 11: The Getaway (Sam Peckinpah, US 1972, 123 min., 35mm)
June 25: Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (Sam Peckinpah, US 1973, 122 min., 35mm)
December 11: Nashville (Robert Altman, US 1975, 160 min., 35mm)
December 17: McCabe & Mrs. Miller (Robert Altman, US 1971, 120 min., DCP)
December 20: Gosford Park (Robert Altman, US/UK/Italy 2001, 137 min., 35mm)
Holidays at the Dryden
It’s that time of year again when the silver screen turns to tinsel and we celebrate the end of the year with holiday classics on the big screen. Highlighted by the return of Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life on 35mm film, as well as the first ever Dryden screenings of Christmas Vacation, It Happened on 5th Avenue, and the 1938 A Christmas Carol, this series brings together films from the last 100 years of cinema to warm the soul and spur the heart to joyousness this holiday season. In between Christmas and New Year’s, you can celebrate the 40th anniversary of the groundbreaking Back to the Future trilogy, and ring in the new year with Billy Wilder’s classic The Apartment. It’s the most cinematic time of the year!
Dates and Titles:
November 28: A Christmas Story (Bob Clark, US 1983, 93 min., DCP)
November 29 (2 p.m.): A Christmas Story (Bob Clark, US 1983, 93 min., DCP)
November 29: National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (Jeremiah Chechik, US 1989, 97 min., DCP)
December 2: Hell’s Heroes (William Wyler, US 1929, 68 min., 35mm)
December 5: It’s a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, US 1946, 130 min., 35mm)
December 6 (2 p.m.): National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (Jeremiah Chechik, US 1989, 97 min., DCP)
December 6: Deaf Santa Claus (Ben Shelton, Anthony Mowl, US 2025, 107 min., DCP)
December 10: It’s a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, US 1946, 130 min., 35mm)
December 13 (2 p.m.): It’s a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, US 1946, 130 min., 35mm)
December 18: A Christmas Carol (Edwin L. Marin, US 1938, 69 min., 35mm)
December 20 (2 p.m.): A Christmas Carol (Edwin L. Marin, US 1938, 69 min., 35mm)
December 23: It Happened on Fifth Avenue (Roy Del Ruth, US 1947, 116 min., 35mm)
December 26: Back to the Future (Robert Zemeckis, US 1985, 116 min., 35mm)
December 27 (2 p.m.): Back to the Future (Robert Zemeckis, US 1985, 116 min., 35mm)
December 27: Back to the Future, Part II (Robert Zemeckis, US 1989, 108 min., 35mm)
December 30: Back to the Future, Part III (Robert Zemeckis, US 1990, 118 min., 35mm)
December 31: The Apartment (Billy Wilder, US 1960, 125 min., DCP)
Filmspotting Madness: Best of the ‘40s
For more than a decade, Chicago-based podcast Filmspotting has been pitting actors, directors, and films against each other in their own bracket-style tournament where the listeners decide the winners. Working their way back through years to determine the listeners’ favorite films of each decade, they have made their way to the 1940s, a time that The Dryden has a particular ability to represent. For the first time, the Dryden Theatre is presenting some of the films on this Filmspotting list to view as they were meant to be seen—on the big screen. Come, do your research, then start your voting in March when the tournament begins.
Dates and Titles:
January 7: A Canterbury Tale (Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger, UK 1944, 124 min., 35mm)
January 20: The Naked City (Jules Dassin, US 1948, 96 min., DCP)
January 21: I Know Where I’m Going (Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger, UK 1945, 92 min., 35mm)
January 28: Odd Man Out (Carol Reed, UK 1947, 116 min., 35mm)
Greater Western New York Film Critics Association 2025 Awards Ceremony
Free to all! For the third year in a row, kick off awards season with your own regional film critics! Founded in 2018 as a way to bring the disparate voices from the area together, the Greater Western New York Film Critics Association (GWNYFCA) is a collective of WNY film critics from the Buffalo and Rochester metropolitan areas, with an affinity for the cinematic art form.
It Happened on Fifth Avenue (35mm)
Holidays The lesser-seen New York City-based 1947 Hollywood Christmas film released out-of-season, overshadowed by Miracle on 34th Street. Wandering hobo Aloysius McKeever has a great system: he moves into the residences of the rich as they vacation elsewhere. The past three winters he has occupied the Fifth Avenue home of Michael J. O’Connor, the second-richest man in the world, as he winters in Florida.
Back to the Future, Part III (35mm)
Back to the Future @ 40 Following the events of the previous film, Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) has been thrown in the nineteenth century, forcing Marty (Michael J. Fox) to mount a rescue operation. While he manages to retrieve the DeLorean and travel back to 1885, the car crashes and severs the fuel line, leaving everyone stranded without a way to get the machine up to 88 miles per hour.
Back to the Future, Part II (35mm)
Back to the Future @ 40 Co-creators Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis followed up their 1985 megahit with two sequels, shot back-to-back and released within six months of each other. In this first sequel, Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) has to travel 30 years into the future to save his children from traveling the wrong path.
The Apartment (Matinee)
The Sight and Sound Club | Saturday Matinees Young corporate flunky C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon, in perhaps his greatest role) quickly climbs the ladder of success when he begins lending his apartment key to his superiors, who are looking for a clandestine place for their afternoon and evening trysts. The situation is complicated when Lemmon falls for Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine), the girlfriend of the top executive.
The Shining (35mm)
The Complete Kubrick | The Sight and Sound Club Seeking inspiration and relaxation, troubled writer Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) accepts a job as wintertime caretaker for a hotel in Colorado. Soon, a case of cabin fever spells trouble for Jack’s wife (Shelley Duvall) and psychic young son (Danny Lloyd).
Back to the Future (35mm)
Back to the Future @ 40 Skateboarding high-schooler Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) finds himself transported to 1955 via a DeLorean time machine invented by his nutty professor pal, Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd). Stuck in the past, Marty must initiate his own existence by finding a way to introduce his hopelessly nerdy father (Crispin Glover) to his mother (Lea Thompson).
Dutch Connection 2025
A favorite drawing, thousands of visitors yearly, the Dutch Connection floral display serves as a sweet reminder that spring is on its way.
Funny Lady
Babs! Funny Lady picks up the story of Fanny Brice about a decade after the end of Funny Girl. It is the midst of the depression — the Ziegfeld Follies have ended, her husband has left her, and Fanny is out of work for the first time in a long time.
The Mortal Storm (35mm)
George Award Winners: William Daniels Immediately after finishing Ernst Lubitsch’s The Shop Around the Corner, its three co-stars — Jimmy Stewart, Margaret Sullavan, and Frank Morgan — went into production on this anti-fascist statement. Based on the 1937 of the same name by British author Phyllis Bottome, who had moved to Austria with her husband in 1924 and witnessed the rise of the Nazi party, the story centers on a science professor, his students, and his family.
Winchester ‘73 (35mm)
George Award Winners: William Daniels “It seems that when the Winchester people are turning out these here guns, every so often, maybe one gun out of evert ten or twenty thousand, well, it comes out just perfect…. So the Winchester people have given it a name. They call it ‘One out of a Thousand.’ That is a good name.”
The Mastermind
Rochester Premiere Director Kelly Reichardt’s (Meek’s Cutoff, Certain Women, First Cow) newest film examines an unfulfilled life from the point of view of a failed architect. James Mooney (Josh O’Connor) is a family man with two sons who feels that he’s meant for something greater.
Visions of Light (35mm)
American, Born Hungary What does a cinematographer (or director of photography) actually do? In this documentary, several members of the profession talk about how, in the early days, this position took care of the camera, while the director took care of the actors.
A Canterbury Tale (35mm)
Filmspotting Madness: Best of the ‘40s Three strangers meet up in Kent, one train stop short of Canterbury, where they stumble upon a bizarre mystery. Alison Smith (Sheila Sim) is a “land girl” sent to work a farm in the town, Sergeant Peter Gibbs (Dennis Price) is on his way to his next assignment, and Sergeant Bob Johnson (John Sweet) is a U.S. soldier on leave.
Hello, Dolly!
Babs! Barbra Streisand parlayed her Academy Award-winning performance as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl into taking over the lead role of the successful Broadway show of Hello, Dolly! for the film the following year. Taking place over one day and night in 1890 Yonkers and Manhattan, the film follows several romantic relationships, all with a connection to matchmaker Dolly Levi (Streisand).
