Bring 3D Back to Cornell Cinema!

Help Cornell Cinema Add 3D Digital Projection & Expand Its Offerings!

Cornell Cinema seeks to expand its film programming by upgrading its Digital Cinema capabilities to include 3D exhibition (the only format we are currently unable to exhibit). We've received a $9,693 grant from the New York State Council on the Arts for this upgrade, but we need to raise matching funds in order to cover the full cost of the upgrade (~ $20,000).

The funding will enable us to purchase the following:

A Dolby 3D system that includes a color wheel filter kit to be installed inside of our existing Digital Cinema projector and server, as well as 300 3D glasses. We will also purchase a commercial-grade dishwasher, necessary to clean the glasses after use. This particular equipment was chosen as it is compatible with our current Digital Cinema projection equipment and can be used with our existing matte white screen. It will also be superior in quality to what you find at the typical multiplex!

What we'll be able to do once we have 3D projection capabilities:

With the history of 3D exhibition dating back to 1915 and encompassing Hollywood, independent, documentary, foreign and experimental film productions, nearly every facet of Cornell Cinema's programming mission has films made in 3D. This upgrade will close the gap in our exhibition capabilities and enable us to fully accommodate our mission to offer selections from the full spectrum of film and electronic media.

If our campaign is successful, we'll be able to offer Cornell students and patrons from the surrounding region a wide range of 3D treats, including rare early 20th century shorts, classics from the ‘50s, art house documentaries, recent Hollywood hits & more!

Going Forward:

Once funding is in place, we expect installation of the new equipment to occur after we conclude our Spring '17 semester season, so that when students return to campus in August '17, they'll be treated to a special inaugural 3D film series! We expect to draw several titles for this series from the large-scale 3D survey taking place at New York City's prestigious Film Forum this November.  Classic films and other rarities will be shown alongside recent Hollywood films, but admission for students will be a fraction of the cost they would otherwise pay to see these films at the multiplex.

While it's too soon to know exactly which films we'll show as part of this inaugural series (and beyond), some likely choices include:

André De Toth’s House of Wax (1953); Alfred Hitchcock’s Dial M for Murder (1954); Jack Arnold's Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954); Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993); James Cameron’s Avatar (2009); Werner Herzog’s Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010); Martin Scorsese’s Hugo (2011); Wim Wender’s Pina (2011); Ang Lee’s Life of Pi (2012); Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity (2013); Jean-Luc Godard’s Goodbye to Language (2014); The Lego Movie (2014); and George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road (2015).

Image above from Werner Herzog's Cave of Forgotten Dreams

Image above from Ang Lee's Life of Pi, edited by Cornell alum Tim Squyres '81

Image above from Martin Scorsese's Hugo, edited by Cornell alum Thelma Schoonmaker '61

Image above from Wim Wenders' Pina

With your help, we'll have a theatre full of happy patrons, all wearing new 3D glasses & watching some fabulous movies as they've never been seen before!

Learn more about Cornell Cinema by visiting: http://cinema.cornell.edu

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Cornell-Cinema-215249100528/?rf=198248676955241

Wondering whether we still project 35mm film prints on our reel to reel projectors? YES, we do! We are one of ~ 250  movie theatres IN THE WORLD that have retained this capability. While many films are no longer available to us in this format (including Dial M for Murder & House of Wax), having been converted to DCP (digital), we do still proudly present a handful of 35mm film prints each year!