Film buffs will be treated to 15 classic widescreen movies during the Cinerama Film Festival including extremely rare 70mm prints from studio vaults and the archives of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The festival opens September 30 at Seattle Cinerama Theatre and runs through October 16. Opening weekend will feature two of only seven movies ever produced for Cinerama's three-projector technology This is Cinerama and How The West Was Won. The other movies featured will be widescreen classics in 70mm including West Side Story Lawrence of Arabia and Cleopatra. The 70mm prints Cinerama goers will enjoy are on loan from Hollywood studios' vaults and rarely seen by general audiences said theater operator Greg Wood. Prints will be loaned by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences 20th Century Fox Warner Brothers Disney & MGM. The festival is sponsored by Seattle Cinerama Theatre and the Seattle International Film Festival. Cinerama Theatre is owned by Paul G. Allen the Seattle philanthropist and co-founder of Microsoft. He saved the vintage 1963 movie theater from demolition in 1988. Last year he gave the theater a multi-million dollar upgrade with digital sounds 3D capabilities a new screen movie memorabilia from his personal collection and the best selection of locally-made concessions at any theater in Seattle. Along with the capability to show the latest blockbusters in 3D Allen frequently donates use of Cinerama to non-profit film festivals including the Seattle International Film Festival Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival National Film Festival for Talented Youth (NFFTY) and the Seattle Jewish Film Festival. Cinerama has been one of Seattle's great treasures and Paul Allen has made it one of the best movie palaces in the world says Carl Spence SIFF's artistic director. As much as digital cinema is transforming the movie going experience it still has not achieved the rich look and dimension of celluloid particularly compared to what you'll see with the widescreen and luminous 70mm film featured at the Cinerama Festival. Allen said the Cinerama Festival is possible because of the generosity and cooperation of The Academy and the film studios. We're grateful to the Academy and studios for sharing these treasures with us and allowing Cinerama's audiences to see them the way they were intended – on the wide screen says Allen who saved Cinerama in 1988. The films will be projected by state-of-the-art equipment and seen on the theater's original Cinerama screen – the largest in the world. Last fall we embraced the future with a large technical upgrade. We're now excited to embrace the past with a special series dedicated to 70mm film Wood says. Cinerama came to popularity in the early 1960s shot with three 35mm motion picture cameras mounted as one unit sharing one motor. Three separate projectors running simultaneously merged the film into one movie shown on a giant deeply curved screen. 3-Strip Cinerama films: This Is Cinerama How The West Was Won 70mm films: The Sound Of Music Lawrence of Arabia Cleopatra 2001: A Space Odyssey My Fair Lady West Side Story Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Playtime Baraka South Pacific Tron Lord Jim Cinerama www.cinerama.com
