Written by Andrea Shea
Hollywood is having something of a love affair with physical film formats from the past. This renaissance will be celebrated at the Academy Awards on Sunday with a slew of nominated movies that were shot and released on old-school celluloid. These high-profile productions are riding, and fueling, a surge of audiences interested in watching analog prints at cinemas that still run reel-to-reel projectors.
Tom Welch, lead projectionist at the Coolidge Corner Theatre, loads a reel of film onto one of the projectors. (Artemisia Luk/WBUR)
Two Norelco AAII projectors in the projection booth at the Coolidge Corner Theatre. (Artemisia Luk/WBUR).
Printouts on a clipboard list Coolidge Corner Theatre’s film lineup for a week in early February. Twenty 70 mm showings of The Testament of Ann Lee are scheduled. (Artemisia Luk/WBUR)
One of 10 70 mm film reels for The Testament of Ann Lee is threaded through the projectors. (Artemisia Luk/WBUR)
10 70 mm film reels are queued for The Testament of Ann Lee. (Artemisia Luk/WBUR)
A handwritten thank-you note to the projection booth team, written on the booth door at Coolidge Corner Theatre. (Artemisia Luk/WBUR)
