Seeing the Cinema: Photographic Visions of Movie Theaters

Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens, opened a new photography exhibition on October 10: Seeing the Cinema: Photographic Visions of Movie Theaters. It fills the Amphitheater Gallery and runs through March 21, 2027. The premise is simple and appealing: what has it meant, and what does it still mean, to sit together in the dark and watch a story unfold on a screen?

Four photographers answer from different angles. Thomas R. Schiff contributes panoramic views of neighborhood theater exteriors. Hiroshi Sugimoto's celebrated long-exposure images capture auditoriums. John Margolies documented drive-ins, and Joseph Holmes made portraits of projectionists. The museum frames these as architectural, atmospheric, environmental and occupational perspectives, which together treat the movie theater as both a physical place and a cultural idea.

For Japanese-speaking visitors, Sugimoto's work is the natural entry point, but the show's lead image is Schiff's view of the Devon Theatre in Attica, Indiana, a reminder of how much of this story belongs to small-town main streets.

The museum is at 36-01 35 Ave. It is open Thursday 2:00–6:00 p.m., Friday 2:00–8:00 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday 11:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m. On Monday, October 12, Indigenous Peoples Day, it is open noon to 6:00 p.m. Tickets are sold through the museum's website; the phone number is 718-777-6800.