“In October 2022, film archivist & historian Dennis Nyback passed away after a long battle with cancer. Besides showing his one-of-a-kind film programs around the world, he operated the Rosebud Movie Palace in Pioneer Square, The Pike St. Cinema in Capitol Hill, The Lighthouse Cinema in NYC, and renovated and saved Portland’s Clinton St. Theater in 1999. Up until around 2014 he would show his films at the Grand Illusion nearly every year. Some of my fondest memories in my 20-year volunteer career at the Grand Illusion were when Dennis would visit.

Shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic forced us to close, Dennis sent me an email to check in on how we were doing. He mentioned a film series idea he was toying around with called A Week at The Movie House. From 1973-1976, Dennis worked as a projectionist at The Grand Illusion, known then as The Movie House. For his series he would show a mishmash of films he projected here from that era. He mentioned “samurai films, Busby Berkeley, and quirky stuff”. I selected a couple of all-timers to show and asked The Sprocket Society put together a special 16mm program. We also found a DVD of Dennis’s famous program Scopitone A Go Go to make this tribute more distinctly Dennis. And finally, Dennis’s friend Kevin Shannon selected Luis Buñuel’s classic The Exterminating Angel as it was one of Dennis’s favorite films, if not his very favorite.”
Brian Alter, Volunteer (2003-2023), Manager (2010-2022) and Lead Programmer (2012-2016)

[film_teaser film_id=”Gold Diggers of 1933 in 35mm”]
[film_teaser film_id=”Yojimbo in 35mm”]
[film_teaser film_id=”The Exterminating Angel”]
[film_teaser film_id=”Scopitone A Go Go”]
[film_teaser film_id=”Through the Porthole: A Cinematic Cavalcade for Dennis Nyback”]