Palm Springs 70mm Fest Delivers Epic Cinema Experience at Cultural Center

It was a cinematic weekend to remember at the Palm Springs Cultural Center, where film lovers gathered for the much-anticipated 70mm Fest. Held at the historic Camelot Theater, the festival featured four iconic films shown in the grand, immersive 70mm format—offering audiences a rare opportunity to see movie masterpieces the way they were originally intended.

“This print of 2001: A Space Odyssey we’re going to see tonight weighs about 350 pounds,” said Lauren Wolfer, event producer. “We did the math—the whole fest is over 1,000 pounds of film, about 80,000 feet long. If you laid it all out, it’s like 15 miles.”

That 15-mile film journey transported audiences from deep space to 1950s San Francisco in Vertigo, to World War I-era Lawrence of Arabia, and back to the cosmos with Interstellar.

Kicking off the festival was Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, followed by Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo. Sunday’s lineup featured Lawrence of Arabia at 1 p.m., with Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar closing the weekend with a 7 p.m. screening.

The event even drew cinephiles from Hollywood. “We live near the Chinese Theatre, and I’ve seen some of these movies before—but only on a television or phone,” said one attendee. “Mr. Kubrick did not intend for me to see 2001 on a phone. He meant for me to see it like this—70 millimeters, big, loud, and different. And it truly is.”

From the hum of the projectors to the richness of the film grain, the 70mm Fest reminded audiences of the timeless magic of cinema, especially when experienced on the big screen.

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