Lincoln Plaza Cinemas in New York to close

Lincoln Plaza Cinemas in New York to close next month Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Dan and Toby Talbot, longtime operators and programmers (since 1981) of the six-screen Lincoln Plaza Cinemas, located on Broadway and 62nd Street near Lincoln Center plan to end their run on January 21, 2018 when the lease runs out.

The Measure Of A Man poster at Lincoln Plaza Cinemas

Over the past two years I had the pleasure to do opening night post-screening discussions at Lincoln Plaza Cinemas with Géza Röhrig, star of the Oscar-winning Best Foreign Language Film Son Of Saul, directed by László Nemes; with Atom Egoyan for his film Remember, starring Christopher Plummer and Martin Landau; with Gianfranco Rosi on his Oscar-nominated documentary Fire At Sea (Fuocoammare); with Vincent Lindon, star of Stéphane Brizé‘s The Measure Of A Man (La Loi Du Marché), and with Stig Björkman and Pia Lindström on his New York Film Festival highlight Ingrid Bergman: In Her Own Words (Jag Är Ingrid).

A petition has been initiated in the hopes of keeping the location as a cinema that cares about the films that are screened.

The owner of the property has released a statement:-

“Milstein Properties built 30 Lincoln Plaza in 1978, we are long-term members of this community and have played a central role in nurturing this special theater. There is vital structural work needed to repair and waterproof the plaza surrounding the building that cannot be completed while the space is in use, and will begin now that the cinema’s lease has expired. At the completion of this work, we expect to re-open the space as a cinema that will maintain its cultural legacy far into the future.”

There does not appear to be a timetable: "to re-open the space as a cinema that will maintain its cultural legacy far into the future.”

Now playing at Lincoln Plaza Cinemas: 1945; Darkest Hour; The Leisure Seeker; Loving Vincent; Mudbound; Wonder Wheel