Film Society of Lincoln Center to Open Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, Spring 2011

The Film Society of Lincoln Center, which is building the new Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, scheduled to open spring of next year, announced during the New York Film Festival's Closing Night screening of Clint Eastwood's Hereafter, their completion of the private phase of a $41 million capital campaign. To date, the Film Society has raised $37 million during this private campaign, through the loyal support of Film Society trustees and members. The Film Society will now launch its public campaign to raise an additional $4 million.

In honor of the most recent gift, the larger of the two new theaters in the new Film Center will be named the Francesca Beale Theater.

"We're gratified to reach this important milestone in our capital fundraising campaign, and pleased that we were able to do so with exciting naming opportunities still available in our new Film Center. We now look forward to challenging ourselves to exceed our ambitious fundraising goals. Given the difficult economic environment of the last few years, we're particularly thankful to all of our loyal supporters for helping us transition into the public phase of our campaign. We especially look forward to Francesca Beale and her family attending many future events in our new theater bearing her name," said Daniel H. Stern, Board President, Film Society of Lincoln Center.

The new Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center is slated to open in the spring of 2011 on West 65th Street. The state-of-the-art Film Center, which will add two additional theaters to the existing Walter Reade Theater, a new amphitheater and a café, is the final piece of the redevelopment of the 16-acre Lincoln Center campus.

The Film Society of Lincoln Center was founded in 1969 to celebrate American and international cinema, to recognize and support new directors, and to enhance the awareness, accessibility and
understanding of film. Advancing this mandate today, the Film Society hosts two distinguished festivals. The New York Film Festival annually premieres films from around the world and has introduced the likes of François Truffaut, R.W. Fassbinder, Jean-Luc Godard, Pedro Almodóvar,
Martin Scorsese, and Wong Kar-Wai to the United States. New Directors/New Films, co-presented by the Museum of Modern Art, focuses on emerging film talents. Since 1972, when the Film Society honored Charles Chaplin, its annual Gala Tribute celebrates an actor or filmmaker who has helped distinguish cinema as an art form. Additionally, the Film Society presents a year-round calendar of programming at its Walter Reade Theater and offers insightful film writing to a worldwide audience through Film Comment magazine. For more information, visit www.filmlinc.com

The Film Society receives generous, year-round support from 42BELOW, Audi, American Airlines, GRAFF, The New York Times, Stella Artois, The New York State Council on the Arts, and The National Endowment for the Arts.