Advance registration for this event has closed. Tickets may still be available at the door; an in-person stand-by line will form before the event. There is no charge for tickets to this event.

A screening of Searching for Mr. Rugoff, followed by a discussion with the film's Producer, Director and Columbia Professor Emeritus Ira Deutchman. Moderated by Griffin Dunne.

The film Searching for Mr. Rugoff tells the story of a forgotten film business legend who, in his own eccentric way, was the architect for what we now know as the independent film business. It also captures a time when the cinema was at the center of the New York cultural landscape, and movie theaters lined the East and West sides of uptown Manhattan. Columbia Professor Ira Deutchman has been involved with independent film for over 50 years and will talk about how the events depicted in the film affected his life and career, most recently inspiring his efforts to buy, restore and reconfigure the Metro Theater, a landmark building that has been shuttered for over 18 years.