Screen Slate is a guide to moving image culture in New York, the SF Bay, and beyond. We share city-specific daily listings of arthouse/repertory cinema and gallery shows and publish original cultural criticism, interviews, zines, and podcasts. We also connect the film community in-person with our own screenings and events.
Since 2011, Screen Slate has helped people in NYC figure out what to see by publishing the only central listings resource for independent, repertory, and microcinemas and art spaces, picking up where a formerly robust network of alt-weekly newspapers and email listservs trailed off. (And eliminating the need to juggle a dozen other newsletters and print calendars.)
We’ve published thousands of pieces of critically engaged writing by hundreds of contributors, many of whom are also involved in other behind-the-scenes capacities. Our coverage is driven intellectual curiosity and a strong curatorial perspective. In addition to featured picks, we also run interviews, essays, and more, taking an adventurously far-reaching yet incisive approach to screen culture's history and future.
We apply this same sensibility to our own programming, which often place narrative/genre cinema and experimental film and media art in dialog. Collectively, the Screen Slate brain trust has programmed at venues including Spectacle, Anthology Film Archives, BAM, Film at Lincoln Center, Metrograph, and the Museum of Arts and Design.
In 2023, Screen Slate expanded to the San Francisco Bay.
Screen Slate is maintained by a New York charitable corporation that is tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
Winner: 2023 Film Heritage Award, National Society of Film Critics
“When I die I want to go to Screen Slate. But, like Susan Hayward, I want to live… and still get Screen Slate delivered every morning, which, amazingly, I do. It’s not only stone informative, but consoling and inspiring, and makes you think there’s hope for New York.”
–Richard Hell
Editor-In-Chief
Stephen Fisk
Omar Rodriguez
Jeremy Fisher
Whitney Claflin
For listings, please see our Listings FAQ.
For editorial and volunteer opportunities, please see our Editorial FAQ.
For general inquiries, email info@screenslate.com.
For business or media inquiries, email Jon Dieringer at jon@screenslate.com.
Many people support Screen Slate through Patreon membership, which comes with additional perks. You can also make a one-time tax-deductible donation via PayPal. For other arrangements or if you require proof of our charity status please contact jon@screenslate.com.
Screen Slate is a small group of people dedicated to promoting a thriving film culture rooted in local communities. It's no one's full-time job — just something that seems cool to do.
Yes, we’re especially interested in people who are able to help with the maintenance of our listings. Please email info@screenslate.com.
If you’re interested in lending a hand in a way that may qualify for school credit, we can work with you to do so. Focuses can include editorial, listings, and programming. Please email info@screenslate.com.
Yes, although due to limited we cannot always respond to all inquiries. We work with writers who have thoughtful, incisive, and unique perspectives. Please say hello, what you’d like to do in a few words, and include some links. We especially encourage writers who do not represent dominant cultural points-of-view to get in touch. Please email editors@screenslate.com.
Our primary editorial component consists of our daily and weekly featured screening essays, which are 400-word write-ups of titles showing in New York and San Francisco Bay Area cinemas. It’s difficult to define exactly what we feature, but generally: arthouse, repertory/restoration titles, radical film, genre cinema, pornography, experimental film, media art, and more. Throughout our history we have placed an emphasis on historically under-represented filmmakers, genres, modes of expression, and filmmakers.
We also run longer essays and interviews on topics related to film, art, and online media, broadly defined. We’ve covered memes, YouTube phenomenon, video games, alternative comics, and more — anything that can be tied to a spirit of inquiry related in some way to moving image culture.
We very rarely cover mainstream new streaming offerings such as Netflix originals, television shows, celebrity podcasts, etc. We also more-or-less avoid participating in the hype cycle surrounding buzzy new indie movies.
We're able to provide a small honorarium for contributions thanks to our Patreon supporters.
Please email jon@screenslate.com. Include:
- Event title
- Venue (with physical address & website link if it isn't already on our site)
- Event link
- Year/Runtime (if applicable)
- Dates/showtimes
We have an extremely limited volunteer staff and require at least one week lead time. We are unable to include or follow up about incomplete events.
Venues that regularly list on Screen Slate (e.g., Anthology, BAM, Film Forum, FLC, Metrograph, MoMA, MoMI, Nitehawk, Roxy) have special user accounts and maintain their own listings. If you represent a venue that would like to submit regular listings please inquire. We do not list showtimes for films at multiple venues (see next section).
Screen Slate lists screenings, limited runs, exhibitions, events, and discussions related to film, video, and electronic media. The brick-and-mortar venues we list are inclusive of movie theaters, museums, cultural centers, galleries, DIY venues, lofts, and more.
We only include first-run indie releases that are exclusive to a single venue. We have found this is the best way to draw a line between the types of releases we do and do not list and to distinguish Screen Slate from mainstream aggregators like Fandango, Google Movies, etc. We regret that this occasionally overlooks things that may "feel" right for Screen Slate (i.e., 70mm print of a new movie, film from a small distributor showing at multiple places).
We generally do not list events outside the five boroughs; film-related trivia/game nights; student film showcases; screenings promoting special interest groups/NGOs; rental/four-wall screenings; pay-to-submit festivals; comedy shows; screenings at luxury hotels, condos, social clubs, or real estate development projects without a regular film program; or screenings at places that are primarily bars or restaurants.
We believe in the importance of piracy in the history of access, discovery, enthusiasm, and even safeguarding of film and media. However, we generally err on the side of not including evidently uncleared screenings in our listings. On one hand, we want to encourage sustainable practices for the curation, distribution, and preservation of work, particularly as relates to supporting artists and archives representing marginalized work. On the other, we want to avoid inadvertently calling the cops on people who are working in earnest to build enthusiasm around speakeasy screenings, lowkey file sharing, and so on. We’re happy to consider exceptions for things like orphaned works, psychotronic deep cuts, special contexts, etc., on a case-by-base basis. Just send an email to jon@screenslate.com and we’ll do our best to accommodate.
Equality, antiracism, and basic human rights have always been bedrocks of the values that guide Screen Slate’s conduct as an organization. We affirm our opposition to all forms of discrimination, including anti-Black racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia, ableism, transphobia, and sexism.
Screen Slate is committed to the call of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, or PACBI, a founding member of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. You can read more about our decision and the movement.