Film
The last independent screen on Mercer Street survives, for now
A landlord pause, a volunteer projectionist, and a 92-seat house that still prints paper tickets.
James Whitaker, Arts · October 8, 2026
The marquee at the Mercer still works. That is not nothing. Three letters were dark last winter, and for a month the theater announced itself as THE MER ER.
This week the house is showing a 35-millimeter print of a 1978 film that never had a wide release. The projectionist, who is 71 and unpaid, arrives at 5 to oil the machine. The landlord has agreed not to raise the rent until March.
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