Behind the Screens: Metrograph’s Head of Programming Aliza Ma on New Retrospective
The Metrograph might just be the ritziest cinema in New York City. If seeing a movie at the Alamo Drafthouse is like hanging out at your really cool friend’s house, then catching a film at the Metrograph is like stopping by an exclusive social club, complete with its own bar/restaurant, The Commissary, that offers cocktails and steak tartare, as well as a little bookshop featuring rare used and new books about film. But don’t let the classiness of the digs intimidate you: This is a place that happily screens films like Die Hard and the killer Santa cult classic Silent Night, Deadly Night alongside arthouse staples like The Maltese Falcon and Chaplin’s Monsieur Verdoux. We recently spoke to head of programming Aliza Ma about the Metrograph’s massive 20-film restrospective of the career of Hong Kong megastar Maggie Cheung, which kicks off on December 8.
