July 13, 2026
BRYN MAWR, PA — Bryn Mawr Film Institute (BMFI) has published a complete historical film archive to Letterboxd, the popular social discovery platform for cinephiles. The project, titled 100 Years of Film in Bryn Mawr, documents every film shown at 824 W. Lancaster Avenue across a century of cinema, from The Seville Theatre’s grand opening on October 1, 1926, through BMFI’s centennial year in 2026.
The archive is organized as a directory of year-by-year Letterboxd lists, each cataloging the complete slate of films screened during that calendar year. Together, the lists log over 12,000 film entries spanning the silent era, the golden age of Hollywood, the rise of independent cinema, and modern moviegoing. The 100 Years of Film in Bryn Mawr project documents one single building’s unbroken relationship with movies and the community that has watched them there.
“It’s fascinating to see film history play out in Bryn Mawr—from its movie palace roots during the Seville Theatre years, on to its shift towards foreign and art films in the ’60s, then its 1980s pivot toward pop cinema and blockbusters, and finally into our contemporary era as BMFI. The movie theater has always been a community space, and, as they explore this exhibition history, we hope our community will recognize that they are part of a long tradition of moviegoing on the Main Line.”
— Jacob Mazer, Director of Programs and Education, Bryn Mawr Film Institute
The Letterboxd archive connects directly to BMFI’s ongoing centennial film series, BMFI100, which presents one carefully selected film each month from the theater’s 100-year programming history on the big screen. Each screening opens with an era-specific preshow of trailers, cartoons, newsreels, and big screen content that would have shown in cinemas at the time of the presented film for each BMFI100 program.
Together, BMFI’s Letterboxd archive and ongoing series offer two ways to explore the same century of cinema: one as a complete digital record, the other as an in-theater experience.
The 100 Years of Film in Bryn Mawr archive is free and available on Letterboxd:
letterboxd.com/brynmawrfilm/list/100-years-of-film-in-bryn-mawr-list-directory/
The BMFI100 monthly screening series can be found at:
brynmawrfilm.org/series/bmfi-100/
The Seville Theatre opened on October 1, 1926, a beaux arts cinema on the Main Line designed by prolific Philadelphia architect William H. Lee, a protégé of Frank Furness. The theater remained a single-screen movie palace until the 1970s, when it was “twinned” by installing a dividing wall to create two auditoriums. The Bryn Mawr, as it was called by mid-century, changed ownership more than once and eventually fell into increasing disrepair. By the early 2000s, the then-dilapidated cinema was at risk of conversion to a fitness franchise. Bryn Mawr College alumna and civic leader Juliet Goodfriend rallied community support to save the Main Line’s crown jewel. In March 2005, BMFI adopted the historic building, beginning a years’-long, multi-million-dollar restoration and expansion that ultimately yielded four state-of-the-art auditoriums equipped with 4K laser digital, 70mm, and 35mm projection in a preserved landmark movie palace.
Film enthusiast, researcher, and former BMFI staff member, Jacob Dickens, spearheaded the research project that would become 100 Years of Film in Bryn Mawr. Dickens referenced local newspaper archives to retrieve movie advertisements and showtime listings for Bryn Mawr’s theater. The common practice of printing daily movie showtimes in newspapers ended only with the COVID-19 pandemic. Dickens transcribed slates from digitized newspaper archives to meticulous documents, recording films from 1926 through 2004. BMFI published its archive of films from 2005 through present-day on Letterboxd as part of the nonprofit’s 20th birthday celebration in 2025.
Newspaper archives referenced include The Philadelphia Inquirer via newspapers.com, college newspapers archived by Bryn Mawr College, and Villanova University’s records of Main Line Suburban publications. BMFI’s film history would not be possible without Greater Philadelphia’s strong legacy of local journalism. Without the detailed reporting of local newspapers, and the preservation of and access to those records, Bryn Mawr’s century of cinematic history would have been lost to time.
BMFI’s Director of Marketing and Communications, Gina Izzo, built the archive lists on Letterboxd using Dickens’s research. Several film titles that appeared in newspapers do not have pages on Letterboxd. Those titles have been included in each year’s comments. Private screenings, guest rentals, and satellite festival screenings are not included. These events are and were not considered part of the theater’s curated public programming and therefore are not archived in newspaper listings. Such screenings are included in each list’s comments whenever possible.
BMFI thanks Jacob Dickens for his interest, initiative, and labor, without which this archive would not exist.
Bryn Mawr Film Institute (BMFI) is a nonprofit movie theater and film education center located at 824 W. Lancaster Avenue in Bryn Mawr, PA, on Philadelphia’s Main Line. Nearly 120,000 patrons each year, including more than 6,000 members, enjoy an eclectic mix of independent, international, documentary, classic, and new films on four screens, 365 days a year. Fully equipped with 21st-century digital laser projection alongside 35mm and 70mm film capabilities, BMFI creates community by presenting films the way they were meant to be seen.
BMFI is hosting A Centennial Soiree on Thursday, October 1, 2026, to celebrate Bryn Mawr’s 100-year-old cinema. Sponsorships and details are available at BrynMawrFilm.org/centennial-soiree.
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