There’s already Broadway Week, Restaurant Week and even Must-See Week — now get ready for the first-ever Art House Cinema Week.
From March 20 to 26, New Yorkers can enjoy special programming and discounts at more than 30 participating theaters. In an effort to support small businesses and the film industry, the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment is funding 5,000 free movie tickets for qualifying New Yorkers.
Promotions and programming differ across cinemas. Noteworthy deals include half-off tickets for members at Angelika theaters, free popcorn at Cinema Village and BOGO tickets at Nitehawk. In honor of the event, DCTV’s Firehouse Cinema will be screening a series of subway-themed films and Roxy Cinema is showing three documentaries set in New York.
Art House Cinema Week is a collaboration between the mayor’s office and Art House New York, an alliance for local independent cinemas. Rafael Espinal, the new commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, told Gothamist he was “really impressed” by the proposal when he took office three weeks ago.
“It was really heartening to see these long-standing community theaters taking a proactive approach to thinking about how they can bring the art of filmmaking to New Yorkers,” Espinal said in an interview.
Funding for Art House Cinema Week comes from the Office of Media and Entertainment’s programming budget, Espinal said. Art House New York launched in partnership with the mayor’s office in October 2025.
For Allason Leitz, who cofounded Art House New York with Lesli Klainberg, Art House Cinema Week is an important opportunity to bolster New York institutions and up-and-coming theaters alike. Nascent businesses like Shorts Movie Theater and Uptown Film Center are hosting pop-ups as they work toward finalizing their brick-and-mortar locations.
“My hope was that this alliance could help champion some of the newer voices and help bring more spaces around,” Leitz said in an interview, noting the dense concentration of art house cinemas in Lower Manhattan. “There’s been such a struggle over the last decade-plus of spaces closing in silence.”
Espinal grew up in Cypress Hills, Brooklyn — a cinema desert. He can still recall his first independent theater experience: Jim Jarmusch’s “Broken Flowers” at Kew Gardens Cinema.
“I experienced firsthand the value for me, as a New Yorker, to be able to watch something that I found inspiring and that was pushing creative boundaries,” Espinal said.
For Art House Cinema Week, Kew Gardens Cinema is offering a special promotion. Inspired by the city’s free ticket initiative, they’ll be selling tickets for just $5.
Those eligible for the free tickets are U.S. active-duty military personnel and veterans, New York City families registered with Cool Culture, people with disabilities presenting a reduced-fare OMNY card or Access-A-Ride ID, SNAP/EBT cardholders, app-based delivery workers, union workers, health care workers, public high school students and CUNY students.
To claim a ticket for you and a plus-one, you must present your related ID or documentation at the box office, and tickets must be purchased in person on the day of your preferred screening.