Film at Lincoln Center invites you to a free talk with Oscar- and Tony-winning director Sam Mendes (1917, American Beauty) to discuss his highly anticipated new film Empire of Light in the context of this thematically rich and psychologically incisive body of work.

From Academy Award®-winning director and writer Sam Mendes, Empire of Light is a moving drama about the power of human connection during turbulent times. Set in and around a faded old cinema in an English coastal town in the early 1980s, it follows Hilary (Olivia Colman), a cinema manager struggling with her mental health, and Stephen (Micheal Ward), a new employee who longs to escape this provincial town in which he faces daily adversity. Both Hilary and Stephen find a sense of belonging through their unlikely and tender relationship and come to experience the healing power of music, cinema, and community.