Experience 1976: Films That Defined a Year at DVAA’s Retro Cinema Series

The Delaware Valley Arts Alliance is marking its 50th anniversary with a cinematic time capsule—an ambitious Retro Cinema series featuring films released in 1976, the same year the organization was founded.

The series brings together a mix of landmark films, cult favorites and genre oddities that reflect what organizers call a standout year in American cinema.

The lineup includes enduring classics such as Taxi Driver and All the President’s Men, alongside titles like Carrie, Logan’s Run, A Star Is Born (1976 film), Murder by Death and the lesser-known musical drama Sparkle.

Naomi Scott of the DVAA said the 1976 focus emerged naturally from the organization’s anniversary, but quickly revealed itself as more than a symbolic choice.

“It turned out to be this incredible year for movies,” Scott said, noting that staff had to narrow down selections from a deep bench of influential releases.

Scott pointed to Sparkle, a musical drama starring Irene Cara with songs by Curtis Mayfield, as an example of a cult favorite rediscovered through the series.

Other selections lean into spectacle and nostalgia, including the Barbra Streisand version of A Star Is Born, which Scott described as notable for its large-scale concert sequences and distinctive 1970s style. Logan’s Run, meanwhile, offers a science fiction vision of the future shaped by mid-1970s design sensibilities and themes of survival and rebellion.

The series opens on May 7 with All the President’s Men, Alan J. Pakula’s newsroom thriller chronicling the Watergate investigation. The film’s portrayal of investigative reporting—following leads through anonymous sources and financial records—remains one of its defining legacies.

Scott said part of the goal is to recreate the communal experience of seeing these films in theaters, as they were originally intended.

“There’s something about being in a room with other people and reacting together,” she said. “It changes how you experience a film.”

Image: Barbra Streisand, left, and Kris Kristofferson appear at a preview of the film, “A Star is Born,” in New York on Dec. 23, 1976. (AP Photo/Suzanne Vlamis, File)