As of mid-October, the full weekend passes for NOIR CITY: Philadelphia 2026 at the Ambler Theater are sold out. So are both 35mm screenings. Seven of the nine films are still on sale, all in the theater's biggest room, and every one of them gets an in-person introduction from Eddie Muller. The festival runs November 13, 14 and 15 at 108 East Butler Avenue. This is its first year in Ambler.
Because of how the festival is set up, the pass you missed was mostly a bundle of single tickets. One individual ticket to any NOIR CITY film also gets you into Saturday night's cocktail hour with Muller. A Sunday afternoon conversation with him costs $5.
What actually sold out
The theater split the program across two rooms. Seven films are being shown digitally in DCP format in Theater 1, the main auditorium, which has 280 seats. Two films are being projected on 35mm film in Theater 2, which has 145 seats. The theater's own festival announcement said at the outset, "We expect the 35mm shows' tickets to go quickly." They did. The Man with the Golden Arm (1955), showing Saturday at 11:35 a.m., and Humoresque (1946), showing Sunday at 7 p.m., are both listed as sold out.
The full weekend pass cost $80 general and $60 for members. It covered all 11 events on the program, and the theater warned that only a limited number would be sold. The festival page now says passes are sold out and that tickets for individual films are still on sale.
That leaves the 280-seat house and seven films. Individual tickets are $15.50 general, $10.50 for members and $13.50 for seniors and students. The member price applies to members of any Renew Theaters venue.
What a single ticket gets you
Several parts of the festival can't be bought by themselves. They come with any film ticket.
- Muller's introductions. Muller founded the Film Noir Foundation and hosts Noir Alley on Turner Classic Movies. He will introduce every film in person.
- Imogen Sara Smith. Smith edits the Foundation's NOIR CITY magazine and comments on films for the Criterion Channel. She will be in Ambler all weekend and will co-introduce a number of the films with Muller.
- Cocktails with Eddie. This is a 60-minute cocktail hour in the Ambler Theater Annex on Saturday, November 14, at 7 p.m. It is free to pass holders and to anyone holding a ticket to any individual NOIR CITY film. No separate ticket is sold.
- The lobby table. The Film Noir Foundation will have a table in the lobby selling its merchandise and accepting donations. Muller will also sign books and memorabilia at times through the weekend.
If you have a ticket to a Friday film, that counts for Saturday's cocktail hour too. The listing only requires a ticket to any NOIR CITY film.
The weekend, screening by screening
The theme this year is "Face the Music," with nine films about musicians caught up in the dark streets of film noir. Here is the full program and where each ticket stood in mid-October.
| Day and time | Program | Format and room | Status in mid-October |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fri. 6:30 p.m. | Black Angel (1946) | DCP, Theater 1 | On sale |
| Fri. 8:30 p.m. | The Yellow Canary (1963) | DCP, Theater 1 | On sale |
| Sat. 11:35 a.m. | The Man with the Golden Arm (1955) | 35mm, Theater 2 | Sold out |
| Sat. 2:25 p.m. | The Man I Love (1946) | DCP, Theater 1 | On sale |
| Sat. 5:20 p.m. | Hangover Square (1945) | DCP, Theater 1 | On sale |
| Sat. 7 p.m. | Cocktails with Eddie | Annex | Free with any film ticket |
| Sat. 8 p.m. | Odds Against Tomorrow (1959) | DCP, Theater 1 | On sale |
| Sun. 11:30 a.m. | Young Man with a Horn (1950) | DCP, Theater 1 | On sale |
| Sun. 2 p.m. | Eddie and Imogen Live | Talk | $5, free for members |
| Sun. 4:05 p.m. | Sweet Smell of Success (1957) | DCP, Theater 1 | On sale |
| Sun. 7 p.m. | Humoresque (1946) | 35mm, Theater 2 | Sold out |
Friday is the restoration night
Friday's second film is the one with the strongest link to why the festival exists. The Yellow Canary is the Film Noir Foundation's latest restoration, according to the theater's festival announcement. The Foundation is a nonprofit whose mission is to find and preserve films in danger of being lost or badly damaged, and to keep good prints of those films circulating in theaters. It calls the NOIR CITY festival and tour the centerpiece of its public activity. Friday's two screenings, at 6:30 and 8:30 p.m., make an easy double feature after work.
Saturday fits around the cocktail hour
Saturday's schedule seems built around the 7 p.m. Annex event. Hangover Square starts at 5:20, the cocktail hour runs from 7 to 8, and Odds Against Tomorrow starts at 8. If you buy one Saturday evening ticket, either film gets you into the hour in between. With The Man with the Golden Arm sold out, Saturday's earliest film still on sale is The Man I Love at 2:25 p.m. The theater's announcement calls it one of the program's "elegant gems."
Sunday's talk is the one event sold by itself
The 2 p.m. Sunday program is a 90-minute conversation between Muller and Smith, moderated by Hannah Jack. Tickets are $5 for general, senior and young-person admission, and members get in free. Jack writes for Turner Classic Movies and moderates the Ambler's Deep Focus Seminar Series. The festival's long announcement calls the session ASK EDDIE LIVE, but the event page lists it as Eddie and Imogen Live, so search for that name when you buy. A Sunday built around the talk could start with Young Man with a Horn at 11:30 a.m. and end with Sweet Smell of Success at 4:05 p.m.
Getting to Butler Avenue
The theater's festival visitor page still says "Coming Soon." Its general Visit page covers what most people need. The theater has no parking lot of its own and points visitors to several municipal lots with no time limit. Street parking around town is limited to two hours. Meters cost $1 an hour and take quarters or Flowbird. They are free from noon to 2 p.m. and after 6 p.m., and all parking is free on Sundays.
Under those rules, most of the festival needs no meter at all. Both Friday films start after 6 p.m. Saturday's cocktail hour and Odds Against Tomorrow fall in the free evening window. Every Sunday event falls on the free day. The Saturday matinees are the only screenings where a meter or a two-hour street limit matters, and a lot with no time limit solves that.
If you'd rather take the train, SEPTA's Ambler Station is at 35 West Butler Avenue on the Lansdale/Doylestown Line, on the same street as the theater.
How a touring festival ended up in a 1928 theater
NOIR CITY started in San Francisco in January 2003, according to the Film Noir Foundation. Muller has produced it for 23 years. The 2026 tour opened in Oakland, and its scheduled stops include Seattle, Hollywood, Boston, New York City, Portland, Chicago, Detroit and Washington, D.C. Philadelphia is the last stop.
Last year's Philadelphia edition was at the Colonial Theatre in Phoenixville. The Colonial's 2025 festival page described it as a return, with a November 14–16 program centered on the actresses profiled in Muller's Dark City Dames. This year the Ambler announced that the festival "has moved" to Butler Avenue. Around Ambler reported the news on August 27.
The theater's own case for hosting the festival, in its festival announcement, is the building:
"The Ambler is a Spanish Revival 1928 theater, which has been restored by our nonprofit community organization. It's the perfect place to see film noir on the big screen."
According to the theater's history page, the building opened on December 31, 1928, and reopened after its nonprofit restoration on February 28, 2003. That was about a month after the first NOIR CITY opened in San Francisco. The theater is now run by Renew Theaters, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit cinema management company that operates four theaters. In a 2024 interview with WHYY, Renew executive director Chris Collier described the theater's approach as preserving film history and creating custom pre-shows you can't find elsewhere. A festival where the host introduces every film fits that approach.
Hannah Jack's next Deep Focus online seminar is on Tuesday, November 17, at 7:30 p.m., two days after the festival's last show.
Diane Reddington has been working in Ambler and the surrounding towns for more than 39 years. If you're planning a NOIR CITY weekend on Butler Avenue and want to talk about the town around the theater, Diane Reddington and her team would be glad to hear from you. Let's Connect.
