Copyright The Boston Globe
A big change is coming to the Coolidge Corner Theatre. The historic Brookline movie theater announced on Tuesday that CEO and executive director Katherine Tallman will step down from her role in 2026 after 12 years of leading the independent, nonprofit cinema. Tallman will be succeeded by current deputy director Beth Gilligan, while the Coolidge’s program director Mark Anastasio has been promoted to artistic director. “Together with Mark, I will work to ensure that the Coolidge remains — in the immortal words of filmmaker and Coolidge Award honoree Werner Herzog — a ‘brave fortress of cinema culture,’ while continuing to embrace exciting opportunities for growth and partnership,” Gilligan said in a statement. Tallman praised Gilligan and Anastasio in a statement, lauding Gilligan for her “strategic thinking” and “film expertise” and Anastasio for his “creativity, programming, and showmanship.” Advertisement “Working with both of them and the Coolidge team has been a joy and I, along with the entire Coolidge community, can be confident of the Coolidge’s ongoing growth and success,” Tallman said. After serving on the Coolidge Corner Theatre Foundation board of directors and as an interim director following the departure of previous executive director Denise Kasell, Tallman was named executive director in 2013. According to a press release, Tallman has helped the Coolidge increase the theater’s revenue during her tenure, bringing in over $9 million in 2025 so far, a major boost compared to 2014 numbers, when revenue was just $3.3 million. Tallman also co-chaired the campaign that raised $15 million for the theater’s recent expansion and renovation, which opened to the public last year. Advertisement Earlier this month, the theater was named one of only four theaters globally to screen Paul Thomas Anderson’s new film “One Battle After Another” in the VistaVision format, which involved installing special projectors to show the movie. “This really brings us into that next level,” Tallman told the Globe amid the theater’s reopening in 2024. “There won’t be a better place to see a movie.” Matt Juul can be reached at matthew.juul@globe.com.
