Film Studies Center

10/19/2026

Tonight, the Chicago International Film Festival continues at the Logan Center with AN EVENING WITH MARLON WAYANS! Presented at 7:30pm in the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts Performance Hall.

A dynamic comedic talent on both ends of the camera, Marlon Wayans is the recipient of the Festival’s Career Achievement Award.

For more information & ticketing: https://bit.ly/4yXh51M

10/15/2026

The Film Studies Center is dark this weekend -- but our projection team will still be hard at work bringing the Chicago International Film Festival to life at the Logan Center!

Logan Center screenings begin TOMORROW at 7:00pm in the Logan Center Performance Hall with THE WATERMELON WOMAN (1996), Cheryl Dunye's brilliant debut feature, with Cheryl Dunye in person to receive this year's Career Achievement Award.

In 1990s Philadelphia, Cheryl (played by writer-director Cheryl Dunye), a twenty-something aspiring filmmaker working at a video rental store, embarks on a personal mission: uncovering the true identity of an elusive, uncredited 1930s Black Hollywood actress billed only as “The Watermelon Woman.” As Cheryl digs through archives and interviews, she navigates the complexities of an in*******al romance and the everyday politics of her community.

For more information about ticketing, visit the Chicago International Film Festival website: https://www.chicagofilmfestival.com/film/the-watermelon-woman/

10/08/2026

We're kicking off our fall season with a little-seen, century-old silent melodrama from John M. Stahl on 35mm: MEMORY LANE (1926), recently restored by the Library of Congress.

7pm on 10/9 in the Logan Center Screening Room. Live piano accompaniment by David Drazin and introduction from Cinema & Media Studies graduate student Hunter Koch. For more information: https://bit.ly/4hyIBfY

05/22/2026

Tonight's the night! Dr. Carla Hayden will present the annual Mitchell Cobey Lecture on Cinema with Prof. Jacqueline Stewart moderating.

For more information, and for tonight's check-in procedure/policy: bit.ly/4dJlKLE

FRIDAY MAY 22 marks our final event of the year: The Mitchell Cobey Lecture on Cinema, presented by Dr. Carla Hayden!

Please note: Registration is now full for this event. Check-in will begin at 5:00pm in conjunction with the reception, with priority given to all registered guests.

If you have already registered, please refer to the following link for the check-in procedure and policy: bit.ly/4dJlKLE

As a reminder, registration does not guarantee a seat; we encourage registered guests to arrive early.

05/20/2026

FRIDAY MAY 22 marks our final event of the year: The Mitchell Cobey Lecture on Cinema, presented by Dr. Carla Hayden!

Please note: Registration is now full for this event. Check-in will begin at 5:00pm in conjunction with the reception, with priority given to all registered guests.

If you have already registered, please refer to the following link for the check-in procedure and policy: bit.ly/4dJlKLE

As a reminder, registration does not guarantee a seat; we encourage registered guests to arrive early.

05/18/2026

Rounding out the Year of Games at the Film Studies Center, David Cronenberg's 1999 body horror extravaganza EXISTENZ screens on 35mm this Thursday, May 21 at 7pm.

Free and open to the public; doors open thirty minutes prior to showtime. For more information: https://bit.ly/4nDxrrC

05/15/2026

Happening TONIGHT at 7pm in the Logan Center Screening Room! HIGHLANDERS WEDDING premieres on 16mm with English subtitles.

Highlanders Wedding was screened only a handful of times in Chicago in the 1960s, exclusively within the Highlander community. Recently, the original reels were discovered in a private collection. In 2025, with support from the National Film Preservation Foundation, the film was digitized in 4K and a new 16mm print was struck. The May 15 screening will mark the premiere of the new 16mm print, presented with live English subtitles – the first, and possibly only, opportunity to see this film in English! (Ludwina Ról-Łuszczkowa, Antonina Błazończyk & George DeBelina, USA, 1961, 88 minutes, 16mm)

Presented in partnership with Chicago Film Archives, the Polish Highlanders Alliance of North America, and Agata Zborowska’s Not-So-Ordinary project, with support from the Department of Slavic Languages & Literature and the Department of History.

The screening of Highlanders Wedding will be followed by a reception. This event is free and open to the public. Doors will open thirty minutes prior to showtime. For more information: http://bit.ly/4uDBlTs

05/11/2026

Join us on Friday 5/15 at 7pm for this recently preserved piece of Chicago Polish history!

Highlanders Wedding (dirs. Ludwina Ról-Łuszczkowa, Antonina Błazończyk & George DeBelina) was screened only a handful of times in Chicago in the 1960s, exclusively within the Highlander community. Recently, the original reels were discovered in a private collection. In 2025, with support from the National Film Preservation Foundation, the film was digitized in 4K and a new 16mm print was struck. The May 15 screening will mark the premiere of the new 16mm print, presented with live English subtitles – the first, and possibly only, opportunity to see this film in English.

This event is free and open to the public. For more information: bit.ly/4uDBlTs

05/08/2026

Tonight's the night! Tatsu Aoki visits the Film Studies Center to present a selection of his films, all on 16mm.

Free and open to the public; doors open thirty minutes prior to showtime.

This Friday 5/8 at 7pm: Film on film continues at the Film Studies Center with our quarterly Graduate Student Curatorial Program, RAPTUROUS: TATSU AOKI, A CHICAGO ASIAN-AMERICAN AVANT-GARDE.

Though he is best known internationally as a jazz musician, for more than 45 years, Tatsu Aoki has been making avant-garde films in and about Chicago. These films showcase his remarkable skills in optical printing to create dazzling abstract images that stretch the boundaries of analog film technology. As the recipient of a recent Avant-Garde Masters grant by the National Film Preservation Foundation, this evening features new restorations by the Chicago Film Society of his singular films.

The program will be presented entirely on 16mm, including three newly preserved works from the Chicago Film Society, and a new work-in-progress.

Free and open to the public. For more information: bit.ly/4d0s2pE

05/04/2026

This Friday 5/8 at 7pm: Film on film continues at the Film Studies Center with our quarterly Graduate Student Curatorial Program, RAPTUROUS: TATSU AOKI, A CHICAGO ASIAN-AMERICAN AVANT-GARDE.

Though he is best known internationally as a jazz musician, for more than 45 years, Tatsu Aoki has been making avant-garde films in and about Chicago. These films showcase his remarkable skills in optical printing to create dazzling abstract images that stretch the boundaries of analog film technology. As the recipient of a recent Avant-Garde Masters grant by the National Film Preservation Foundation, this evening features new restorations by the Chicago Film Society of his singular films.

The program will be presented entirely on 16mm, including three newly preserved works from the Chicago Film Society, and a new work-in-progress.

Free and open to the public. For more information: bit.ly/4d0s2pE