Film Screenings and Programming
Film Studies Center
The Film Studies Center offers an exceptional array of film programming, public screenings, and academic lectures. The FSC is the backbone of the Cinema and Media Studies Department.
Doc Films
Doc Films is on record with the Museum of Modern Art as the longest continuously running student film society in the nation, looking back on a more than 75 year old history. Doc Films was founded in December 1940 as the International House Documentary Film Group, though its antecedents stretch back to 1932. Initially the group focused on "the realist study of our time via nonfiction film," but the documentary alone could not sustain the organization; within a few years, the group's programs expanded to include fiction and experimental films, a mixture that it maintains to this day.
Cinema 53
Cinema 53 is a screening and discussion series presenting conversation-provoking films by and about women and people of color. A partnership between the Gray Center for Arts & Inquiry and the Harper Theater, Cinema 53 brings together scholars, artists, students and audiences from the South Side and beyond to consider how visual cultures reflect, and reflect upon, enduring inequalities and revolutionary futures.
Curated by Jacqueline Stewart
UChicago ARTS
During these uncertain times across campus, UChicago ARTS is offering live-streaming events and classes, exhibitions and tours, musical and theatrical performances, lectures, interviews, and more. Attend an online dance class, discover family-friendly gatherings, hear from distinguished practitioners, or take a leisurely stroll through the University’s public art.
Libraries, Collections, and Digital Resources
Virtual Resource Center (VRC)
The Virtual Resource Center (VRC) creates high-quality images and provides an array of services and resources for instructors and students in Art History and the Humanities. The VRC manages LUNA—the main database for art images used for teaching at UChicago—and maintains several collections of art images for teaching and research. VRC staff also provide access to a digitization lab equipment and consultations for image-based reference questions, photography and scanning advice, personal image management, fair use and copyright concerns, and visual literacy.
The VRC is housed in Cochrane-Woods Art Center, and run by Bridget Madden (VRC Associate Director), Allie Scholten (Digital Collections Manager), and they frequently collaborate with UChicago Librarian Nancy Spiegel (Bibliographer for Art and Cinema)
Film Studies Center
The Film Studies Center houses a large collection of 35mm and 16mm films, video and DVD materials, and includes holdings from the Library of Congress Paper Print collection and Black Images collection. The FSC provides teaching and screening spaces and individual viewing facilities, and presents a rich program of lectures and special screening events.
Gerald Mast Film Archive
The Gerald Mast Film Archive is housed within the Film Studies Center. The Film Archive holds a continually growing collection of over 8000 films, video, and disc titles (including feature films, experimental cinema, silent film, classic Hollywood cinema, documentary, European art cinema, video art, international cinema, etc.).
Center for East Asian Studies Film Library (CEAS)
The Center for East Asian Studies Film Library (CEAS) is “One of the largest East Asian film collections in the United States, comprising g over 7000 titles from China, Japan, and Korea.”
South Side Home Movie Project (SSHMP)
The South Side Home Movie Project (SSHMP) is a five-part initiative to collect, preserve, digitize, exhibit, and research home movies made by residents of Chicago’s South Side neighborhoods. The SSHMP seeks to increase understanding of the many histories and cultures comprising Chicago’s South Side, and of amateur filmmaking practices, by asking owners of home movies (shot on 8mm, Super8mm, 16mm film) to share their footage and describe it from their personal perspectives.
The project brings materials that are typically kept in private collections into public light and discussion. We aim to build an alternative, accessible visual record, filling gaps in existing written and visual histories, and ensuring that the diverse experiences and perspectives of South Siders will be available to larger audiences and to future generations.
SSHMP is run by Jacqueline Stewart (Director) and Sabrina Craig (Film and Projects Manager)