Block Cinema is dedicated to encounter, exchange, and learning through the art of the moving image.
In Fall 2026, Block Cinema marks its twenty-fifth anniversary. To celebrate this milestone, The Block Museum of Art presents Projecting the Future: Block Cinema at 25, a year-long series of screenings, performances, conversations, and special initiatives throughout the 2026-2027 academic year that explore the evolving possibilities of the moving image.
COLD HANDS (1991) - The Lost DIY Horror Films of Kip Hanks
Late writer-director-star Kip Hanks’s sole feature, lost for decades and revived by a strange twist of fate, is an uncanny shot-on-video story of resurrection.
THE LONG DAY CLOSES in 35mm with guest Nick Davis
Film scholar Nick Davis introduces this 35mm screening of Terence Davies’ evocative tour-de-force about queer boyhood, post-WWII Liverpool, and the transformative power of cinema.
ELEVEN P.M. (1928) in 35mm with live score by Damon Locks
Independently made by filmmaker Richard D. Maurice with an all-Black cast, this surreal, Detroit-set silent melodrama screens in 35mm with live score by sound collagist Damon Locks
LES VAMPIRES (1916) w/ live score by Whitney Johnson, Lia Kohl & Macie Stewart
The Chicago experimental string trio provides an improvisational score to “Hypnotic Eyes,” the iconic sixth episode of Louis Feuillade’s silent crime serial, presented in 16mm.
I’M YOUR VENUS (2024) with filmmaker Kimberly Reed
Kimberly Reed’s documentary is at once a celebration of trans ballroom performer Venus Xtravaganza and an inquiry into her unsolved murder
DARK MONEY (2018) and SEAT 31: ZOOEY ZEPHYR (2024) with filmmaker Kimberly Reed
Filmmaker Kimberly Reed appears for two films about American democracy, the forces working against it, and what it looks like to defend it.
PORTRAIT OF JASON (1967) in 35mm
Queer nightclub performer Jason Holliday confronts Shirley Clarke’s prurient lens in this landmark underground doc, presented by guest filmmaker Stephen Winter.
JASON AND SHIRLEY REVISITED (2015/2025) with director Stephen Winter
A fierce, funny riposte to PORTRAIT OF JASON, improvised in one 12-hour shoot and edited across a decade. Director Stephen Winter in person.
Eyeworks Showcase of Experimental Animation - Program II
The beloved annual screening series returns with two programs of visionary independent animation old and new
Eyeworks Showcase of Experimental Animation - Program I
“Bridge to an Unseen Shore:” New Age Audiovision with Prof. Jacob Smith
A screening celebrating the publication of Professor Jacob Smith’s book on the music and visual culture of the New Age movement, featuring rare and restored 16mm prints.
The Enigma of William Girdler’s ABBY (1974)
Louisville filmmaker William Girdler’s tale of possession is noted for Carol Speed’s central performance and its fraught legal history.
Three Views of London with filmmaker John Smith in person
This trio of signature works by one of England’s foremost experimental filmmakers offers a prism for observing decades of its capital’s constant transformation.
Listening to Chicago: Denis Mitchell and Studs Terkel
Unseen in Chicago since 1966, UK documentary pioneer Denis Mitchell’s controversial city symphony screens alongside a rare 1975 portrait of Studs Terkel in a program about the voice of the city, featuring guests Neil Verma and Adrian Marin.
L.A. CONFIDENTIAL (1997) in 35mm with guest Eric Hoyt
Chicago Film Society Presents: DREAMS THAT MONEY CAN BUY with Karina Longworth
GOODBYE, DRAGON INN in 35mm
Tsai Ming-Liang’s minimalist tribute to the endurance of cinema, screening in 35mm with an introduction by Prof. Corey Byrnes.
"We’re very conscious of the valuable role that university cinemas like ours can play in the ecosystem of non-theatrical film. We look for opportunities to support and showcase the work of distributors who are expanding access to adventurous cinema, archives that are preserving endangered cinematic legacies and scholars and filmmakers who are promoting a more inclusive film culture.
We try to act as a conduit between that international community of passionate cinema workers, and diverse local communities at Northwestern and beyond, who see cinema as a way to encounter the world and exchange ideas."
– Michael Metzger, Pick-Laudati Curator of Media Arts, Block Museum
Explore Block Cinema's Press Coverage
