Block Cinema is dedicated to encounter, exchange, and learning through the art of the moving image.
Learn More about the Block Cinema program.
Always free and open to all
Upcoming Screenings
Sep267 PM
THE FOREIGNER and ASCENDING/DESCENDING (Amos Poe/Sandra Binion, 1978)
A newly rediscovered 1978 film by avant-garde artist Sandra Binion precedes a rare screening of Amos Poe’s stylish, low-budget punk spy thriller.
Oct157 PM
WOLFEN (1981) in 35mm
This hybrid of supernatural horror and political thriller connects a rash of bizarre murders to America's bloody colonial legacies, against a backdrop of 1980s New York urban blight.
Oct167 PM
THE LEOPARD MAN (1943) in 35mm
Jacques Tourneur and Val Lewton's bone-chilling horror landmark, presented in archival 35mm, sees a border town beset by violence and fear following a leopard's escape.
Oct237 PM
TOBACCO EMBERS and SOMETHING LIKE A WAR with guest Deepa Dhanraj
Two powerful documentaries about movements for women's labor and reproductive rights in India, with acclaimed filmmaker Deepa Dhanraj in attendance.
Oct247 PM
INVOKING JUSTICE (2011) with filmmaker Deepa Dhanraj
Celebrated documentarian Deepa Dhanraj appears in person for a screening of her revelatory film about Muslim women transforming the legal system in Southern India.
Oct307 PM
THE FOOL KILLER (1965) in 16mm
A rare 16mm screening of Servando González' uncanny adventure tale of wonder, temptation, and childhood terror, starring Anthony Perkins.
Nov77 PM
Threading Images: Films & Expanded Cinema Performance with Christina Nguyen
Analog film systems and cinematic processes become sites of play and experimentation in Chicago-based artist and educator Christina Nguyen's practice. This program of short films culminates in a recently developed, live 16mm three-projector performance!
Nov812 PM
2025 Eyeworks Experimental Animation Screening Series
An annual showcase focusing on experimental animation returns to the Block Museum with works made by individual artists, drawing on the tradition of classic cartoon animation and the lineages of avant-garde and underground cinema.
Nov137 PM
Richard Beymer’s THE INNERVIEW (1973) with film preservationist Ross Lipman
Block Cinema hosts a special screening of a long-lost 1970s psychedelic independent film by Richard Beymer (known for his work as one of David Lynch's repeat actors) with Ross Lipman, an expert film preservationist who led the initiative to restore this film along an impressive list of past projects (including Barbara Loden's WANDA, Charles Burnett's KILLER OF SHEEP, and more)!
Nov147 PM
Reel Politik: PUTNEY SWOPE (1969) with cartoonist Nathan Gelgud
Robert Downey’s uproarious 1969 satire PUTNEY SWOPE shown on a 35mm print as part of an evening celebrating cartoonist and ardent cinephile Nathan Gelgud's recent book REEL POLITIK.
Nov217 PM
SOLO SUNNY (1980) in 35mm
The beloved East German independent film SOLO SUNNY, by filmmaker Konrad Wolf, screens on an archival 35mm print at the Block Museum as part of a centennial celebration for the filmmaker with the Goethe-Institut. Introduced by Lauren Stokes, Associate Professor of History at Northwestern.
"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
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