The University of Chicago Film Studies Center was established in 1992 to support the greater number of film classes that were added when its founder, the late professor Miriam Hansen, joined the University of Chicago. Intended as a service center for the new department, over the years the FSC has grown into an internationally recognized center for compelling film screenings, lectures, and conferences.
Agnes Varda in 2015
Distinguished Filmmakers
The FSC has hosted many giants of the experimental film world, including Lewis Klahr, Barbara Hammer, Luther Price, Zoe Beloff, Bill Morrison, Carolee Schneemann, and Lawrence Jordan. International filmmakers who have graced our stage include Bong Joon-ho, Ari Folman, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, Ivan Passer, and Philippe Grandrieux. In 2015, the FSC helped stage CineVardaExpo, a week-long residency by internationally acclaimed filmmaker Agnes Varda, featuring a half-dozen screenings, a photography exhibit, and several lectures.
Haile Gerima and Jacqueline Stewart in 2013
Area Studies
A particular focus has been on African American cinema. In addition to screenings and discussions with experimental filmmaker Christopher Harris and New Queer Cinema icon Cheryl Dunye, we hosted a nine-screening retrospective of the L.A. Rebellion with campus visits by Haile Gerima, Julie Dash, Charles Burnett, and Larry Clark. In addition, we co-presented a screening of the rediscovered Bert Williams film Lime Kiln Club Field Day with live accompaniment by Theaster Gates and the Black Monks of Mississippi, as well as an African American Film Pioneers series introduced by UChicago professors Allyson Nadia Field and Jacqueline Stewart.
Asian cinema has been another regular part of our offerings. We have hosted panels of Japanese feminist filmmakers, multiple screenings and a symposium devoted to Chinese opera films, a magic lantern performance by Japanese group Minwa-za, and a screening of the silent Japanese film Jirokichi the Rat with live accompaniment by Benshi performer Ichiro Kataoka.
Min Xiao-Fen and Rez Abbasi accompany The Goddess in 2022
Beyond Cinema
We have presented multiple screenings of silent films with live accompaniment by internationally recognized musicians including Donald Sosin, Dennis James, Tatsu Aoki, Lori Goldstein, Alicia Svigals, and Alloy Orchestra. The FSC’s offerings sometimes push the definition of what cinema is. Artist Anthony McCall, who creates beautiful, visually captivating light sculptures that explore ideas of architecture, duration, and embodiment, visited in 2012 for a symposium, screening, and installation of his work that invited visitors to interact with his “solid light” films.
Laura Mulvey in 2016
Lectures and Conferences
Lectures have been at the forefront of our offerings. Distinguished lecturers have included Raymond Bellour, Stanley Cavell, Laura Mulvey, and David Bordwell; archivists Peter Bagrov, Jan-Christopher Horak, Nico de Klerk, and Paolo Cherchi Usai; and archivist-filmmakers Ross Lipman, Thom Andersen, and Rick Prelinger. The Miriam Hansen Memorial Lecture Series, honoring the founder of the Department of Cinema and Media Studies, has featured Andreas Huyssen, Laura Mulvey, and Gertrud Koch, and the new Hannah Frank Memorial Lecture series honors the late graduate of the department.
From the beginning, the FSC has presented compelling conferences and symposia on subjects as diverse as the films of Bruce Nauman, Eric Rohmer, and Hollis Frampton; contemporary horror films, Chinese opera films, and the French avant-garde; and two conferences devoted to Cinemetrics.
Anthony McCall's Line Describing a Cone in 2012
Supporting Grad Student Work
The FSC sponsors a Graduate Student Curatorial grant that allows CMS grad students to curate and present public screenings that complement their research. Highlights from this program include multiple screenings of rare films by Suzuki Seijun, silent films by women film pioneers including Alice Guy-Blaché, state-sponsored films by Indian bureaucrat-filmmaker S.N.S. Sastry, and programs of films by experimental filmmakers such as Nathaniel Dorsky, Caroline Leaf, and Silvia das Fadas. Our graduate students have also curated programs highlighting virtual reality films by Indigenous filmmakers, as well as a burlesque documentary accompanied by a live performance. In addition, we provide support to the annual Department of Cinema and Media Studies Graduate Student Conference.