Screening 35mm & 16mm film prints from studio vaults, film archives, and private collections.
-
Onion City Experimental Film Festival (Closing Night)
Sunday, April 6 @ 7:00 PM / NEIU — Chicago Filmmakers
Tickets: $12 at the door or purchase in advanceSelections from the 16mm Film Study Collection
For over 50 years, the John M. Flaxman Library’s 16mm Film Study Collection at the School of the Art Institute has been a renowned resource serving faculty, students and researchers within and outside of SAIC’s communities. The collection originates from prints acquired by SAIC’s academic departments and the Film Center, before its transfer to the Library in the 1970s. The Library provides access to over 700 16mm prints spanning the history of film, including a significant number of films by SAIC faculty and alumni. While the collection continues to be an invaluable resource for teaching and research, it also reflects a history of film pedagogy at SAIC, and has become a vital resource for preserving Chicago experimental film history. Following a partnership with the Chicago Film Society to restore the 16mm films of SAIC alumnus Edward Owens, the Library has recently finished new 16mm restorations of Owens’ earlier 8mm work. Owens, a Black queer filmmaker from the South Side of Chicago was a student in the newly formed Film Department at SAIC in the mid-1960s, mentored by its founder, Gregory Markopoulos. In celebration of Chicago’s rich experimental film legacy, and the Flaxman Library’s contributions to it, we are premiering these restorations with a selection of rare prints by Chicago filmmakers from the Film Study Collection.Program:
Swish (Jean Sousa, 1982) – 3 min
Devotio Moderna (Shellie Fleming, 1993) – 9 min
Blink (Zack Stiglicz, 1998) – 11 min
Sound in Sync (Tatsu Aoki, 1984) – 20 min
Edward Owens 8mm films – approx 30 min
Approx. 70 min total • 16mm
Presented in partnership with the John M. Flaxman Library at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago as part of the Onion City Experimental Film & Video Festival (running April 3 – 6)NEXT UP: SPRING NIGHT, SUMMER NIGHT on Wednesday, April 9 at NEIU
Upcoming screenings:
View all upcoming screenings & venue info →
Wed 3/26 at 7:30 PM at NEIU
History is Made at Night
Sun 4/6 at 7:00 PM
Onion City Experimental Film Festival
• Advance Tickets
Wed 4/9 at 7:30 PM at NEIU
Spring Night, Summer Night
Sun 4/13 at 11:30 AM at Music Box
The Dragon Painter • Advance Tickets
Mon 4/21 at 7:30 PM at Music Box
Harakiri • Advance Tickets
Wed 4/30 at 7:00 PM at Music Box
Daisies • Advance Tickets
Wed 5/7 at 7:30 PM at NEIU
Corn’s-a-Poppin’
Wed 5/14 at 7:30 PM at NEIU
The Band Wagon

The Chicago Film Society works to promote the exhibition of analog film prints, to preserve the equipment and skills used to create and exhibit them, and to encourage an approach to film history that positions cinema as part of the broader history of technology and society.
PRESERVING FILM
▶︎ Films we have preserved
▶︎ Film collection
PRESERVING TECHNOLOGY
▶︎ Equipment & parts
▶︎ Consulting
PRESERVING SKILLS
▶︎ Workshops for projectionists
▶︎ Sprocket School
▶︎ Analog Film Exhibitors Directory
▶︎ Booth Talk
SPECIAL PROJECTS
▶︎ Celluloid Now
▶︎ Celluloid Chicago
▶︎ Leader Ladies Project
▶︎ Recommended Reading
WRITING
▶︎ Blog
▶︎ Infuriating Times zine
