Doc Films at the University of Chicago

Doc Films is on record with the Museum of Modern Art as the longest, continuously-running, student film society in the nation. In 1932, students formed the organization, which was then known as the Documentary Film Group, projecting 16mm documentaries from the back of a crowded classroom. Students have channeled their continuing love for the cinema into a world-class screening venue.

Providing an unquestioned resource to the University of Chicago and wider city community, Doc Films screens movies every night of the academic calendar year, often showing movies that would not be shown elsewhere. Dedicated to providing a low cost, high quality venue for artistic, relevant and socially important domestic and international movies, Doc currently shows films at the Max Palevsky Cinema, 1212 East 59th St. The theater is named in honor of Max Palevsky, whose generous gift allowed Doc to build and operate a state-of-the-art cinema.

The cinema boasts two Eastman Kodak 16mm and two Century 35mm projectors. The projectors’ variable speed capabilities allow Doc Films to present silent films in their original format. The theater’s full Dolby Digital and Digital Theater Sound (DTS) audio systems meet the highest standards in digital sound.

Doc Films’ outstanding equipment is matched by its rich and colorful programming. Students develop programming themes for each quarter of the academic calendar, dedicating one night a week to a particular theme. For example, during the Spring 2000 season, in conjunction with the Munich Filmmuseum, Doc Films showcased an exciting Tuesday-night series of silent, German Expressionist films from the early 20th century. Other series have explored such topics as international feminism, exile, the Surrealist movement and McCarthyism.

Students also schedule retrospectives, featuring the works of such distinguished filmmakers as Martin Scorsese, Alfred Hitchcock and cinematographer James Wong Howe.

A plethora of film professionals and legends have graced the Max Palevsky stage to present films and lead forums. Hitchcock, Frederick Wiseman, Fritz Lang, Howard Hawkes, Harold Ramis and Woody Allen have led colorful and challenging discussions about their films.

Volunteering for Doc has led several former students to professional success in the creative arts. Former volunteers include Terry Curtis Fox, a playwright and movie critic for the Village Voice, David M. Kehr, former movie critic for the Chicago Reader, and independent filmmaker Aaron Lipstadt.

Doc Films also produces Focus, a quarterly publication that features movie reviews, essays, and theoretical dissertations on film–written by tomorrow’s film critics. Students also run Doc’s filmmaking wing, Fire Escape Productions, which allows volunteer students to shoot and edit projects utilizing 16mm, Hi-8 and SVHS formats.

Doc Films’ collaboration with the University of Chicago’s Cinema & Media Studies Department is an exciting program. Professors join with students to program film series that allow film students to coordinate their studies with Doc Films’ eclectic programming. A new venture for students and the University is the establishment of film production classes to balance the cinema theory focus.

The students who run Doc Films hope to reach a wide-ranging audience, from film aficionados to casual moviegoers, by cultivating and facilitating an excitement for the study of film. Their mission is to nurture and inspire future writers, filmmakers and creative artists to tackle the professional world of cinema.

• For more information, please visit http://docfilms.uchicago.edu/.
• For information on the Chicago International Film Festival, hosted at Doc Films, visit http://www.chicagofilmfestival.com/logistics/docfilms.html.