Doc Films at the University of Chicago

Doc Films at the University of Chicago Doc Films is the nation's oldest film society, hosting screenings every day.
(311)

THE CRIMINAL CODE (Howard Hawks, 1931) screens Thursday, June 25 at 8PM and Friday, June 26 at 5PM on a rare 35mm print ...
06/19/2026

THE CRIMINAL CODE (Howard Hawks, 1931) screens Thursday, June 25 at 8PM and Friday, June 26 at 5PM on a rare 35mm print 🎞️.

A notable early sound feature, THE CRIMINAL CODE follows a man after his release from prison as he is dragged back into a world of crime. Hawks was given great stylistic control from Columbia for the film, and its generic experimentation is remarkable, mixing the mobster film, romantic melodrama, and the left-wing penal reform film popularized in the 1930s. Andrew Sarris has called the film “the least known, least accessible, and least frequently revived Hawks talking picture.” The film is also served by cinematography from James Wong Howe and a masterful central performance by Walter Huston.

06/15/2026

Our summer calendar opens Wednesday, with repeat screenings on Thursday!

We open our summer series with Howard Hawks’ ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS (1939) — screening Wednesday, June 17 at 5PM and Thu...
06/14/2026

We open our summer series with Howard Hawks’ ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS (1939) — screening Wednesday, June 17 at 5PM and Thursday, June 18 at 8PM on 35mm 🎞️.

A showgirl on tour (Jean Arthur) makes a stop at a remote South American port when she encounters a rambunctious group of cargo pilots and their charismatic ring-leader (Cary Grant). She is both repelled by and attracted to his tendency to danger, establishing a classic dynamic between the male protagonist and the “Hawksian Girl” who disrupts his notions. ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS features one-of-a-kind flight sequences and Rita Hayworth in her breakout role.

Print courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Doc Films Summer 2026. Calendar designed by Leo Frankel (). Zoom in, visit our website, or pick up a calendar at our scr...
06/14/2026

Doc Films Summer 2026. Calendar designed by Leo Frankel (). Zoom in, visit our website, or pick up a calendar at our screenings — starting Wednesday, June 17 with MULHOLLAND DRIVE and ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS.

Screening this quarter:

HOWARD HAWKS’ PRE-WAR YEARS

FOUR BY ANGELA SCHANELEC

DISCO NOSTALGIA

L.A. NEO-NOIR

MULHOLLAND DRIVE (David Lynch, 2001) shows Wednesday, June 17 at 8PM and Thursday, June 18 at 5PM. Our full summer calen...
06/12/2026

MULHOLLAND DRIVE (David Lynch, 2001) shows Wednesday, June 17 at 8PM and Thursday, June 18 at 5PM. Our full summer calendar will be available tomorrow!

Bright-eyed actress Betty Elms (Naomi Watts) arrives in L.A. in hopes of making it big, only to discover a beautiful stranger named Rita (Laura Harring) stricken with amnesia after a mysterious car accident on Mulholland Drive. Whilst the two women struggle to decipher Rita’s identity, a Hollywood director (Justin Theroux) runs into trouble as he casts his latest film. MULHOLLAND DRIVE’s dreamlike, non-linear structure paints a dark reflection of Hollywood’s alluring themes of role-playing and self-invention.

Sun-bleached paranoia, fractured memory, a Hollywood that eats itself. Catch our L.A. Neo-Noir series this summer. Thurs...
06/11/2026

Sun-bleached paranoia, fractured memory, a Hollywood that eats itself. Catch our L.A. Neo-Noir series this summer. Thursdays and Fridays.

Programmed by Lena Bolotin.

Four films. Three decades. One of cinema's most uncompromising voices. The work of German director Angela Schanelec scre...
06/08/2026

Four films. Three decades. One of cinema's most uncompromising voices.

The work of German director Angela Schanelec screens Thursdays and Fridays this summer. Films courtesy of Cinema Guild () and Deutsche Kinemathek ().

Full series on Letterboxd — link in bio.

06/05/2026

Screening Thursdays and Fridays later this summer: films from disco’s 70s heyday to its 90s afterlives.

Stay tuned over the next week as we announce more of our summer calendar.

THE POEM OF HAYACHINE VALLEY screens today at 3PM. Print courtesy of the Japan Foundation.
05/23/2026

THE POEM OF HAYACHINE VALLEY screens today at 3PM. Print courtesy of the Japan Foundation.

Address

1212 E 59th Street
Chicago, IL
60637

Telephone

(773) 702-8574

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Doc Films at the University of Chicago posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Establishment

Send a message to Doc Films at the University of Chicago:

Shortcuts

Share

Category