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A Son directed by Tunisian filmmaker Mehdi Barsaoui screens at FACETS December 10-12 & 17-19, 2021. To buy tickets and learn more about the event check out our program listing on the FACETS website. Sami Bouajila earned a Cesar award for best actor for his portrayal of the father in A Son. As a film debut, A Son by Barsaoui creates a compelling narrative about a husband and wife at odds with each other after their son’s accident. A few months after the Tunisian Revolution, the Youssef family is vacationing in the countryside and they find themselves caught in an

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Isabella, directed by Matías Piñeiro is a film that deals with a theater troupe and their staging of Shakespeare’s “Measure for Measure.” The main actress, Mariel (María Villar), is conflicted in her personal life. She turns to her brother and then his lover, Luciana (Agustina Muñoz), for financial support during tough times. Luciana is a more successful actor than Mariel, so she serves as a figure that keeps Mariel doubting her ambitions throughout the film. Luciana’s constant reappearances in Mariel’s life drives her further into doubt. Piñeiro jumps around in time, from days before the crucial audition, to Mariel’s life

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FACETS' Alternative Horror Essentials series features directors who have challenged out collective notions of what a horror film can be. The series has been running all of October to sold out crowds! To learn more about the films playing and get tickets, click here. There is a certain safety in traditional horror films. When it comes to those formulas that we expect, as well as the tropes and conventions that we are comfortable with, horror is a genre that can comfort its audience while simultaneously terrifying them. When we think of horror, one may think of 80s and 90s slasher

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For our screening for 499 (2020) directed by Rodrigo Reyes, we at FACETS see it of utmost importance to create a watchlist of films that explores the consequences of the failed colonial project of the past. 499 is a film that tackles subject matter from a unique perspective. A ghostly unnamed conquistador (Eduardo San Juan Breña) has ostensibly time traveled in his period garb to present-day. He follows the same route as Cortés took in 1521 to conquer the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan, but in this modern-day setting. The film can be described as a hybrid between documentary and fiction

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Here at FACETS, we’ve been busy renovating and are finally reopening! While we were limited in what we could offer in-person during lock-down, as things open back up again we’ve decided to use this opportunity to make our space better serve you. One particularly exciting building update we can't wait to unveil is The Café. Our beloved video rentals store has been redone to enhance the fun hangout qualities it already had and offer even more! Now, whenever you stop by FACETS to rent or watch a film, you can also sit and stay a while with comfortable seating options,

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Anne at 13,000 Ft. premieres in-person at FACETS (1517 W. Fullerton Ave.) on September 17th, 2021 after an 18 month hiatus. This film explores some of what we all have come to feel through the COVID-19 pandemic, a longing for meaning after isolation. In honor of reopening and the Chicago Premiere of Canadian director Kazik Radwanski’s film, we at FACETS would like to begin by going through a brief history of the Toronto New Wave and the movement's films of past and present. Often, as film enthusiasts, when we think “New Wave” our minds jump to the Nouvelle Vague, or what

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We here at FACETS are pleased to announce we will be fully reopened September 17th and are so eager to welcome you all back in-person again! We will be announcing our opening film Friday, September 4. In the meantime, enter to win 10-free cinema tickets to redeem when we reopen here.  Thanks to the help of all who supported our ReOpening Soon Campaign, we raised over $50,000 and are coming back better and stronger than ever this fall. Because of you, our dedicated patrons, members and supporters, we raised nearly double our initial goal of $30,000 and have been able to

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FACETS will be presenting “Festival Faves” at Lincoln Yards’ Movies on the Lawn, an exclusive outdoor screening series featuring some of our new & retro favorites from the film festival circuit. Get your tickets here. With the 2021 Cannes Film Festival having just wrapped up in France, film once again took center stage in the mainstream media coverage. Although that baton has now been passed over to the Olympics, we were collectively reminded just how and why these celebrations of film are so important.   Marking its 74th anniversary, the Cannes Film Festival has thrived in 2021’s information-driven, often dizzyingly fast-paced world. But how? Simply put, film festivals have an amazing ability to reinvent and reimagine the art form of cinema through the celebration of great introduction of new artists and films.  Like FACETS and our local community here in Chicago, film

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Available to stream now through ‘FACETS Virtual Cinema’ are three incredible films made by and starring women – Dead Pigs (until 7/22), Les Nôtres (until 7/29) and Platform (until 8/5).  Watch them now before they’re gone to experience the journey of several different women from various international backgrounds and explore what it means to be a woman in this day and age.  Over the past decade, women directors have been given a larger platform worldwide, allowing for diverse stories exploring the full range of humanity. We here at FACETS hope this promising trend will continue in the years to come, and want to highlight recent films that have braved the turbulent tides of change

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FACETS Film 101 provides kids and teens ages 9-13 with a foundation in film history, appreciation, and production. Film 101 alumni who served on the CICFF Jury were recently invited to take part in the Movie Room film club for teens started by The California Film Institute (CFI). Recent Film 101 graduates were invited to participate in The California Film Institute’s (CFI) new National Film Club for Teens, Movie Room, in collaboration with seven other independent cinema’s across the country. Participating students ages 14–18 from around the country get exclusive, free online access to an independent film curated by one of