About Cornell Cinema
Cornell Cinema has been cited as one of the best campus film
exhibition programs in the country, screening close to 150 different
films/videos each year, five nights a week in the beautiful Willard
Straight Theatre. Each calendar includes an array of classic
Hollywood and foreign films, independent titles, documentaries,
experimental work, recent international cinema, silent films with live
musical accompaniment, cult classics and recent Hollywood and arthouse
hits, in addition to guest appearances by visiting film and
videomakers.
Cornell Cinema began in 1970 as a university film society, but has
evolved into a media arts center with a national reputation. Cornell
Cinema's primary purpose is to expose Ithaca and regional audiences to
alternative forms of cinema (such as documentary, classic, and
experimental films) as well as alternative voices not usually heard
through the mass media. Its secondary purpose is to provide affordable,
second-run commercial entertainment for the Cornell community. In
fulfillment of its educational goals, Cornell Cinema encourages
audiences to reflect critically on commercial and other media by
supplementing its over 300 annual screenings with occasional faculty introductions, guest filmmakers, panel discussions, and more.
Educational and Exhibition Services
Film and Video Exhibition
Over 150 films/videos are screened annually in series such as Classic Cinema, Doc Spots, Film Faves, Art Docs, Silent Films with Live Music, director and actor retrospectives, overviews of
national and minority cinemas, and themed series.
Visiting Artists and Speakers
Over thirty guest filmmakers and speakers attend Cornell Cinema
screenings and workshops each year, introducing and discussing their
work. Previous guests have included Todd Haynes, Kelly Reichardt, Alex
Rivera, Scott Ferguson '80, Will Gluck '93, Tim Squyres '81, Ernie
Gehr, So Young Kim, Jennifer Reeves, Brent Green, Serge Bromberg,
Howard A. Rodman '71, Sam Green, Peter Hutton, Julie Murray, Vincent
Grenier, Chantal Akerman, Craig Baldwin,
Irit Batsry, Stephanie Black, Robert Beavers, Sadie Benning, John
Cleese, Ximena Cuevas, Su Friedrich, Miranda July, Lewis Klahr, Ang
Lee, Sharon Lockhart, Anne Makepeace, Anand Patwardhan, Leighton
Pierce, Daniel Reeves, Jay Rosenblatt, Thelma Schoonmaker, Roshan Seth,
and Yvonne Welbon.
IthaKid Film Fest
Cornell Cinema's showcase for alternative children's media, the
IthaKid Film Fest presents a total of ten Saturday matinees in the late
fall (November/December) and early spring (February/March). The
festival features high-quality children's programs, including
feature-length international films, animated and live-action short
films and videos, experimental and documentary works for children,
silent classics with live piano accompaniment, and special hands-on
workshops with guest artists. Previous workshop guests have included
children's filmmaker Michael Rubbo, animators John Canemaker and
Stephanie Maxwell, and Toronto-based experimental filmmaker John Porter.
Rental Inquiries
We are accepting screening rental requests for Spring 2019.
A certain number of weekends per semester, however, are reserved for non-film student group use. Student groups looking to use the Willard Straight Theatre for non-film events need to contact Carol James with Student and Campus Life.
If you are interested in having a film shown in Willard Straight Theatre for your student group or academic department, please coordinate with Cinema Manager Douglas McLaren to reserve a time when Cornell Cinema is not presenting its own programs (primarily Monday and Tuesday nights) for a reasonable rental fee. These events can be scheduled with no less than three weeks lead time. For details on these special rentals, contact Douglas at dsm27@cornell.edu.