Department Homepage
The College of Arts & Sciences
Cornell Cinema’s Fall 2026 season launches Aug. 27 with a diverse lineup of restored classics, Hollywood hits, international films, documentaries and special events that showcase a century of global filmmaking. Highlights include screenings of Thelma & Louise, Project Hail Mary, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever with alumna Dominique Thorne ’19, alongside silent film events, the…
Cornell Cinema is pleased to introduce its Fall 2026 season! From thought-provoking docs and enigmatic art house classics to high school nostalgia and our annual CatVideoFest, there is something for everyone at Cornell Cinema this term.
Project Hail Mary screening Aug. 28 at Cornell University features astronomers Lisa Kaltenegger and Abigail Bohl discussing habitable rocky exoplanets. Cornell Cinema’s special event also includes a prize drawing and Fuertes Observatory open house.
Cornell Cinema will present a screening of the documentary “Rule Breakers,” chronicling the founding of Afghanistan’s first all-girls robotics team, followed by a panel discussion and Q&A.
From midcentury melodramas to speculative visions of technology and the human body—and even a French coming of age story about crafting world class cheese—Cornell Cinema’s spring season offers a varied plate.
Cornell Cinema is pleased to announce our Spring 2026 season, which features a compelling line-up of films, series, and special events shaped in collaboration with partners across campus and designed to inspire critical reflection through the shared experience of cinema.
This October, Cornell Cinema will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the silent movie “The Phantom of the Opera,” with live musical accompaniment by The Invincible Czars.
Cornell Cinema is pleased to announce our Fall 2025 season which features more than a dozen unique film series designed to advance interdisciplinary thinking and connect diverse communities through collective encounters with the art of film. More information about our fall semester line-up is now available on our website: cinema.cornell.edu.
Producer David Raubach will attend the free screening of the documentary April 8 and participate in a discussion following the film.
The spring season of films at Cornell Cinema has begun.
Cornell Cinema’s Spring 2025 season will feature a dynamic mix of films selected to spark conversation, connect diverse communities, and explore the complex history of cinema. Screenings will begin on Thursday, January 23, with Soundtrack to a Coup d’État, a magnificent essay film from director Johan Grimonprez that illuminates the political machinations behind the 1961…
Cornell Fashion + Textile Collection and Cornell Cinema are working together on a film series featuring influential costume designer Edith Head.
Hear from experts about the election and the future of democracy, listen to the music of a 1914 alumnus who experimented with blending Chinese and Western musical traditions, and more.
On what would have been Carl Sagan's 90th birthday, Cornell’s Carl Sagan Institute will celebrate his legacy in an interdisciplinary day of science, music and more as part of the College of Arts & Sciences’ Arts Unplugged series.
Real-world events inspire a collective lineup that is relevant to what professors are teaching and what students are learning.
The Cornell Cinema team is delighted to welcome you back to the historic Willard Straight Theatre for another exciting semester of cinema experiences. Our fall season features an eclectic mix of contemporary and classic films and dynamic film series that are designed to connect diverse communities, inspire innovative thinking, and advance teaching across disciplines.
Peter John Loewen says he's excited to support faculty in their research, meet students and showcase the value of a liberal arts education.
“Ghosts” tells the story of three Kiowa children who escaped a government boarding school in the winter of 1891.
Coming from the University of Toronto, where he was the director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, Loewen began his five-year appointment as the Harold Tanner Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Aug. 1.
Science on Screen® supports creative pairings of current, classic, cult, and documentary films with introductions by figures from the world of science, technology and medicine.
As part of their “Voyager Spacecraft Week,” the Cornell Astronomical Society joins Cornell Cinema to present “Cosmos” Episode 6: “Traveler’s Tales” on Feb. 13.
The film focuses on the gendered implications of deepfake technology; a free screening Feb. 7 will be presented by the Milstein Program in the College of Arts and Sciences, partnering with Cornell Cinema.
Cornell Cinema's spring semester film slate features a mix of contemporary and classic films selected to spark curiosity, inspire understanding, and advance teaching across disciplines.
After more than a half-century in the Straight, the Hill’s iconic movie venue remains a film fan’s delight.
The Sept. 26 talk was recorded and is now available to view on eCornell.
Once again, Cornell Cinema teams up with the Wharton Studio Museum for October’s Silent Movie Month in Ithaca, beginning with a showing this Sunday October 1 of The Toll of the Sea accompanied by the Cloud Chamber Orchestra.
One of the perks Cornell Cinema offers local film enthusiasts is the opportunity to see films projected the “old-fashioned” way, in 35mm!
Following the success of “Studio Ghibli Sundays” last spring, Cornell Cinema looks forward to celebrating “100 Years of Disney” with weekend matinees of some of the studio’s most beloved films.
The cinema's fall schedule includes "Rocky Horror Picture Show," as well as some of the British Film Institute’s top movies of all time.
Anderson will offer a public talk as part of the College of Arts & Sciences’ Arts Unplugged series and work with students and faculty.
“From the Big Red to the Red Carpet” featured Scott Ferguson ’82 and Michael Kantor ’83, Emmy-winning producers of HBO’s “Succession” and PBS' “American Masters” series.
Cornell Cinema teams up with Cornell’s Jewish Studies program to present a mini film festival over three nights, April 25–27, in celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Jewish Studies at Cornell University.
Producers of "Succession" and "American Masters" on PBS will screen films and talk about their careers.
It's an exciting week at Cornell Cinema with three, unique special events. Tuesday, A.D. White Professor-at-Large Keri Putnam presents a special FREE advance screening of Nanny, with director Nikyatu Jusu joining remotely for a discussion and Q&A. Nanny won the 2022 Sundance Grand Jury Dramatic Prize and earned rave reviews at the Toronto International Film…
This week at Cornell Cinema, we are thrilled to revisit last year’s hit, The Green Knight, in collaboration with graduate students from Cornell’s Medieval Studies Program. Following a screening of this artful and epic retelling of the Arthurian legend—which stars Dev Patel as the ill-fated Sir Gawain—panelists will discuss what this recent film reveals about…
Cornell Cinema invites you to come out in costume Monday night for a special Halloween screening of Ringu, the J-horror film that launched a thousand imitators and was remade in the US as The Ring with Naomi Watts. Before we spook you on screen, we’ll host a costume contest on stage! Come in your best…
This is one of those weeks where All-Access Passholders really get their money’s worth! Where else can you catch visiting experimental filmmakers, live music, a Telugu-language action sensation, a timely documentary, horror films, and the latest from Hollywood all in one week?
This Wednesday is our marquee event for the Fall semester—a special centenary screening of F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu! The first cinematic version of Bram Stokers’ Dracula will be presented in beautiful Sage Chapel, featuring an original score performed live by the Austin, TX-based band The Invincible Czars. We’ve hosted the Czars a few times over the…
The final film in Cornell Cinema's On Demand, Without Apology series on abortion and bodily autonomy is the new documentary The Janes, about the clandestine operation of anonymous women who aided and abetted abortions in pre-Roe Chicago. We are thrilled to host co-director, and Cornell alumna, Tia Lessin ’89 on Thursday for our screening of…
Cornell Cinema continues its ongoing series on abortion and bodily autonomy, On Demand, Without Apology, this week with a visit from Chicago-based filmmaker Lori Felker and her program Intrusions and Interruptions.
“I am delighted to introduce myself as the new director of Cornell Cinema. It is a great privilege to lead Cornell Cinema into its next chapter and I feel especially fortunate to take on this role at a moment where the pandemic has helped us more deeply appreciate the opportunity to gather as a community…
A regular feature of Cornell Cinema screenings is the opportunity to engage directly with filmmakers and film professionals, and this week we have two such opportunities!
Cornell Cinema starts the week off with a Situationist bang this Wednesday with Guy Debord’s The Society of the Spectacle! In the nearly five decades since Debord made a film adaptation of his own landmark book, the capitalist and consumerist issues raised in The Society of the Spectacle have become even more entrenched, especially here…
Announcing our film slate for October and November! We’re still updating ticketing links and special info, but we were so excited by our calendar, we couldn’t wait to share the lineup! After you peruse our calendar, be sure to pick up your All-Access Pass so you can catch it all for one insanely low price.…
If you haven’t picked up your All-Access Pass yet, this is the week to do so! Good for over 150 films throughout the year for only $25 to $40!
New students at Cornell can enjoy free movies from now until Friday, after which we highly recommend picking up an All-Access Pass to keep the cheap flicks coming! (Just $30 for Cornell undergrads; $25 for Cornell graduate & professional students! That gets you a year's worth of our regular screenings!)
A new director, Molly Ryan, will take the helm of Cornell Cinema this fall, succeeding Mary Fessenden, who has led the organization for 35 years, eight years as 8 manager and 27 as director.
Cornell Cinema wrapped its Spring ’22 season on May 5 with a screening of a beautiful 35mm print of Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity (1944), introduced by author David Lehman, who signed copies of his new book, The Mysterious Romance of Murder: Crime, Detection, and the Spirit of Noir, published by Cornell University Press, after the…
All patrons must adhere to Cornell’s public health requirements for events. As of April 11, masks and proof of vaccination are no longer required, but are strongly encouraged. Up-to-date guidance is available here.
All patrons must adhere to Cornell’s public health requirements for events. As of April 11, masks and proof of vaccination are no longer required, but are strongly encouraged. Up-to-date guidance is available here.