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.
Screenings will begin on Thursday, August 27, and robust information about our fall line-up is now available on our website: cinema.cornell.edu.
Our opening weekend will feature a special screening of Project Hail Mary (2026), presented in collaboration with the Carl Sagan Institute and the Cornell Astronomical Society. You can also catch Mel Brook’s side-splitting comedy The Producers (1967), new digital restorations of Ridley Scott’s Thelma & Louise (1991) and Satoshi Kon’s Perfect Blue (1997), and the Ithaca premiere of the Academy-Award nominated documentary Cutting Through Rocks (2025).
Still from House Party (1990, dir. Reginald Hudlin). Courtesy: Warner Bros. Studios/Swank Motion Pictures.
School is officially back in session at Cornell Cinema with our Too Cool for School series, which revisits American high school films from the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s. Featuring nostalgic classics from John Hughes, the ultimate chronicler of the American high school experience, as well as more recent entries by Reginald Hudlin, Amy Heckerling (Clueless), and Justin Lin (of the Fast and Furious franchise), this series explores the trials and tribulations of adolescent life in and beyond the classroom, including journeys of self-discovery, friendship, and the consequences of newfound independence.
Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey—the box office hit of the summer—is, at its core, the tale of a troubled man on a long walk home to Ithaca. Drawing inspiration from both the recent screen adaptation and Homer’s foundational text, our Wayfaring Strangers series considers a selection of international films in which characters embark on arduous journeys that challenge them physically, mentally, and emotionally. Linked by a shared sense of alienation from the modern world, it includes the work of acclaimed directors Agnes Varda, Jia Zhangke, Michelangelo Antonioni, Andrei Tarkovsky, and Werner Herzog.
Still from Stalker (1979, dir. Andrei Tarkovsky). Courtesy: Janus Films
Among the most prolific and idiosyncratic filmmakers in American cinema history, the legendary director Mel Brooks celebrates his 100th birthday in 2026. To celebrate, Cornell Cinema is partnering with the Jewish Studies Program to present three of his most unforgettable comedies—The Producers (1967), Spaceballs (1987), and Young Frankenstein (1974). Brooks is best known for creating comedic films that cleverly spoof popular genres and indiscriminately lampoon cultural groups, all the while celebrating the history of cinema.
2026 also marks the centennial of F.W. Murnau’s Faust (1917), which will feature as our marquee silent film with live music event on Friday, October 23, at the historic Sage Chapel. We are thrilled to welcome back the Invincible Czars to perform a brand-new electrifying score that brings this quintessential, "deal-with-devil" tale to life for contemporary audiences by marrying new and old elements of classical music, bossa nova, and even a touch of heavy metal. We anticipate a sell-out crowd again this year, so please get your tickets early to avoid disappointment!
The Sage Chapel event will also be a focal point of Altered States in Silent Cinema, a film series presented in collaboration with the Wharton Studio Museum and Cinemapolis in honor of Silent Movie Month in Ithaca. This series brings together five films to explore the silent era’s preoccupation with hypnosis, mysticism, possession, madness, and medicine. It will culminate in a special presentation of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920) at Bailey Hall with live score by the Cornell Chamber Orchestra on Friday, November 13. (More details are forthcoming on our website.)
Still from Faust (1917, dir. F.W. Murnau). Courtesy: Kino Lorber & Murnau-Stiftung.
Each semester, Cornell Cinema also partners with departments, programs, and student organizations to bring to campus films that amplify urgent global issues, highlight cutting-edge research, and spark community dialogue. Highlights of our Campus Collaborations program this fall include a year-long exploration of cinema and Near Eastern Studies, partnerships with the Institute of African Development, Cornell Law School, the Migrations Program, the Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies, the South Asia Program, the Southwest Asia and North African Program (SWANA), a special "Arts Unplugged" double feature organized by the Department of Linguistics, and a special family-friendly animated film presented in collaboration with the Ukrainian Program at Cornell.
Cine Con Cultura, Ithaca’s annual Latinx Film Festival, celebrates innovative filmmaking practices across Latin America. The festival is organized by Cultura Ithaca! and the Latino Civic Association of Tompkins County in collaboration with Ithaca College, Cornell Cinema, and the Department of Romance Studies at Cornell. This year’s line-up, which was selected in consultation with faculty from the Department of Romance Studies, includes films from Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia, and Argentina as well as a special screening with visiting filmmaker Michelle Garza Cervera, director of the maternal horror film Huesera: The Bone Woman (2023), on Monday, September 14.
Still from Sound of Falling (2026, dir. Mascha Schilinski). Courtesy: MUBI
Things take a slightly darker turn at Cornell Cinema after fall break. In addition to a terrifying line-up of high school horror films to celebrate Halloween, our Noirvember series will explore the sinister side of humanity—and a pervasive sense of disillusionment that emerged in American cinema in the postwar period—with three film noirs from the 1950s. The series will include Stanley Kubrick’s third directorial effort The Killing (1956); Charles Laughton’s deeply disturbing Southern Gothic thriller The Night of the Hunter (1955); and acclaimed actress Ida Lupino’s directorial debut The Hitch-hiker (1953), the only classic film noir directed by a woman.
Finally, our Encounters with the Uncanny series—inspired by Professor Patricia Keller’s fall course—features unsettling films that engage with the space between what is known and unknown, familiar and strange, real and imagined. From the impossible doppelgängers in Krzysztof Kieślowski’s The Double Life of Véronique (1991) to the eerie intergenerational connections of Mascha Schilinski’s Sound of Falling (2026), the films in this series are as difficult to describe as the feelings they provoke. Together, they call into question what we think we know, troubling any easy sense of reality and forcing us to entertain the impossible.
Our ongoing Doc Spots, Restorations & Rediscoveries, and Worth a Watch series are also filled with compelling new and restored films from all around the world. You won’t want to miss the 2026 Sundance Short Film Tour, our special 35th anniversary screening of Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991), the Ithaca premieres of Rafael Manuel’s slow-burn drama Filipiñana (2026) and Wregas Bhanuteja’s genre-bending trance film Levitating (2026), or our beloved annual CatVideoFest, with a portion of ticket proceeds donated to the SPCA of Tompkins County.
Still from Levitating (2026, dir. Wregas Bhanuteja). Courtesy: Surprise H Films.
As always, additional events will be announced throughout the semester, so please sign up for our email list and follow Cornell Cinema on social media to receive the latest updates.
The best way to take advantage of all that we have to offer is to purchase a Cornell Cinema All-Access Pass. This program offers admission to all regular Cornell Cinema screenings for the entire academic year — plus a discount on special events — for one low price. Prices are $40 for General Admission, $30 for Students (including all College and K-12 students), $36 for Cornell Faculty and Staff, and $25 for Cornell Graduate and Professional Students and passes are valid through May 2027.
To share news of Cornell Cinema with students, colleagues, or friends, you can download our Fall 2026 poster and other materials. Please also visit our Fall 2026 Playlist on YouTube to browse trailers for upcoming films!
About Cornell Cinema
Established in 1970, Cornell Cinema is a long-standing and celebrated film exhibition program at Cornell University, dedicated to expanding access to and fostering deeper appreciation of moving image work by filmmakers from across the globe. Working in collaboration with partners on campus and beyond, we seek to spark conversation, inspire innovative thinking, and advance interdisciplinary teaching through collective encounters with the art of film.
Cornell Cinema's programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
For more information, please contact:
Molly Ryan (she/her)
Director of Cornell Cinema
cinema@cornell.edu
