Co-Presented by Chicago Film Society and the John M. Flaxman Library at the School of the Art Institute.

Chicago Filmmakers Firehouse Cinema (1326 W. Hollywood Avenue)| Sunday April 6, 2025 - 7:00PM

For over 50 years, the John M. Flaxman Library’s 16mm Film Study Collection at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago has been a renowned resource serving faculty, students, and researchers within and outside of SAIC’s communities. The collection originates from prints acquired by SAIC’s academic departments and the Film Center, before its transfer to the Library in the 1970s. The Library provides access to over 700 16mm prints spanning the history of film, including a significant number of films by SAIC faculty and alumni. While the collection continues to be an invaluable resource for teaching and research, it also reflects a history of film pedagogy at SAIC, and has become a vital resource for preserving Chicago experimental film history.

Following a partnership with the Chicago Film Society to restore the 16mm films of SAIC alumnus Edward Owens, the Library has recently finished new 16mm restorations of Owens' earlier 8mm work. Owens, a Black queer filmmaker from the South Side of Chicago, was a student in the newly formed Film Department at SAIC in the mid-1960s, mentored by its founder, Gregory Markopoulos. In celebration of Chicago's rich experimental film legacy, and the Flaxman Library’s contributions to it, we are premiering these restorations with a selection of rare prints by Chicago filmmakers from the Film Study Collection. 70 mins, 16mm, color.