BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Movie buffs can anticipate an entertaining season this fall as Indiana University Cinema presents an eclectic lineup of film series, special guests and festival favorites.
To kick things off, the cinema will host its annual open house Aug. 21, featuring activities and refreshments. The open house will feature a trailer reel on the big screen to tease the upcoming season, which includes events like a 3D presentation of Alfred Hitchcock’s “Dial M for Murder,” a Welcome Week screening of nostalgic favorite “Shrek,” and returning series like CINEkids, Michael A. McRobbie’s Choice, Underground and more.
In collaboration with the Black Film Center & Archive, IU Cinema welcomes back filmmaker and former cinema guest Julie Dash to campus as part of a 25th-anniversary screening of her influential “Daughters of the Dust,” the first full-length film directed by an African American woman to have a general theatrical release in the United States.
Other visiting filmmakers include:
- Delaney Buffett with her new comedy “Adult Best Friends.”
- Producer and Funny or Die CEO Mike Farah with the Emmy-winning “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.”
- Director Ian Bell and producer Alex Megaro with their archival documentary “WTO/99,” which chronicles the historic 1999 protests against the World Trade Organization.
Fans of old Hollywood can celebrate the centennials of several silver screen icons with Three Cheers for 100 Years, which honors the enduring legacies of Paul Newman, Dick Van Dyke, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Sellers, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon.
The films in this series run the gamut, including:
- Cozy caper classic “The Pink Panther.”
- “Robin and the 7 Hoods,” a swinging spoof starring the Rat Pack.
- “What a Way to Go!,” a rom-com with an unusual twist.
- “Some Like It Hot,” a groundbreaking, rules-defying comedy.
Be sure to also check out IU Cinema’s lower-lobby display, which is partially dedicated to these legendary men.
Bringing audiences the best new art house and independent filmmaking from North, Central and South America, New Americas Cinema includes:
- “The Fishbowl,” a fierce and thought-provoking eco-drama from Puerto Rico.
- Writer, director and actor Eva Victor’s acclaimed and wryly funny feature debut “Sorry, Baby.”
- “Mickey 17,” the star-studded latest from Oscar-winning filmmaker Bong Joon-ho.
- “Seeds,” the stunning winner of the 2025 Sundance U.S. Documentary Grand Jury Award.
- “Gaucho Gaucho,” the sumptuously photographed documentary about modern-day Argentine cowboys and cowgirls.
- “Every Little Thing,” a heartwarming look at one of nature’s mightiest yet tiniest creatures, the hummingbird.
Featuring nightmares both new and familiar, Friday Night Frights creeps back onto IU Cinema’s screen with:
- The Italian zombie flick “Demons.”
- David Cronenberg’s “Scanners.”
- Guillermo del Toro’s gothic spine-tingler “Crimson Peak.”
- Supernatural South Korean film “Exhuma.”
- A 4K restoration of the cult classic “Donnie Darko.”
- Two double features on Halloween, starting with the new slasher “Clown in a Cornfield” and the psychological thriller “Red Rooms,” followed by John Carpenter’s “The Fog” in 4K and the body-horror, cyber-punk benchmark “Tetsuo: The Iron Man.”
Q+, a series that focuses on the history of queerness and film, questions whether queer films must be told by queer creatives by showcasing Todd Haynes’ musical fantasia “Velvet Goldmine,” the stone-cold comedy classic “The Birdcage” starring Robin Williams and Nathan Lane, and Alfonso Cuarón’s steamy, award-winning coming-of-age drama “Y tu mamá también.”
Other upcoming programs at IU Cinema include:
- A series spotlighting Soviet filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein’s infamous unfinished work “¡Que viva México!,” which is contextualized in the cinema’s lower-lobby exhibition space with materials from the Lilly Library and the IU Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
- A new 2K restoration of “Salomé,” a highly stylized Oscar Wilde adaptation starring and co-directed by multihyphenate Alla Nazimova for Silent Movie Day.
- The One and Only Huckleberry, a four-film tribute to the late and eternally great Val Kilmer.
- The world premiere of a new score for “Ten Nights in a Barroom,” a 1926 silent film with an all-Black cast, as part of the Jon Vickers Scoring Award.
- A pair of the most beloved holiday movies ever made, “The Muppet Christmas Carol” and a new 4K restoration of “The Apartment.”
For full information and film listings, visit the cinema’s website or their IU Events calendar and follow @iucinema on Instagram, X, Bluesky and Facebook.
Initiatives like this are made possible in part by generous donors to Indiana University. You can show your support for IU Cinema by making a gift to the IU Cinema Fund.