The Chicago Film Society is thrilled to announce programming for the third edition of Celluloid Now: four days of screenings and workshops showcasing the work of filmmakers and artists creating work in analog film formats, alongside archival rediscoveries and restorations.

This year, Celluloid Now once again opened free submissions, receiving a bounty of films from some of our very favorite filmmakers, as well as emerging analog artists. The Chicago Film Society remains dedicated to supporting analog filmmakers in an effort to keep film a viable exhibition medium, offering a screening fee to all participants. Celluloid Now 2025 will feature over 50 short films, from some of our very favorite filmmakers (many from right here in Chicago), stretched across four days and nights. This year’s showcase features numerous Chicago premieres, including Tomonari Nishikawa’s Light, Noise, Smoke, and Light, Noise, Smoke, Ayanna Dozier’s Genesis 38:14-15, Doing it for Daddy, and Nightwalker, Rose Lowder’s Jardin du sel, and the world premiere of Christine Lucy Latimer’s Assets.

We’ll also be celebrating the analog film scenes of two cities over 6,000 miles apart, but connected in some sense through many feet of celluloid. On the final day of the showcase you can catch Celluloid City Seoul, a sampler of 16mm films from one of the most exciting analog filmmaking scenes in the entire world, and Celluloid City Chicago, a selection of works made by filmmakers we’re claiming for the city of Chicago, all of whom are under 40 years of age. The city that birthed Celluloid Now and the Chicago Film Society continues to be a nurturing home for analog film.

Celluloid Now is intended to support the skillsets needed for analog exhibition and projection just as much as analog filmmaking, so for our third round all programs will continue to be screened in 35mm, 16mm, or super 8 film. The bounty of amazing submissions we received this year feels like proof that the analog filmmaking community is not just alive and well, but strong, active, and a truly exciting place to inhabit.

Full program here: https://celluloidnow.org/2025-program/