Season 15 Updates

Art by Archie Sarjeant.

The Calgary Cinematheque Society began its mission of screening significant, challenging, and essential works of cinema art on September 12, 2007 with visual artist Matthew Barney's 2009 project Drawing Restraint 9. Since that time we have continued to show some of the most unique film programming in Calgary, including the restoration of Fritz Lang's Metropolis and Paul Schrader's controversial Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters.

For the Cinematheque's 15th year we are celebrating our past and embracing our future. The COVID-19 pandemic created challenges for movie theatres the world over, and the Cinematheque had to suspend operations at times and explore alternative means of film exhibition at others. For our first full season back, we are excited to announce a number of changes in how we are programming our films.

First, we are moving to a year-round season, with shows every two weeks. This helps us better connect with our audience, grow regular attendance, without asking too much at a time when many are still careful about how many outings they feel comfortable attending. Next, we will be dropping our long running Spotlight, Focus, and Master categories, as well as running more series in the season with fewer films in each. This will allow us to include more diversity in the season's films, as well as program along broader themes on topics that matter to our community and are more responsive to the world we live in. Our Contemporary World Cinema series will continue, as will our partnership with the public library.

As part of programming season 15, we reached out to our membership and put out an open call for their suggestions of what kind of films they would like to see. As such, we are very pleased that the season is shaping up to be a unique blend of ideas from the Programming Committee and our membership, and we hope our audiences will agree. Our first series in the new season is "A Month of Almodóvar" featuring three films from Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar through the month of March. We are excited about the series we are planning for spring and summer, and we hope you will be as well.

Later in the year, we have events planned for the celebration of the anniversary in September which will honour the history and accomplishments of our Society. We are excited to share these with you when we are closer to autumn. Until then, we ask that you join us at Calgary's independent theatres every two weeks for a year of fantastic films.