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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 7h

47 years ago this week, Pope John Paul II held an open-air mass in Chicago's Grant Park. This clip, from a Super 8 film shot by Bill Stamets, shows Mayor Jane Byrne receiving communion as part of the service.

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 02/10/2026

Come see "Street Signs: Murals in Chicago" at 6:30pm next Wed 10/7 at Epiphany Center for the Arts, the third installment in our ongoing "Inside/Out: Stories of Origin and Displacement" series!

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 01/10/2026

The White Sox are moving on!! In this amateur Super 8 film from 1976, Sox 2b Jack Brohamer became the only player in MLB history to hit a home run while wearing shorts. The Sox wore this uniform for just three games (going 2-1!), including in this 8/21 win against the Orioles. 📽️ by Pat Pahr.

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 30/09/2026

Today we're remembering Jack Behrend, a great friend to CFA from our earliest years who lived so much of the Midwestern film history that our collections preserve. In 2010 our founder Nancy Watrous interviewed Jack; in this excerpt he recalls his first years working at theaters in the early 1950s.

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 29/09/2026

CFA's Krosse Collection also has silent-era shorts, including this scatological prank film A CITRATE SPECIAL (ca. 1920).

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 29/09/2026

Happy #SilentMovieDay! Only ~20% of all American silent feature films survive in full; another 5% survive in incomplete form, such as SOME PUN'KINS (1925). Reels 4 and 6 are part of the Krosse Collection at CFA. We think the decomposition really helps ratchet up the tension in this climactic scene.

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 18/09/2026

The next installment in our Inside/Out series is this coming Wednesday 9/23, featuring "Mi Raza: Portrait of a Family," a 1972 documentary about a working class Mexican American family in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood, plus a post-screening discussion presented by journalist Alexandra Salomon.

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 17/09/2026

Dancer Mary Linda Swayze improvises movements for architecture of the Chicago Cultural Center in this scene from "City & The Arts," a 1977 documentary from CFA's Eleanor Binstock Collection about a program that supported employment for artists via the creation of public art.

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 15/09/2026

Tomorrow evening at Epiphany Center for the Arts: a powerful 1972 documentary about Chicago's Austin neighborhood, presented by Natalie Y. Moore. Full details here: www.chicagofilmarchives.org/calendar/eve...

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 03/09/2026

Super 8 film depicting a pro-Equal Rights Amendment demonstration in Chicago's Grant Park on May 10, 1980.

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 02/09/2026

Comedians George Kirby and Redd Foxx reminisce about fishing in Chicago's Washington Park in this clip from a reel of 16mm footage shot in 1970 for "San Diego Boat Party," an episode of ABC's "American Sportsman" series.

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 31/08/2026

If you aren't excited about seeing CALIGARI'S CURE on Sept 10 yet, maybe this trailer will help:

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 28/08/2026

This Sunday, August 30 would have been the 78th birthday of Fred Hampton, chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party.

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 26/08/2026

A 16mm ad spot for William G. Clark's 1968 campaign for U.S. Senator from Illinois. The ad was created by The Film Group, a commercial production company that would go on to create political documentaries like "The Murder of Fred Hampton" and "American Revolution II."

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 24/08/2026

In September and October we're presenting "Inside/Out: Stories of Origin and Displacement," a series of four free screenings and discussions at the Epiphany Center for the Arts. Check out the series trailer and learn more here: www.chicagofilmarchives.org/news/2026/08...

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 17/08/2026

On August 15, 1967, the city dedicated "Chicago Picasso" in Daley Plaza. Tom Palazzolo was there, shooting footage that would become his film "The Bride Stripped Bare" and documenting what he called the "absurd and mystical pomp bound up in grandiose ceremonies."

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 14/08/2026

Super 8 scenes from the 1980 Wisconsin State Fair, from the John & Marilyn Sanner Collection. 🐄🌽🍻

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 03/08/2026

Well folks, we survived Lollapalooza weekend! From the Ted Bokhof Collection: silent 16mm footage of Jefferson Airplane performing a free concert at the Grant Park Music Shell on 5/13/1969, presented by the Chi Park District. Watch the whole reel: collections.chicagofilmarchives.org/Detail/objec...

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 30/07/2026

A man using a riding lawnmower to pull a girl around a yard in a small wagon. From an 8mm home movie reel labeled "Iowa Vacation 1961" shot by Donna Adams.

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 24/07/2026

Ladies of the Faust and Wyckoff families drinking Schlitz with their pooch by the Lake in Belgium, Wisconsin, circa Summer 1945. 📽️ From a reel of 16mm home movies labeled "Wisconsin Vacations At Wyckoffs - Part I" in CFA's Chester E. Faust Collection.

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 23/07/2026

Fiesta del Sol starts today! This Pilsen tradition started in 1973. Here are some scenes from the 1988 iteration from our Susan Dobinsky Collection. Watch more on our website!: collections.chicagofilmarchives.org/Detail/objec...

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 22/07/2026

An older woman spinning wool and wearing a magnificently chunky knitted sweater vest, from a 16mm home movie shot in tiny, rural Bitely, Michigan circa 1929.

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 16/07/2026

A loose montage of Chicago summer scenes from 1984 from a Super 8 reel labeled "Summer City Festivals" in the Bill Stamets Collection.

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 10/07/2026

July 26, 1965: people gather for a civil rights march from Grant Park to City Hall in Chicago. The rally was led by Martin Luther King Jr. and sponsored by Chicago's Coordinating Council of Community Organizations (CCCO).

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 08/07/2026

A bevy of clowns celebrate the US Bicentennial on 7/4/1976, seen through the eyes of Chicago filmmaker JoAnn Elam (excerpt from "Peggy / Centennial," 8mm, silent).

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 02/07/2026

Superdawg, circa 1979. From a Super 8 film shot by Chuck Kleinhans.

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 30/06/2026

Scenes from the 1974 #whitesox home opener at Comiskey Park, including fans buying Falstaff Beer for less than a dollar and a brief glimpse of a streaker in a bright red White Sox batting helmet. 16mm news footage from the Frank Koza Collection. Catch plenty more Sox footage on our website!

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 26/06/2026

Chicago Mayor Harold Washington gives a speech in Lincoln Park as the 18th Annual Gay & Lesbian Pride Parade proceeds along N Broadway on June 28, 1987. From a Super 8 reel in the Bill Stamets Collection.

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 19/06/2026

From the same reel, circa 1926: other new things along the Hyde Park lakefront, including Promontory Point under construction.

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 19/06/2026

A terrier being stuffed into a little sweater in Chicago's Jackson Park. 🐕 This 16mm home movie was shot in 1926, just blocks from what is now the site of the Barack Obama Presidential Center.

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 15/06/2026

9.5mm home movie shot at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair (A Century of Progress), featuring a strongman outside of the "Dungeon of Torture" (admission fee refunded for accredited scholars!) Originally donated to CFA by our friends at the Center for Home Movies.

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 12/06/2026

🇵🇷 Chicago Mayor Harold Washington marches with the Puerto Rican Day Parade on June 9, 1984. From a Super 8 reel in the Bill Stamets collection.

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 11/06/2026

Journalists, IL Governor Jim Edgar, and officials from other nations walk through Soldier Field (and kick a ball around!) as Chicago prepares to host the 1994 FIFA World Cup. 📽️ Super 8 from a reel labeled "Soccer" in the Bill Stamets Collection, digitized with support from @clirnews.bsky.social

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 04/06/2026

Unidentified children trying to do headstands in an 8mm home movie from the John McNaughton Collection, likely shot in Chicago's Pullman neighborhood in 1956.

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 20/05/2026

Legendary advertising filmmaker Joe Sedelmaier passed away earlier this month. His most famous work was the 1984 "Where's the beef?" TV commercial (shot right here in Chicago!) CFA's Bill Stamets Collection includes a few behind-the-scenes Super 8 moments from the "beef" campaign:

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 15/05/2026

See you tonight at the Logan Center for the Arts!

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 14/05/2026

Tomorrow night at the Logan Center for the Arts, come see HIGHLANDERS WEDDING (1961), a document of Chicago's Polish Highlander community featuring excellent music, brand new English subtitles — and a beautiful new 16mm print created with support from @filmpreservation.bsky.social!

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 06/04/2026

Enjoy these excerpts from Tom Palazzolo's 1969 film "Your Astronauts," an observational portrait of the August 13, 1969 parade held in Chicago to celebrate Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, Jr., and Michael Collins a few weeks after their return from the moon.

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 03/04/2026

An Easter-themed, portrait-style home movie, circa 1941, featuring young Bob Sommerfeld, his parents and baby brother, his cousins Sheldon and Diane Glick, and his uncle Jack Glick. 📽️ From a 16mm Kodachrome home movie in CFA's Glick-Berolzheimer Collection.

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 02/04/2026

A home movie from the Glick family's Passover Seder, c. 1939, likely shot in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood in the two-room apartment at the New Lawrence Hotel where Jack & Dorothy Glick lived with their two children. Jack immigrated to Chicago from Ukraine and ran a bar and cigar shop at the hotel.

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 01/04/2026

Time-lapse footage of spring flowers blooming, shot in 16mm circa 1957 by John Nash Ott of Winnetka, Illinois, whose elaborate greenhouse and camera system was called "ingenious" by American Cinematographer in 1947.

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 25/03/2026

♫ Batter up! Hear that call! Now's the time... to plaaay ball! ♫ The real-life Rockford Peaches make an appearance in this 1943 home movie from the Dean Collection. The family brought their 8mm camera to this All-American Girls Professional Baseball League game during the Peaches' inaugural season.

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 20/03/2026

This weekend we're celebrating the 127th birthday of Ruth Page, midwestern ballerina, choreographer, and founding mother of the Chicago dance community! Enjoy the very 1985 ambiance of this clip from a Betacam tape of her 86th birthday party:

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 17/03/2026

It's St. Patrick's Day AND Election Day, Illinois! ☘️🗳️ Politics and politicians have long been a staple of Chicago's downtown St. Patrick's Day parade. In 1977, many floats were dedicated to the recently deceased and famously Irish Mayor Richard J. Daley.

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 13/03/2026

This morning, flowers were scattered at Chicago's Jackson Park Lagoon to commemorate the death of lawyer and civil libertarian Clarance Darrow, a tradition dating back to the 1950s. This contemplative Super 8 reel from our Bill Stamets Collection documents the ceremony as it took place in 1977.

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 12/03/2026

Kirby was a regular on television variety shows in the 1970s and was known for his impressions (he mastered over 100!). In this clip from the same film, he appears as Santa Claus and in drag. Learn more about George Kirby on our finding aid: collections.chicagofilmarchives.org/Detail/colle...

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 12/03/2026

This 16mm home movie from the George Kirby Collection contains footage from the filming of "A Time for Laughter: A Look at Negro Humor in America," a 1967 TV special. This clip features Richard Pryor, Harry Belafonte, Redd Foxx, and Sidney Poitier. collections.chicagofilmarchives.org/Detail/objec...

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 10/03/2026

Join us at the Wisconsin Film Festival on April 12 for a program of shorts by filmmaker Tom Palazzolo! Tickets on sale now: wifilmfest.eventive.org/schedule/699...

Title card from "Hey Girls," drawn by cartoonist Heather McAdams

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 04/03/2026

This short clip from CALIGARI'S CURE features Andy Somma, Heather McAdams, David West, and an as-yet unidentified performer.

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 03/03/2026

From "Northern Light," a short film juxtaposing footage of bed sheets, a white cat, and a Canadian landscape, accompanied by a soundtrack of bird calls. Made by Barbara Scharres in 1977. Watch in full here: collections.chicagofilmarchives.org/Detail/objec...

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