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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 2d

Last year CFA preserved six films by JoAnn Elam. Tomorrow night, two of the new 16mm preservation prints created through this project will debut in Program 1 of @chicagofilmsociety.org's Celluloid Now! Be there, and check out the program at celluloidnow.org

A frame from JoAnn Elam's film "[Garden & Joe]" depicting the filmmaker's husband Joe in silhouette against a window, double-exposed with garden plants and flowers.

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 2d

154 years ago today, the Great Chicago Fire started to burn. And 70 years ago, Walter Cronkite recorded this mock news report about the fire for CBS's "You Are There," a series that reenacted events from history as breaking news.

From a 16mm reel collected by Chicago filmmaker Margaret Conneely.

You Are There: “The Chicago Fire”

Episode of the television series “You Are There” featuring a fake news report on the Chicago Fire of 1871. Walter Cronkite acts as the news anchor from behind a desk, accompanied by “in the field” voi...

collections.chicagofilmarchives.org

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 3d

You can watch the whole reel — and more of Judith Paine McBrien's Chicago architecture footage — here:

Judith Paine McBrien Collection

The Judith Paine McBrien Collection mostly consists of unedited 16mm documentary footage related to Chicago architecture and to the legacy and influence of Polish immigrants in the Chicago area. Much ...

collections.chicagofilmarchives.org

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 3d

(They didn't add the owls and roof flourishes until a few years later, in 1993.)

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 3d

On this day in 1991, Chicago's Harold Washington Library Center opened to the public!

This clip was shot about a week later as 16mm B-roll for "Skyline: Chicago," a series on the city's history and urban design that aired on @wttw.bsky.social It's part of CFA's Judith Paine McBrien Collection.

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 10d

CFA has digitized many more of Tom Palazzolo's films, too! You can watch them right here on our website:

Tom Palazzolo Collection

The Tom Palazzolo Collection consists of experimental films and documentaries, their elements, and outtakes made by Chicago-based filmmaker Tom Palazzolo, once called "Chicago's filmmaker laureate" by...

collections.chicagofilmarchives.org

Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 10d

....and "At Maxwell Street" (1984), about the city's storied Maxwell Street market.

At Maxwell Street

collections.chicagofilmarchives.org

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 10d

CFA is home to over 400,000 ft. of Tom's film elements, including well-known works like "Jerry's" (1976), featuring the explosive owner of a deli in Chicago's Streeterville neighborhood...

Jerry's

For 29 years Jerry Meyers has screamed and yelled at the customers who came into his deli – the film attempts to explain why people keep coming back for more. "A top award for the Fastest Camera in th...

collections.chicagofilmarchives.org

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 10d

🎂 Happy birthday, Tom Palazzolo! Our tribute: this supercut of his varied and wonderful title cards.

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 11d

Go behind the scenes at CFA with WGN-TV legend Larry Potash! His visit was a lot of fun for all of us, and we're impressed by the great films Larry and his team picked to highlight in this segment.

Preserving history: The rarely seen reels of the Chicago Film Archive | Backstory with Larry Potash

YouTube video by WGN News

www.youtube.com

Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 17d

Come see us at our (super casual) open house this Sunday!

CFA Open House September 2025 - Chicago Film Archives

www.chicagofilmarchives.org

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 17d

From "Joe & Apples" (JoAnn Elam, 8mm, circa 1980)

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 18d

Join CFA and Honey Pot Performance on Sat 11/8 for a free screening of Lord Thing (1969, DeWitt Beall).

The screening will be followed by conversation around the histories of the North Lawndale neighborhood, violence mitigation, and self-transformation through literature and the arts. Details:

Lord Thing - Chicago Film Archives

www.chicagofilmarchives.org

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 23d

Jim Edgar, who served as governor of Illinois from 1991 to 1999, died this past weekend.

This clip from a Super 8 reel in the Bill Stamets Collection shows Gov. Edgar holding a soccer ball and speaking to the press at Soldier Field ahead of the 1994 FIFA World Cup.

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 25d

New York, see THE MURDER OF FRED HAMPTON in a 35mm print from our collections tonight at 6:15pm and 9/21 at 7pm:

Anthology Film Archives @anthologyfilm.bsky.social · Sep 5

MALCOLM X: MULTIDIMENSIONAL
September 11 – 21

Program details: www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/film_screeni...

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 25d

This project would not have been possible without the support of @clirnews.bsky.social!

Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 26d

After a year of work, we've finished digitizing and cataloging hundreds of reels shot by photojournalist Bill Stamets, who described his subjects as "a miscellany of civic occasions where Americans make sense of power."

You can watch them all our website for free.

Hundreds of reels of Chicago history through the lens of Bill Stamets, digitized with support from a CLIR Recordings at Risk grant - Chicago Film Archives

www.chicagofilmarchives.org

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 25d

Tom Palazzolo's films are at CFA too, and many of his finished works are available to watch on our website too! collections.chicagofilmarchives.org/Detail/colle...

Tom Palazzolo Collection

The Tom Palazzolo Collection consists of experimental films and documentaries, their elements, and outtakes made by Chicago-based filmmaker Tom Palazzolo, once called "Chicago's filmmaker laureate" by...

collections.chicagofilmarchives.org

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 26d

We'll also be screening six of Bill's films on October 17 at UChicago's Logan Center for the Arts, with Bill in person for a post-screening conversation. Hope to see you there!

Small Gauge, Big Shoulders: Films by Bill Stamets - Chicago Film Archives

www.chicagofilmarchives.org

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · 26d

After a year of work, we've finished digitizing and cataloging hundreds of reels shot by photojournalist Bill Stamets, who described his subjects as "a miscellany of civic occasions where Americans make sense of power."

You can watch them all our website for free.

Hundreds of reels of Chicago history through the lens of Bill Stamets, digitized with support from a CLIR Recordings at Risk grant - Chicago Film Archives

www.chicagofilmarchives.org

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · Sep 9

Watch some of the films he contributed to in our Franklin McMahon Collection:

Franklin McMahon Collection

The Franklin McMahon collection consists primarily of audio recordings of significant political and social events from the 1960s, 70s and 80s. These recordings include interviews, political speeches, ...

collections.chicagofilmarchives.org

Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · Sep 9

Happy birthday to artist-reporter Franklin McMahon, born this day in 1921! His detailed documentary drawings and audio recordings are a rich record of politics and society in the 1960s, '70s and '80s.

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · Sep 5

Facts! Thanks, Andy.

Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · Sep 5

People dancing in Grant Park at the sixth annual Taste of Chicago in July 1985 🕺🏽

From a reel of Super 8 film in the Bill Stamets Collection.

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · Sep 4

"Cicero March" was added to the National Film Registry in 2013.

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Chicago Film Archives @chicagofilmarchives.org · Sep 4

"Cicero March" was made by Chicago production company The Film Group and was released as part of "The Urban Crisis and the New Militants," a seven-part series of educational film modules designed to "teach by raising questions rather than by attempting to answer them."

The Urban Crisis and the New Militants Series - Chicago Film Archives

www.chicagofilmarchives.org

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