Weekly Wednesday Update, December 8, 2021

With the Fall IFS program now behind us, the staff is working hard on the Spring program. If you have signed up to have our printed program mailed directly to your house, you can expect them to arrive in the mail by the middle of January. If you have not signed up for our direct mailings, you can always opt to do so by visiting our website and clicking on the “Mailing List” menu tab, where you can then click on “Printed Schedule” – at which point an address box will pop up that allows you to put in your address.

The next IFS printed program will resemble the previous program in some ways, and yet, it will be radically different. The IFS, having made it all the way through the Fall without having to cancel a single show, now has the confidence to add dates and times again to the upcoming printed program (this was a common request from our customers). What’s also new is that there will be TWO printed programs for the Spring. The first part will be mailed out in the middle of January. The second part will be mailed out in the middle of March.

In a way, having two printed programs for one season is a return to a template the IFS used in the mid-’90s. There is another way in which the IFS will be tapping into an older template, albeit this time going all the way back to its original roots in the ’40s when it was programmed strictly by C.U. faculty. To be more specific: the coming Spring program will be curated almost entirely by the Department of Cinema Studies faculty and Cinema Studies MFA students. I say “mostly” because we also left a couple of slots for IFS donors, who also came through with great suggestions.

Looking at a rough draft of the Spring program, I could not be happier with the results of this experiment. The selections speak for themselves. It is a dynamic, vibrant, and eclectic vision that darts back-and-forth in time and genre, rich in context and full of surprises. Not only do I feel confident in saying that there is something there for everyone, I dare say this might very well herald the future of IFS programming for years to come.

When you first see this new IFS program in your mailbox, I hope you agree. Better yet, I hope you come join us in Muenzinger auditorium to be part of the festivities.