Neighborhood News: Lincoln Park’s Facets Multi- Media protects and promotes independent, international film
Since 1975, Lincoln Park’s FACETS Multi-Media, 1517 W. Fullerton Avenue, has been described as a “temple of great cinema” by film critic Roger Ebert and “a giant in the rarefied world of art-house films and cultural education.”
FACETS‘ mission is to “create cinematic experiences for youth and adults that foster vital conversations and community action through film exhibitions, media education, and film resources.” To this end, they:
- Maintain an unparalleled movie rental library of 65,000 titles, available to rent in person or by online nationwide mail-order.
- FACETS Film School presents opportunities for adults to develop and deepen their film knowledge through lectures and classes presented by film teachers and scholars.
- For 40 years, their Children’s Programs produced the annual Chicago International Children’s Film Festival (on hold for 2024) and continues to offer year-round media education programs in schools and other public facilities.
- Facets Video is one of the largest distributors of foreign film in the United States.
- Created Summer Film Camps to build filmmaking and storytelling skills for children ages 8-17.
- Created the Anime Club, presenting an exclusive double feature screening for Film Club Members celebrating all things anime. Anime Club screenings are a Film Club Member ($15 /month or $150 /year) exclusive perk and include two free tickets. This film series encourages community building and discussion around all things anime, featuring built in intermissions every month where members are invited to hang out in the FACETS Studio or Lounge.
- Created the Speakeasy Cinema to view overlooked classics such as this Saturday, July 20 presentation of the trailblazing pre-code gangster film “City Streets” (1931) starring Gary Cooper and Sylvia Sidney.
History of FACETS
FACETS was created by Czech-born immigrant Milos Stehlik in 1975 at The Drama Shelter. According to a Chicago Sun-Times obituary, Stehlik left his native Czechoslovakia in the early 1960s, and started screening films as a 20-something owner of a bookstore near Halsted and Webster. When he learned a neighboring theater company – the Drama Shelter – was having trouble filling seats, he decided to try and help, using a 16mm projector and a bedsheet.
Here, according to an article on FACETS website, Stehlik and a group of volunteers screened “anything he could find for cheap or for free to borrow, ”including silent films, German Expressionism, Czech films that were available in 16mm, the format FACETS used to screen everything.”
As screenings became more popular than the theater’s live shows, FACETS got kicked out of the space and moved to a rented hall at the Resurrection Lutheran church. The church got 10% of the box office. This collaboration kicked off with a festival of Latin American and Spanish Cinema. Every film screened in Chicago had to go through this board and get approved.
Some notable films screened were “Reed: Insurgent Mexico” and the American debut of the film “Ossessione” by famous Italian director Luchino Visconti.
By 1977, FACETS as a cinema had already gained a lot of traction in the film community, hosting screenings seven days a week and retrospectives from directors such as Louis Malle, Alain Tanner, Claude Jutra, and Jan Kadar. Finally, it seemed like a perfect time to get FACETS cinema running in its own designated space. The first films screened in the building at 1517 W. Fullerton were for their festival for New French Cinema.
Over the years, according to Stehlik’s obituary in Variety in 2019, devoted Facets customers included “such bold-face names as Martin Scorsese, Stephen Sondheim and Cher, as well as hundreds of university and public libraries. In a 1998 New York Times article, Roger Ebert opined, “If you can’t find it at Facets, chances are you can’t find it. He’s [Stehlik] really making a difference nationally and worldwide.”
For more information about FACETS memberships and upcoming screenings, click here.
Alison Moran-Powers and Dean’s Team Chicago
