Facets Multi-Media founded in 1975, is a non-profit,

501(C)3 A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...

organization, and a leading national media arts organization. Its mission is to preserve, present, distribute, and educate about film. Besides its facilities at 1517 W. Fullerton Ave.,

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, Facets Multi-Media also runs Facets Video, one of the largest distributors of

foreign film World cinema is a term in film theory that refers to films made outside of the American motion picture industry, particularly those in opposition to the aesthetics and values of commercial American cinema.Nagib, Lúcia. "Towards a positive d ...

in the United States. Facets has been described as a “temple of great cinema” by film critic

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

and "a giant in the rarefied world of art-house films and cultural education."

Facilities

Facets maintains facilities in Chicago, where it was founded by Milos Stehlik as a

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

film organization. The

brick-and-mortar Brick and mortar (also bricks and mortar or B&M) refers to a physical presence of an organization or business in a building or other structure. The term ''brick-and-mortar business'' is often used to refer to a company that possesses or leases r ...

space includes a single-screen movie theater (referred to as Facets Cinémathèque), which screens "interesting" independent films and "obscure" features not shown anywhere else around Chicago. It also houses a

video rental store A video rental shop/store is a physical retail business that rents home videos such as movies, prerecorded TV shows, video game discs and other media content. Typically, a rental shop conducts business with customers under conditions and terms a ...

with over 65,000 titles, described as "a stunningly deep archive of every kind of experimental, avant-garde, foreign and children's film you could hope to find." There is also a non-accredited

film school A film school is an educational institution dedicated to teaching aspects of filmmaking, including such subjects as film production, film theory, digital media production, and screenwriting. Film history courses and hands-on technical training ...

, consisting of classes for the general public. Since the earliest days of home video, customers around the U.S. have been able to rent videos from Facets's "pioneering home-delivery rental system."

Programs

Facets runs the annual

Chicago International Children's Film Festival In 1983, Facets Multi-Media founded the Chicago International Children's Film Festival (CICFF), the first competitive festival of films for children in the U.S. The impetus for the Festival came from a need to introduce new, culturally diverse fil ...

,
Kids Film Camp
for ages 7–14
Facets Film School
for Chicago-area cinephiles
Facets Night School
for cult film connoisseurs, and
Summer Film Institute
for K-12 teachers.

Facets Video

Facets is a nationally-recognized conservator, publisher and distributor of films on DVD, including

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

art-house An art film (or arthouse film) is typically an independent film, aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience. It is "intended to be a serious, artistic work, often experimental and not designed for mass appeal", "made primarily f ...

classics Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

documentaries A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in term ...

, and

experimental film Experimental film or avant-garde cinema is a mode of filmmaking that rigorously re-evaluates cinematic conventions and explores non-narrative forms or alternatives to traditional narratives or methods of working. Many experimental films, parti ...

s. Facets has distributed films by renowned directors such as

Bela Tarr Bela may refer to: Places Asia *Bela Pratapgarh, a town in Pratapgarh District, Uttar Pradesh, India *Bela, a small village near Bhandara, Maharashtra, India *Bela, another name for the biblical city Zoara * Bela, Dang, in Nepal * Bela, Janakpur, ...

Jean-Luc Godard Jean-Luc Godard ( , ; ; 3 December 193013 September 2022) was a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s, alongside such filmmakers as Fran� ...

Miloš Forman Jan Tomáš "Miloš" Forman (; ; 18 February 1932 – 13 April 2018) was a Czech and American film director, screenwriter, actor, and professor who rose to fame in his native Czechoslovakia before emigrating to the United States in 1968. Forman ...

Věra Chytilová Věra Chytilová (2 February 1929 – 12 March 2014) was an avant-garde Czech film director and pioneer of Czech cinema. Banned by the Czechoslovak government in the 1960s, she is best known for her Czech New Wave film, ''Sedmikrásky'' ('' Dais ...

Amos Gitai Amos Gitai ( he, עמוס גיתאי; born 11 October 1950) is an Israeli filmmaker, who was trained as an architect. Gitai's work was presented in several major retrospectives in Pompidou Center in Paris, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and L ...

Alexander Kluge Alexander Kluge (born 14 February 1932) is a German author, philosopher, academic and film director. Early life, education and early career Kluge was born in Halberstadt, Province of Saxony (now Saxony-Anhalt), Germany. After growing up durin ...

, Andrzej Zulawski, and

Miklós Jancsó Miklós Jancsó (; 27 September 192131 January 2014) was a Hungarian film director and screenwriter. Jancsó achieved international prominence starting in the mid-1960s with works including '' The Round-Up'' (''Szegénylegények'', 1965), ''T ...

. Notable films released by Facets include ''

Dekalog ''Dekalog'' (, also known as ''Dekalog: The Ten Commandments'' and ''The Decalogue'') is a 1988 Polish drama television miniseries directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski and co-written by Kieślowski with Krzysztof Piesiewicz, with music by Zbigniew P ...

'', ''

Heimat ''Heimat'' () is a German word translating to 'home' or 'homeland'. The word has connotations specific to German culture, German society and specifically German Romanticism, German nationalism, German statehood and regionalism so that it ha ...

'', '' Satantango'', ''

Medea In Greek mythology, Medea (; grc, Μήδεια, ''Mēdeia'', perhaps implying "planner / schemer") is the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis, a niece of Circe and the granddaughter of the sun god Helios. Medea figures in the myth of Jason an ...

'', ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

'', ''

Germany in Autumn ''Germany in Autumn'' (german: Deutschland im Herbst) is a 1978 West German anthology film about the period of 1977 known as the German Autumn, which was dominated by incidents of terrorism. The film is composed of contributions from different fi ...

'', ''

La Bataille du Rail ''The Battle of the Rails'' (French: ''La Bataille du rail'') is a 1946 French war film directed by René Clément. It depicts the efforts by railway workers in the French Resistance to sabotage German military transport trains during the Second ...

'', ''

Germany, Pale Mother ''Germany, Pale Mother'' (german: Deutschland bleiche Mutter) is a 1980 West German drama film written and directed by Helma Sanders-Brahms. It was shown at the 30th Berlin International Film Festival in 1980, where it was nominated for a Golden B ...

'', '' Valerie and Her Week of Wonders'', ''

The Steamroller and the Violin ''The Steamroller and the Violin'' (russian: Каток и скрипка, Transliteration, translit. ''Katok i skripka''), is a 1960 featurette directed by Andrei Tarkovsky and from a screenplay written by Andrei Konchalovsky and Andrei Tarko ...

'', ''

Christ Stopped at Eboli ''Christ Stopped at Eboli'' ( it, Cristo si è fermato a Eboli) is a memoir by Carlo Levi, published in 1945, giving an account of his exile from 1935-1936 to Grassano and Aliano, remote towns in southern Italy, in the region of Lucania which is ...

'', '' Keep Walking'', ''

Love Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest Interpersonal relationship, interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of ...

'', '' The Joke'', ''

Three Wishes for Cinderella Three Wishes for Cinderella may refer to * ''Three Wishes for Cinderella'' (1973 film), Czechoslovak / East German film ** ''Three Wishes for Cinderella'' (2021 film), Norwegian remake {{disamb ...

'', '' Three Brothers'', ''

Total Balalaika Show ''Total Balalaika Show'' is a 1994 film by director Aki Kaurismäki featuring a concert by the Leningrad Cowboys and the Alexandrov Ensemble. The concert took place on 12 June 1993 on Senate Square in Helsinki, Finland. The event drew a crowd ...

'', ''

The House Is Black ''The House Is Black'' ( fa, خانه سیاه است) is an acclaimed Iranian documentary short film directed by Forugh Farrokhzad. The film is a look at life and suffering in a leper colony and focuses on the human condition and the beauty of ...

'', ''

The Fifth Horseman Is Fear ''The Fifth Horseman Is Fear'' ( cs, A pátý jezdec je strach) is a 1965 Czechoslovak film about the Holocaust that was directed by Zbyněk Brynych. Instead of depicting gas chambers and concentration camps, the film examines the subtler but equal ...

'', ''

Voyage in Time ''Voyage in Time'' ( it, Tempo di Viaggio) is a 63-minute feature documentary that documents the travels in Italy of the director Andrei Tarkovsky with the script writer Tonino Guerra in preparation for the making of his film ''Nostalghia''. In a ...

'', and ''

The Murder of Fred Hampton ''The Murder of Fred Hampton'' is a 1971 American documentary film about the short life and death of Fred Hampton, a young African-American civil rights activist in Chicago and leader of the Illinois Black Panther Party. During the film's product ...

''. Since the late 1980s, Facets has released over 800 films on VHS and DVD.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Film archives in the United Kingdom Film organizations in the United States Cinemas and movie theaters in Chicago Film distributors of the United States Arts organizations established in 1975 1975 establishments in Illinois