Attend an Admissions event
Upcoming Events
CTCS-466: Theatrical Film Symposium
This Fall 2026 semester, the School of Cinematic Arts will offer a very special course called CTCS-466: Theatrical Film Symposium, a four-unit elective class open for enrollment to ALL USC STUDENTS OF ANY MAJOR that brings you face-to-face with leading film directors, writers, producers, and actors working today. Throughout the semester, students will watch a wide selection of new film releases, followed by exclusive Q&As with the creative teams behind them.
DIRECTORS' COMMENTARY
When a heartbroken screenwriter seeks inspiration from his beloved DVD commentaries, he magically summons a trio of indie filmmakers into his life. Real or imagine, they direct him through a Hollywood fairy tale where he hopes to find everlasting love and success.
CEMA: Visiting Artist Series with Jordan Cronk
CEMA is excited to welcome acclaimed film critic, programmer, and founder of the Acropolis Cinema screening series, JORDAN CRONK, to USC on October 22 and 23, 2026 as part of CEMA's Visiting Artist Series.
The Iron Mountain Media & Archival Services Spotlight Screening Series Presents: SOUL PATROL
Soul Patrol uncovers a hidden chapter of American military history by focusing on the Vietnam War's first Black special ops team, an elite unit operating deep behind enemy lines. With unprecedented access to this once-secretive group of African-American veterans, director J.M. Harper reconstructs their journey with an immediacy rarely seen in Vietnam War storytelling, using raw Super 8 footage, photographs, and audio recordings from their personal archives. Opening on the war’s 50th anniversary, the surviving members reunite in a hotel that becomes a surreal liminal space, where memory, brotherhood, and unresolved trauma collide. As the men reflect on their experiences, the film interrogates the contradictions of fighting for freedom abroad while facing inequality at home.
Movies We Love Presents: AIR FORCE ONE (1997)
The President is held hostage on Air Force One by a crew of Russian terrorists. Using his strength and guile, the Commander-in-Chief must spring into action and fight off his attackers.
AGFA Movie Hooky Club IMAX Matinee Screening: VEERANA (1988)
If you only see one Bollywood horror film in your life, it should be VEERANA. The story follows Jasmin, a bloodsucking seductress who leads men to their doom after being possessed by the spirit of a witch. Unless Jasmin's family can find a way to break the curse, she'll be used in a Satanic ritual to raise the real witch from her tomb. A kaleidoscopic dream zone full of Bava-esque lightning, gloopy monsters, and a killer synth score, this is the most extravagant production from the Ramsay family—India's most popular and successful horror filmmakers. Never before available to screen in North America, VEERANA is newly restored and primed to delight your audience with Satanic fury.
HEATHENS
Five Americans arrive as strangers at a secluded retreat in the Blue Ridge Mountains — many without their families' knowledge — seeking respite from the guilt, shame, fear, and loneliness of hiding who they are. Each has quietly rejected the religion that raised them, now fearing the cost of honesty: family, security, livelihood. They are not alone. Over 80 million American adults hide their religious disbelief or exaggerate their faith. By the end of the weekend, the five non-believers resolve to reclaim their lives, forging a friendship that carries them through the storms awaiting them back home. In this warm, funny, and unexpectedly joyful story, they rebuild community, inspired by the gospel music of home, reclaiming the slur “heathen” as a proud new identity. For the first time in their lives, five Heathens discover who they truly are.
BREAKING THE CODE
Before the internet changed the world, a radical outsider changed the internet. Told through the lens of filmmaker Ben Rekhi, Breaking the Code is the gripping, deeply personal story of his father, Kanwal Rekhi—one of Silicon Valley’s most defiant and successful pioneers. As the first Indian to shatter the predominantly white glass ceiling of big tech, Kanwal rubbed shoulders with Bill Gates and Steve Jobs before sparking an entrepreneurial revolution that helped propel India into the global economic superpower it is today. Now, as his wife Ann faces a crisis, father and son must confront the true cost of success on a family, and what it truly means to belong.
INFIRMARY
Recovered bodycam footage reveals a security guard’s first night inside an abandoned hospital, where an intruder and a series of inexplicable disturbances turn a routine shift into a desperate fight for survival.
AMERICAN HISTORY X
Edward Norton delivers a searing performance as a former neo-Nazi skinhead whose life was almost destroyed by his own hatred--and who now struggles to prevent his younger brother from following in his footsteps. Seeking retribution for his father's murder and burning with rage, Derek Vinyard (Norton) becomes the charismatic leader of a local White Power movement. Despite his intelligence, Derek's incendiary actions culminate in a brutal murder and three years in prison. Now on parole, Derek returns home to find his brother, Danny (Edward Furlong), being seduced by the same anger, bigotry and violence that almost destroyed his life.
Awards-Qualified Short Film Showcase
Eight short films in consideration for Awards.
HUMPTY DUMPTY X
The story of Tony Kaye and American History X is Hollywood folklore: a fiercely original debut filmmaker, a studio battle over final cut and a director who famously asked for the credit "Humpty Dumpty" rather than compromise his vision. What few people knew was that Kaye kept a camera running throughout. Thirty years later, he has finally assembled that footage into Humpty Dumpty X, a documentary built from phone calls with executives, candid conversations with friends, and the rantings, paintings, photographs, and notebooks that filled his life during that singular period.
A Conversation with Bing Gordon: Video Game Visionary and Strategist
A conversation with Bing Gordon: Video Game Visionary and Strategist followed by Book Signing of Everybody Wins
The Actor's Director Workshop
There is that rare breed of Director that just “knows” how to get the best out of the actor -- giving them a sense of freedom, inspiring courage, and bringing clarity. The opportunity in collaborative storytelling is finding ways to bring out the best in each other. Discover the most important aspect of filmmaking and performance -- the communication between directors and actors.