Attend an SCA Information Session
Upcoming Events
In-Person SCA Graduate Information Session
July 1, 2025 - December 24, 2025, Varies
SCA Courtyard and Online
Join the SCA Admissions staff for an in-person or an online information session to learn more about applying to the SCA graduate programs for the Fall 2025 semester. Topics will include an overview of the school, programs and facilities, financial aid, Q&A with staff and more!
Awards-Qualified International Short Film Showcase
November 17, 2025, 3:00 P.M.
The Ray Stark Family Theatre, SCA 108, George Lucas Building, USC School of Cinematic Arts Complex, 900 W. 34th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90007
Four short international films in consideration for Awards, featuring: PERFECTLY A STRANGENESS (Canada, Chile), PANTYHOSE (Finland), DON'T LEAVE HOME! (Georgia), and MAJONEZË (Italy)
THE THINGS YOU KILL
November 17, 2025, 7:00 P.M.
The Ray Stark Family Theatre, SCA 108, George Lucas Building, USC School of Cinematic Arts Complex, 900 W. 34th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90007
Questioning the suspicious death of his mother, a university professor and his enigmatic gardener descend into a hypnotic maze of mirrors and memories. As family secrets surface and painful truths emerge, they spiral toward a devastating reckoning with the darkness lurking within us all.
PALESTINE 36
November 18, 2025, 3:00 P.M.
The Michelle and Kevin Douglas IMAX Theatre, RZC 119, Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts, 3131 S. Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, CA 90007
In 1936, as the British Empire tightens its grip on Palestine, Yusuf is caught between his village home and his work in Jerusalem. Amidst an anti-colonial revolt, and Jewish refugees fleeing persecution from Europe, all sides converge in a decisive moment for the entire region. Palestine's Official Selection for the 98th Academy Awards.
Attend the Los Angeles Premiere of HAMNET
November 18, 2025, 7:00 P.M.
Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, 6067 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036
From Academy Award® winning writer/director Chloé Zhao, Hamnet tells the powerful story of love and loss that inspired the creation of Shakespeare’s timeless masterpiece, Hamlet.
PLAYDATE
November 18, 2025, 7:00 P.M.
Norris Cinema Theatre at the Frank Sinatra Hall, 3507 Trousdale Parkway, Los Angeles, CA 90007
When recently unemployed accountant Brian (Kevin James) agrees to a playdate with charismatic stay-at-home dad Jeff (Alan Ritchson) and their sons, he expects an easy afternoon of small talk and football tossing. Instead, he's thrust into a chaotic scramble to stay alive as they are pursued by a ruthless team of mercenaries. Brian stumbles through one ridiculous obstacle after another, his zero tactical skills a stark contrast to Jeff's oddly prepared demeanor. Director Luke Greenfield (Let's Be Cops, The Girl Next Door) hilariously collides suburban dad life with high-stakes thrills, transforming an ordinary afternoon into an absurd action-packed adventure where minivan mayhem meets professional hitmen.
SCA Community Check-In
November 19, 2025, 2-3:30 PM
SCI 106
The SCA Community Impact Council invites you to our Community Check-In on Wednesday, November 19, from 2:00 to 3:30 PM. This is an open space to share your thoughts about life at SCA. We want to hear from you about how we make SCA a more welcoming and supportive community and what helps you feel a sense of belonging here. You can share during the meeting or email us at impact@cinema.usc.edu if you would like to send feedback privately.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Where We Goin’? Power of Place: A Multimedia Experience
November 19, 2025, 7:00 P.M.
The Ray Stark Family Theatre, SCA 108, George Lucas Building, USC School of Cinematic Arts Complex, 900 W. 34th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90007
Two short films celebrating excellence, belonging, and Black brilliance.
MANAS
November 19, 2025, 3:00 P.M.
The Ray Stark Family Theatre, SCA 108, George Lucas Building, USC School of Cinematic Arts Complex, 900 W. 34th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90007
In the depths of the Amazon rainforest, 13-year-old Tielle grows up with dreams inspired by her older sister's escape. As she matures, the illusions she clings to begin to crumble, revealing a world of deep-rooted exploitation and abuse. Determined to protect her younger sister and reshape their future, she dares to challenge the forces that bind the women in her community, in a poignant exploration of resilience and resistance.
FREQUENCY OF HOPE
November 20, 2025, 7:00 P.M.
The Ray Stark Family Theatre, SCA 108, George Lucas Building, USC School of Cinematic Arts Complex, 900 W. 34th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90007
In Alaska’s rugged Mat-Su Valley, Erin Moore is a recovering addict and mother who lost her children, her voice, and nearly her life to addiction. Now she runs a beat-up rock-and-roll radio station, using the airwaves to speak honestly about recovery and second chances. As the station becomes a lifeline for others, Erin prepares for a different kind of stage — the Mrs. Alaska pageant — in a deeply personal attempt to reconnect with the family she lost. Frequency of Hope is a raw and redemptive portrait of a woman turning guilt into grace, shame into signal, and finding her way back home.
LA BOHÈME
November 23, 2025, 12:00 P.M.
Norris Cinema Theatre at the Frank Sinatra Hall, 3507 Trousdale Parkway, Los Angeles, CA 90007
With its enchanting setting and spellbinding score, the world’s most popular opera is as timeless as it is heartbreaking. Franco Zeffirelli’s picture-perfect production brings 19th-century Paris to the Met stage as Puccini’s young friends and lovers navigate the joy and struggle of bohemian life. Sopranos Juliana Grigoryan, Angel Blue, and Aleksandra Kurzak trade off as the feeble seamstress Mimì, opposite tenors Freddie De Tommaso, Stephen Costello, Adam Smith, and Long Long as the ardent poet Rodolfo.
THE SECRET AGENT
November 24, 2025, 7:00 P.M.
Norris Cinema Theatre at the Frank Sinatra Hall, 3507 Trousdale Parkway, Los Angeles, CA 90007
Brazil, 1977. Marcelo (Wagner Moura), a technology expert in his early 40s, is on the run. Hoping to reunite with his son, he travels to Recife during Carnival but soon realizes that the city is not the safe haven he was expecting.
LA GRAZIA
December 1, 2025, 7:00 P.M.
Norris Cinema Theatre at the Frank Sinatra Hall, 3507 Trousdale Parkway, Los Angeles, CA 90007
Mariano De Santis is the President of the Italian Republic. No connection to any real-life presidents; he is entirely a product of the author's imagination. A widower and a Catholic, he has a daughter, Dorotea, a legal scholar like himself. As his term draws to a close, amid uneventful days, two final duties arise: deciding on two delicate petitions for a presidential pardon. True moral dilemmas, which become tangled in ways that seem impossible to unravel, with his private life. Driven by doubt, he will have to decide. And, with a deep sense of responsibility, that is exactly what this remarkable Italian President will do.
DUST BUNNY
December 1, 2025, 2:00 P.M.
The Ray Stark Family Theatre, SCA 108, George Lucas Building, USC School of Cinematic Arts Complex, 900 W. 34th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90007
Ten-year-old Aurora has a mysterious neighbor (Mads Mikkelsen) who kills real-life monsters. He’s a hit man for hire. So, when Aurora needs help killing the monster she believes ate her entire family, she procures his services. Suspecting that her parents may have fallen victim to assassins gunning for him, Aurora’s neighbor guiltily takes the job. Now, to protect her, he’ll need to battle an onslaught of assassins - and accept that some monsters are real.
STRANGER EYES
December 2, 2025, 3:00 P.M.
The Michelle and Kevin Douglas IMAX Theatre, RZC 119, Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts, 3131 S. Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, CA 90007
After the mysterious disappearance of their baby daughter, a young couple receives strange videos and realizes someone has been filming their daily life — even their most intimate moments. The police sets up surveillance around their home to catch the voyeur, but the family starts to crumble as secrets unravel under the scrutiny of eyes watching them from all sides.
CHAMPIONS OF THE GOLDEN VALLEY
December 2, 2025, 7:00 P.M.
The Michelle and Kevin Douglas IMAX Theatre, RZC 119, Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts, 3131 S. Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, CA 90007
After narrowly missing his chance to become Afghanistan's first Olympic skier, Alishah Farhang returns to the remote mountains of his homeland to inspire a vibrant new ski culture. Bringing together young athletes from rival villages with makeshift wooden skis and secondhand gear, he organizes a ski race like no other, uniting his community in a moment of joy, hope and triumph. When their world is suddenly upended, he and the athletes must call upon those lessons learned on the slopes to find their way forward.
MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG
December 3, 2025, 3:00 P.M.
The Ray Stark Family Theatre, SCA 108, George Lucas Building, USC School of Cinematic Arts Complex, 900 W. 34th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90007
Spanning three decades, Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s Merrily We Roll Along charts the turbulent relationship between composer Franklin Shepard and his two lifelong friends — writer Mary and lyricist & playwright Charley. Originally produced on Broadway in 1981, then becoming an inventive cult-classic ahead of its time, Merrily We Roll Along features some of Stephen Sondheim’s most celebrated and personal songs.
THE TALE OF SILYAN
December 3, 2025, 7:00 P.M.
The Ray Stark Family Theatre, SCA 108, George Lucas Building, USC School of Cinematic Arts Complex, 900 W. 34th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90007
From the Oscar-nominated director of HONEYLAND comes a poignant and visually arresting story set in the heart of rural Macedonia. Nikola, a farmer grappling with the harsh realities of new government policies, finds himself unable to sell his land or crops. When his family leaves in search of a better life abroad, Nikola takes a job as a landfill attendant, where he encounters the injured white stork Silyan. As he nurses the bird back to health, an unlikely bond forms between man and animal. The result is a deeply moving film that touches on climate change, economic migration, resilience and the quiet power of connection.
MAGELLAN
December 4, 2025, 2:00 P.M.
The Michelle and Kevin Douglas IMAX Theatre, RZC 119, Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts, 3131 S. Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, CA 90007
At the dawn of the modern era, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan navigated a fleet of ships to Southeast Asia, attempting the first voyage across the vast Pacific Ocean. On reaching the Malay Archipelago, the crew pushed to the brink of madness in the harshness of the high seas and overwhelming natural beauty of the islands, Magellan's obsession leads to a rebellion and reckoning with the consequences of power. A vast, globe-spanning epic from Filipino filmmaker Lav Diaz (Norte, the End of History), MAGELLAN presents the colonization of the Philippines as a primal, shocking encounter with the unknown and a radical retelling of European narratives of discovery and exploration.
The Actor's Director Workshop
December 6, 2025, 11:00 A.M. - 7:00 P.M.
The Michelle and Kevin Douglas IMAX Theatre, RZC 119, Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts, 3131 S. Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, CA 90007
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.