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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.
PORTAL TO HELL
Dunn, a debt collector working on the fringes of legality, finds his routine disrupted when a portal to hell opens inside a neighborhood laundromat. A demon informs him that his elderly neighbor is bound for eternal punishment and offers a deal: deliver three souls in exchange for the man’s release.Reluctant at first, Dunn resists the arrangement, but events begin to draw him into the agreement. As he navigates encounters tied to the pact, the situation places him deeper within its consequences, where each step brings him closer to fulfilling the terms.
DIGGER
Academy Award-winning filmmaker Alejandro G. Iñárritu returns with his original film DIGGER, starring Tom Cruise in the title role. The most powerful man in the world embarks on a frantic mission to prove he is humanity’s savior before the disaster he’s unleashed destroys everything.
OLDBOY (2003)
Oh Dae-su is mysteriously abducted and imprisoned in a private room for 15 years without explanation. Upon his sudden release, he begins a desperate search for the person responsible and the reason behind his confinement. As he follows a trail of clues, he encounters Lee Woo-jin, a mysterious figure who holds the key to a devastating secret from his past.
THE LOVE HYPOTHESIS
Based on the New York Times best-selling novel by Ali Hazelwood, The Love Hypothesis follows Olive (Lili Reinhart), a brilliant Ph.D. candidate focused on her future in academia. But when she realizes her best friend Anh (Rachel Marsh) has fallen for her crush Jeremy (Nicholas Duvernay), Olive impulsively kisses intimidating professor Adam Carlsen (Tom Bateman) to prove she’s moved on. What begins as a desperate act of friendship spirals into a fake relationship with rules, boundaries, and a mutually beneficial agreement. When their arrangement begins to blur the lines between performance and reality, Olive is forced to test her most daunting hypothesis yet: that love might actually be worth the risk.
NIGHT OF THE VAMP-FRIARS
Vinegar Syndrome Pictures is proud to present our first wholly produced feature film, NIGHT OF THE VAMP-FRIARS, directed by Kurtis M. Spieler (Re-Director of New York Ninja). A group of friends in a punk rock band discover a hidden cemetery in the woods, where they accidentally raise a horde of undead friars. Shot entirely on 16mm film, NIGHT OF THE VAMP-FRIARS is a loving tribute to the homegrown horror films made during the height of the video store era.
CHARLIE HARPER
At an engagement party for mutual friends, Charlie and Harper seemingly meet for the first time, but when a specific song sparks old memories, their complex history is revealed. Through flashbacks from both perspectives, their story unfolds: from what brought them together to where they are today. Retracing the highs and the lows, the depth of their bond comes into clearer focus as they navigate their diverging aspirations for the future. Through the evolving relationship of Charlie and Harper, the film explores the tension between love, ambition, identity, and personal growth, and examines what happens when two people deeply connected to one another grow in different directions, forcing them to confront whether love alone is enough or if time may be something they cannot overcome.
ATONEMENT
Displaced from their home by U.S. military action during the early days of the Iraq War, the Khachaturian family finds refuge with relatives, gathering their three generations together under one roof. But when another bombing erupts nearby, they decide to return to their home across the city. As they navigate the war-torn streets of Baghdad, the family is trapped in a firefight between U.S. Marines and insurgents, and one Marine’s split-second decision devastates the family. Years later, haunted by his time in Iraq and aided by a New Yorker journalist, the Marine seeks to reconcile with the Khachaturian matriarch and her surviving family members. Anchored by moving, unforgettable performances from Boyd Holbrook, Hiam Abbass, and Kenneth Branagh, Atonement is a powerfully human story about the immeasurable costs of war, exploring universal questions about guilt, redemption, and the nature of forgiveness.
34th Street Sessions: Diane Negra in conversation with Tara McPherson
Diane Negra, Professor of Film Studies and Screen Culture at University College Dublin, will be in conversation with SCA Professor Tara McPherson about her new book, I'm Sorry You Feel that Way: The New Cultures of Customer Service.
Save the Date: 581/582/587 Advanced Projects Screening – September 25th @ 6PM
You are cordially invited to the 581, 582 & 587 Screening!
The Exhibition Ecosystem: A New Symposium Series focusing on the Business of Theatrical Film Exhibition
The future of the Cinematic Arts has as much to do with the health of our theatrical exhibition industry as it does with the now and future challenges facing production and distribution. In a new symposium focused on both the bird's eye view and the granular business operations of the exhibition ecosystem, the USC School of Cinematic Arts will better prepare the next generation of theater owners, bookers, and managers to lead the industry forward.
AGFA Movie Hooky Club IMAX Matinee Screening: WAKE IN FRIGHT (1971)
Brand-new restoration! Alongside MAD MAX and WALKABOUT, WAKE IN FRIGHT is one of the most seminal of Aussie films. Directed by Ted Kotcheff (FIRST BLOOD) and co-starring an unforgettable (and unforgettably trashed) Donald Pleasence, WAKE IN FRIGHT is the nightmarish story of a schoolteacher’s descent into personal demoralization at the hands of drunken, deranged derelicts while stranded in a small Outback town. This is one of the ultimate lost-weekend film hangovers, and won't soon leave your memory.
In Conversation with Mark Cerny
In Conversation with Mark Cerny
EVERYBODY TO KENMURE STREET
In May 2021, a UK Home Office dawn raid triggers one of the most spontaneous and successful acts of civil resistance in recent memory. In Pollokshields, Scotland's most diverse neighborhood, hundreds of residents rush to the streets to stop the deportation of their neighbors.
COOKIE QUEENS
A celebration of girlhood and the complexities that come with it, Cookie Queens is a coming-of-age story about the joys, pressures, and tensions woven into one of America’s most cherished rituals: Girl Scout Cookie season.
ABOUT A HERO
When a local factory worker named Dorem Clery dies under mysterious circumstances, our narrator, Werner Herzog, travels to Getunkirchenburg to investigate his perplexing death. But Herzog is not who he seems, and the film is not what we expect... ABOUT A HERO is an adaptation of a script written by an AI trained on Werner Herzog's body of work, with Herzog's permission. The result is a fictional narrative that is ironically self-reflective, interlaced with a collection of interviews with artists, philosophers and scientists reflecting on the notion of originality, authenticity, immortality and soul in the age of AI.
AGFA Movie Hooky Club IMAX Matinee Screening: MUERTE EN LA PLAYA (1991)
David, the disturbed son of a wealthy businesswoman, returns to his sunny beachside home to try to get over the sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of his boarding school teacher. As he tries to overcome his homosexual urges, David begins murdering all those around him who he sees as being responsible for his trauma. Never available theatrically for English language audiences, MUERTE EN LA PLAYA is a sleazy homoerotic serial killer thriller with a Telenovela twist from one of Mexico's most unheralded genre filmmakers.
FREE LEONARD PELTIER
Leonard Peltier, one of the surviving leaders of the American Indian Movement, has been in prison for 50 years following a contentious conviction for the murder of two FBI agents. After global outrage and continued failed appeals, a new generation of Native activists arrives to revive calls for his freedom. This time, things are different.
WE'RE NOTHING AT ALL
On Valentine’s Day, a double-decker bus explodes in a fiery blast, killing many and leaving charred remains, with evidence pointing to a deliberate act by two passengers, Fai and Ike, a gay couple from troubled backgrounds living on society’s margins. As retired forensic expert Lung Sir investigates, he uncovers their tragic story of abuse, homophobia, and despair, culminating in their decision to end their lives in a suicidal protest against an unjust world, leaving behind a haunting message: “On a beautiful day, we end our unbeautiful lives.”
FJORD
From two?-?time Palme d’Or winner Cristian Mungiu, a Norwegian woman and her devout Romanian husband relocate with their five children to a remote, close?-?knit, coastal town. Their teenage children form a fast bond with a neighboring family as unease begins to simmer around their rigid beliefs. When allegations of abuse emerge, they are forced to confront a system of judgment that blurs the line between concern and prejudice.
2027 Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Science Seminar: FOREVER YOUNG? Longevity and You
The goal of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Film School program is to influence and encourage the next generation of filmmakers to create more realistic and dramatic stories about science and technology, and to challenge existing stereotypes about scientists and engineers through visual media storytelling.