Please refer to the official websites for events to ensure that you have the most up-to-date information about ticketing, reservations, delays, rescheduling, cancellations, and other guest policies for venues, including relevant COVID-19 requirements. Inclusion in the Philadelphia Monthly Cinema Arts Round-Up does not signify cinéSPEAK’s endorsement of an event or organization’s mission or political affiliations.
Along with the daylight, film programming in Philly is winding down for the year. But there’s still time to catch new films and celebrate the local film community before we take a collective pause for the December holidays. Highlights this month include a new Sam Pollard documentary about Archbishop Carl Bean screening for World AIDS Day, the free-to-attend New Italian Cinema Film Festival, and the opening reception for the exhibition Homeboyz in Innerspace.
And of course, join all of us at cinéSPEAK at Lights, Camera, Joy: A cinéSPEAK Celebration to gather one last time in 2025, in honor of all the beautiful community film work we’ve done together this year. Because, as they say, those who party together create imaginative anti-fascist worlds together!
Make sure to read the full December Monthly Cinema Arts Round-Up to plan your Philly film calendar.
Monday, December 1, 2025 at 7 PM
Special World AIDS Day Screening: I Was Born This Way
This 2025 documentary, directed by legends Sam Pollard and Daniel Junge, chronicles the trajectory of Archbishop Carl Bean, first as he released the 1977 disco hit and gay anthem “I Was Born This Way,” and later as he became an AIDS activist and founded the first LGBTQ+ church for people of color. This screening is programmed in recognition of World AIDS Day. You are invited to gather in community to honor this day and those you know who have been impacted by HIV/AIDS.
Cost: $3-$5
Scribe Video Center — 3908 Lancaster Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Thursday, December 4, 2025 at 6 PM
Lights, Camera, Joy: A cinéSPEAK Celebration
cinéSPEAK is inviting you to our end-of-year party to gather, celebrate, learn, and dream, while fundraising for community-centered cinema in Philly. The evening will include local DJs, mocktails and cocktails, light bites, short films (including the premiere of a newly commissioned short film from the brilliant Jess X. Snow!), and new merch. Welcome remarks and the short film program will start at 7 PM.
Cost: $20-$40
Forman Arts Initiative — 2210 North Philip Street, Philadelphia, PA 19133
Friday, December 5 – Sunday, December 7, 2025
Still Exhaling: A 30th Anniversary Celebration of Waiting to Exhale
To celebrate this iconic film’s 30th anniversary, BeReelBlack Cinema Club, Greedy in the City, and Twenty33 Creative are teaming up to present a full weekend of activities. On Friday, test your knowledge of the movie at a themed Quizzo Night at Strangelove’s. On Saturday, watch Waiting to Exhale in good company at the Philadelphia Film Society Center. Then finish the weekend with Communal Exhale: A Waiting to Exhale Soundtrack Yoga Experience.
Cost: $0-$30
Multiple Locations
Friday, December 5 – Sunday, December 7, 2025
3rd Robert Cargni New Italian Cinema Film Festival
Attend the 25th Annual New Italian Cinema Film Festival: a free film festival at the University of Pennsylvania, now named in honor of beloved Philly film community member Robert Cargni. From its origins, New Italian Cinema maintained its identity by exploring new filmmakers and, in particular, by showing works by women directors. Check out the full slate of feature films!
Cost: Free
Rainey Auditorium at Penn Museum — 3260 South Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Thursday, December 11, 2025 at 6 PM
Opening Reception: Homeboyz in Innerspace
Through personal and group narratives, Philadelphia-based film and media artists David Evan McDowell, Lendl Tellington, and Rashid Zakat offer a meditation on the universal yearning to make sense of our existence and purpose in this life, while questioning how institutional systems and prescriptive socialization shape the journey to consciousness. Their collective offerings explore the intricate intersections between spirituality, masculinity, and community. The exhibit will be on display through March, and opens with this public reception.
Cost: Free
TILT — 1400 North American Street, Suite #103, Philadelphia, PA 19122
Saturday, December 13, 2025 at 1 PM
Rousseau Film Series: Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
This series is presented with the Barnes’ exhibition Henri Rousseau: A Painter’s Secrets and curated by BlackStar founder Maori Karmael Holmes to highlight directors who were influenced by Rousseau and the surrealist artists he inspired. In Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s 2010 film, a man dying of kidney disease spends his last days with family, including the ghost of his wife and a forest spirit who used to be his son. The screening will be followed by a conversation with local artist Lendl Tellington.
Cost: $0-$15
The Barnes Foundation — 2025 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, PA 19130
Sunday, December 14, 2025 at 2 PM
Why We Dance, Where We Dance: Documentary History Project for Youth Screening
Why We Dance, Where We Dance is the theme explored in short documentaries created by nine student filmmakers in Scribe Video Center’s 2025 Documentary History Project for Youth (DHPY). DHPY is an annual after-school, weekend, and summertime digital media production workshop for middle and high school students. Each year, youth participants create short documentary films as a way to explore some aspect of the social, political, and cultural history of Philadelphia. This screening is premiering the 2025 short films created in this program.
Cost: Free
ICA — 118 South 36th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Wednesday, December 17, 2025 at 7 PM
I Belonged to the Blank Generation: Philly’s Punk/New Wave Scene on Screen
After a hugely successful screening earlier this year, Jay Schwartz (of Secret Cinema) returns to Lightbox with an encore edition of I Belonged to the Blank Generation: Philly’s Early Punk/New Wave Scene on Screen. In addition to rare videos, the event will also include a slide show featuring rare images and first-hand stories about how he came to shoot intimate, close-up still photography of a sweaty and loud underground music scene. This screening will coincide with an exhibition at SPACE Gallery.
Cost: $13.24-$15.28
Bok Auditorium — 800 Mifflin Street, Philadelphia, PA 19148
More Events:
Thursday, December 4, 2025 at 7 PM
How To Serve Man: A Rogue Screening of Genre Short Films by BIPOC Filmmakers
Cost: $15
The Dumpster Out Back (RSVP for Address)
Sunday, December 7, 2025 at 1 PM
Beyond the Razor Wire Fence: Stories of Transformation and Healing
Cost: Pay What You Can
Braid Mill — 441 High Street, Philadelphia, PA 19144
Tuesday, December 9, 2025 at 8 PM
Heavy Cycle Cinema Presents: The Black Tavern
Cost: $10
Launderette Records — 3142 Richmond Street, Philadelphia, PA 19134
Wednesday, December 10, 2025 at 3 PM
Cost: Free
Perelman Building at the PMA — 2525 Pennsylvania Avenue, Philadelphia, PA, 19130
Friday, December 12, 2025 at 7 PM
Scribe Video Center Storyville: Searching for the Songs of Wanaragua
Cost: $3-$5
Scribe Video Center — 3908 Lancaster Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Saturday, December 13, 2025 at 12 PM
East Kensington Arts Committee Presents: Haunted Christmas
Cost: Free
Philadelphia Brewing Company — 2440 Frankford Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19125
Saturday, December 13, 2025 at 7 PM
Cost: $11.50-$15.50
Philadelphia Film Society Center — 1412 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102
*Featured Image: Still from La vita da grandi. Courtesy of New Italian Cinema Events.
Sophia Abraham-Raveson is the Managing Editor for the cinéSPEAK Journal. In addition to working at cinéSPEAK, Sophia is a licensed social worker in Pennsylvania, a volunteer with the restorative justice group Let’s Circle Up, and a musician and songwriter in her band Charm School Looks.
