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.
This May in Philly, the community film scene feels especially unstoppable. Several film festivals start this month, including cinéSPEAK Under the Stars, Philadelphia Latino Arts and Film Festival, and the one-day-only Tri-Co Film Festival. In addition to Under the Stars, you can catch movies outside at Cinema in the Cemetery: Night of the Living Dead, Reel Nomadic’s Penn Treaty Pictures Presents: M, and (if you live across the river or love PATCO) Scribe Street Movies! Undercover with Camden FireWorks.
Another exciting event this month is the Scribe work-in-progress screening of Barrio Television by Christina DiPasquale, who the cinéSPEAK Journal featured in a Philly Profile last year! If you read the profile and want to see the film and talk to Christina about it, this is your chance.
Make sure to read the full round-up to plan your May movie calendar!
Wednesday, May 6, 2026 at 6:30 PM
Tri-Co Film Festival
This free event is a great opportunity to check out innovative short films made by local students at Haverford, Bryn Mawr, and Swarthmore colleges. This year’s festival team features some of our friends at cinéSPEAK! The festival director is Kristal Sotomayor, and the curators are Sarah Mueller (cinéSPEAK Executive Director) and Gabe Castro (cinéSPEAK Journal writer and former fellow).
Cost: Free
Bryn Mawr Film Institute — 824 West Lancaster Avenue, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010
Friday, May 8, 2026 at 7 PM
Scribe Video Center Presents: Video Art and Grassroots Media by Bill Stephens
Check out this special screening of works by Bill Stephens, who founded the People’s Communication Network: a community video group that produced videos for public access. Congo Oyé documents the Black Panther Party’s international work in Congo, and Queen Mother Moore Speech at Greenhaven Prison documents a community day organized by people incarcerated at Greenhaven, a federal prison in Connecticut. This program was curated by Kazembe Balagun, Executive Director of Harlem’s Maysles Documentary Center.
Cost: $3-$5
Scribe Video Center — 3908 Lancaster Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Monday, May 11, 2026 at 6 PM
cinéSPEAK x Two Locals Movie Mondays: Sorry to Bother You
Movie Mondays is a monthly gathering every second Monday celebrating innovative Black filmmakers. In May, celebrate workers and labor organizing with Boots Riley’s 2018 indie hit Sorry to Bother You. Be sure to keep an eye on his next highly anticipated feature, I Love Boosters, which hits theaters on May 22! Enjoy happy hour 5-7 PM and a conversation with Philly Black Worker Project at 6 PM before the film. BYO dinner and enjoy free movie theater style popcorn.
Cost: Free (Donations Encouraged)
Two Locals Brewing Company — 3675 Market Street, Suite 100, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Friday, May 15, 2026 at 7 PM
Scribe Storyville: Barrio Television by Christina DiPasquale
Attend this special work-in-progress screening of Barrio Television, which uncovers the story of Puerto Rican activists who produced the first bilingual Latino television series to air nationwide called Realidades. The creators trained media makers in Philadelphia, organized a media coalition, and sparked a fight for media power that continues to this day. Christina DiPasquale is a Colombian-American storyteller based in Philadelphia dedicated to advancing participatory media practices rooted in collective memory and movement-building.
Cost: $3-$5
Scribe Video Center — 3908 Lancaster Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Saturday, May 16, 2026 at 6 PM
PFS x Be Reel Black Cinema Club Present: Get on the Bus
Presented with Be Reel Black Cinema Club, Spike Lee’s panoramic 1996 portrait of Black American manhood follows multiple generations of men from different walks of life as they board a cross-country bus to Washington, D.C. for the Million Man March. Since 2017, Be Reel Black Cinema Club has been disrupting the myth that Black cinema is rare and inaccessible one monthly meetup at a time.
Cost: $11.50-$15.40
Philadelphia Film Society Center — 1412 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102
Thursday, May 21, 2026 at 7:30 PM
Music Video Showcase VI
This showcase celebrates the local talent that makes Philadelphia’s music and creative scene thrive. The unique event brings together musicians, filmmakers, and visual artists to showcase the best music videos crafted right here in our city. Whether you’re a music lover, filmmaker, or supporter of the local arts community, this is your chance to see Philly’s brightest stars on the big screen.
Cost: $5
Bok Auditorium — 800 Mifflin Street, Philadelphia, PA 19148
Wednesday, May 27, 2026 at 7 PM
Lightbox Presents: No Picnic
Philip Hartman’s No Picnic (1986) is a priceless artifact of New York’s pre-gentrification East Village, with appearances by Steve Buscemi, Richard Hell, Luis Guzmán, and other fixtures of the downtown arts scenes. The neo-noir comedy follows down-and-out jukebox operator Macabee Cohn, played with deadpan melancholy by David Brisbin, who wanders the cheap tenements, dive bars, and derelict streets of the Lower East Side in search of a mysterious woman in a striped dress. Stay for a post-screening conversation with Philip Hartman.
Cost: $13.24-$15.28
Bok Auditorium — 800 Mifflin Street, Philadelphia, PA 19148
Friday, May 29, 2026 at 7 PM
cinéSPEAK Under the Stars Week 1: Everybody to Kenmure Street
Opening night of the 2026 Under the Stars festival will feature the Pennsylvania premieres of the Sundance Award-winning Everybody to Kenmure Street and Barriga Llena, Corazón Contento (Full Belly, Happy Heart). Come to the park starting at 7 PM for a community gathering with live music from Mariposas Galácticas and DJ Ripley, advocacy partner tabling, and food trucks. The film program will begin at 9 PM when the sun goes down. BYO picnic, blankets, and chairs.
Cost: Free
Clark Park — Kingsessing Street between 43rd Street and 45th Street
More Events
Friday, May 1, 2026 at 7 PM
Cinema in the Cemetery: Night of the Living Dead
Cost: $2-$25
Laurel Hill East — 3822 Ridge Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19132
Saturday, May 2, 2026 at 1 PM
Bryn Mawr Film Institute Presents: Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam
Cost: $11.75-$16.25
Bryn Mawr Film Institute — 824 West Lancaster Avenue, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010
Sunday, May 3, 2026 at 6 PM
K-HOLE: An Evening of Film, Poetry, and Music
Vox Populi — 319 North 11th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107
Cost: $10-15 sliding scale
Monday, May 4 – Tuesday, May 19, 2026
PJFM Mondays and Tuesdays: Docs & Dialogues
Cost: $10-$20
The Weitzman — 101 South Independence Mall East, Philadelphia, PA 19106
Wednesday, May 6, 2026 at 7 PM
Space Melt Cinema x Lightbox Film Center Present: Bubble Bath
Cost: $13.24-$15.28
Bok Auditorium — 800 Mifflin Street, Philadelphia, PA 19148
Saturday, May 9, 2026 at 1 PM
Barnes Cinema: Time by Garrett Bradley
Cost: $0-$15
The Barnes Foundation — 2025 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, PA 19130
Saturday, May 9, 2026 at 7 PM
Reel Nomadic’s Penn Treaty Pictures Presents: M
Cost: Free
Penn Treaty Park — 1301 North Beach Street, Philadelphia, PA 19125
Thursday, May 14, 2026 at 7 PM
Bright Bulb Screening Series Presents: 80s Teen Double Feature
Cost: Free
The Rotunda — 4014 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Friday, May 15, 2026 at 4 PM
Cost: Free
WHYY — 150 North 6th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106
Wednesday, May 20, 2026 at 7 PM
Lightbox Presents: Every Contact Leaves a Trace
Cost: $13.24-$15.28
Bok Auditorium — 800 Mifflin Street, Philadelphia, PA 19148
Thursday, May 21, 2026 at 6:30 PM
Scribe Street Movies! Undercover with Camden FireWorks
Cost: Free
Camden FireWorks — 1813 Broadway, Camden, NJ 08104
May 24 – July 5, 2026
Philadelphia Latino Arts and Film Festival
Cost: TBA
Multiple Locations
Tuesday, May 26, 2026 at X PM
PAAFF Presents Reel Vision: Beyond the Frame
Cost: TBA
The Fitler Club — 24 South 24th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103
Thursday, May 28, 2026 at 7 PM
Cold War In Philly: Flyers vs Russia 1976
Cost: $21.50
Philadelphia Film Society Center — 1412 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102
Friday, May 29, 2026 at 7 PM
Scribe Producers’ Forum: The Sight Unseen by Shawn Antoine II
Cost: $4-$8
Scribe Video Center — 3908 Lancaster Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Saturday, May 30, 2026
Cost: TBA
Penn Museum — 3260 South Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Saturday, May 30, 2026 at 7 PM
PFS x WHYY x Action Wellness Present: GayBINGO
Cost: $11.50-$15.40
Philadelphia Film Society Center — 1412 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102
*Featured Image: Image of an interview with Diego de la Texera as part of production for Barrio Television. Photo credit: Kristofer Ríos.
Sophia Abraham-Raveson is the Director of 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.
