Please refer to the official websites for events to ensure that you have the most up-to-date information about ticketing, cancellations, and COVID-19 policies. Inclusion in the Philadelphia Monthly Cinema Arts Round-Up does not signify cinéSPEAK’s endorsement of an organization’s mission or political affiliations.
October in Philly is for spooky season, playoff baseball, and dreaming up more liberating futures! The citywide project Collective Futures is presenting arts and culture events all month long in collaboration with our DIY community ecosystem; People’s Media Camp is convening grassroots media workers to build skills and knowledge to support marginalized people telling their own stories; and the next cinéKIDZ event in partnership with YES! is supporting our youth learning about changing bodies and relationships in a shame free empowered way. The Philadelphia independent film scene is a special place, and our future is looking bright this month.
Make sure to read the full round-up to plan your October film calendar.
Friday, October 2 – Sunday, November 15, 2026
Collective Futures
Collective Futures is a citywide project activating Philadelphia’s network of artist-run spaces, DIY venues, and community-based initiatives. As part of Collective Futures, cinéSPEAK is uplifting the American worker and the role of artists as workers supporting labor movements. Events include a work-in-progress screening of American Worker: The Labor to Belong on October 15, a panel at the Parallel Play Symposium called What Power Does an Image Hold? on October 24, and a People’s Cinema Club screening of Who Moves America on October 27.
Cost: Prices vary
Multiple Locations
Friday, October 2, 2026 at 7 PM
The Film Club with Christian Nyampeta
Christian Nyampeta convenes The Film Club as an extension of a tradition rooted in Pan-African histories of informal spaces for popular education, film clubs, study circles, and cultural gatherings dedicated to making, developing, and sharing knowledge. Accompanying the production of a new film, The Film Club is organized in collaboration with institutions in Philadelphia, New York, Kigali, and Shanghai, and as part of Nyampeta’s contribution to ICA Philadelphia’s upcoming exhibition, The Condition of Being Near.
Cost: Free
Asian Arts Initiative — 1219 Vine Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107
Saturday, October 3 and Sunday, October 4, 2026
People’s Media Camp
People’s Media Camp is a space where people across Greater Philadelphia connect around community media, archiving, preservation, storytelling, and memory work. This year’s theme–Push Back! Push Forward!–invites everyone to think about how we can push back against the forces that erase our histories and push forward toward a future where marginalized communities have the freedom to tell their own stories on their own terms. Screenings include a shorts program and The Bombing of Osage Avenue, among many other programs.
Cost: Free
Multiple Locations
Saturday, October 3, 2026 at 12:45 PM
Be Reel Micheaux Presents: Beloved
Watch this 1998 adaptation of a classic Toni Morrison novel on 35mm with a talkback with Vincent Williams and Len Webb of The Micheaux Mission podcast and Stephanye Watts of the Be Reel Black Cinema Club. In Beloved, old secrets surface when formerly enslaved Sethe is visited by a mysterious woman who may be the spirit of her deceased daughter. This supernatural drama from Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs) is the only screen adaptation ever authorized by Nobel Prize-winner Toni Morrison.
Cost: $11.75-$16.25
Bryn Mawr Film Institute — 824 West Lancaster Avenue, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010
Sunday, October 11, 2026 at 2 PM
Diamond Screen Presents: Temple Film and Media Arts MFA Showcase
Experience bold, original stories from Temple’s talented graduate-level filmmakers. The Film and Media Arts MFA program continues to be a home for innovative artists and unique storytellers whose work has earned national recognition, including the Princess Grace Award, Sundance fellowships, and Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film list. This annual event commonly features a selection of narrative, documentary, experimental, and transmedia works.
Cost: Free
Temple University Student Center — 1755 North 13th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19122
Wednesday, October 14, 2026 at 7 PM
Lightbox Presents: My Brother’s Wedding (New Restoration)
In 1983, Charles Burnett sent his rough cut of My Brother’s Wedding to his producers. Ignoring his request to finish editing the film, they rushed it to a festival screening where it received a mixed review from the New York Times. With distributors scared off, My Brother’s Wedding was never released. Now, following a restoration by the Pacific Film Archive and a digital re-edit by the director, the film is an eye-opening revelation about a young man in South Central LA, his just-out-of-jail friend, and his brother marrying a Black woman of a different class.
Cost: $13.24-$15.28
Bok Auditorium — 800 Mifflin Street, Philadelphia, PA 19148
Thursday, October 15 – Sunday, October 25, 2026
35th Philadelphia Film Festival
From highly anticipated award contenders to bold independent voices and international standouts, the world will meet in Philadelphia this October. You can look forward to World, US, and Philadelphia premieres; filmmaker Q&As and special guest appearances; red carpet events; community programs, parties, meetups; and “Film Festaurant Week” featuring local restaurant partners. Stay tuned for the full schedule.
Cost: Ticket and Badge Prices Vary
Multiple Philadelphia Film Society Locations
Saturday, October 17, 2026 at 12 PM
cinéKIDZ Presents: Turning Red—in partnership with YES!
cinéKIDZ is cinéSPEAK’s new youth program for children ages 3 to 10 and their caregivers. YES! (Your Empowered Sexuality) is this month’s guest curator and program facilitator. YES! provides intersectional, consent-based, shame-free sexuality education to all people using interactive workshops and social media. At this event, kids will explore themes of changing bodies, embarrassment, friendship, and self-love through the film screening, a story read aloud, and facilitated activities.
Cost: Free
Kingsessing Library — 1201 South 51st Street, Philadelphia, PA 19143
Wednesday, October 21, 2026 at 7 PM
cinéSPEAK x Dusky Projects Present: Blood Quantum
cinéSPEAK is partnering with Dusky Projects to celebrate National Native American Heritage Month with a special presentation of Jeff Barnaby’s 2019 Indigenous genre film Blood Quantum. After the film, stay for a conversation hosted by Wi-Moto Nyoka of Dusky Projects. In Blood Quantum, the dead are coming back to life outside the isolated Mi’kmaq reserve of Red Crow, except for its Indigenous inhabitants who are strangely immune to the zombie plague.
Cost: Free
The Rotunda — 4014 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104
More Events
Thursday, October 1, 2026 at 6 PM
Bryn Mawr: A Centennial Soiree
Cost: $300-$450
Bryn Mawr Film Institute — 824 West Lancaster Avenue, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010
Sunday, October 4, 2026 at 1 PM
Mural Arts x Soul Fly Club Present: Sun Ra Arkestra Mural Tour and Film Screening
Cost: $35
Multiple Locations in Germantown
Sunday, October 4, 2026 at 7:30 PM
Wildwood, NJ (1994) with Filmmaker Ruth Leitman
Cost: $14.52
PhilaMOCA — 531 North 12th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19123
Sunday, October 4, 2026 at 7:30 PM
South Philly Autonomous Cinema Presents: Orlando
Cost: $10
Val’s Lesbian Bar — 605 South 3rd Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147
Thursday, October 8, 2026 at 6 PM
TILT In Conversation: Daniel Tucker with Local Artists
Cost: Free
TILT — 1400 North American Street, Suite #103, Philadelphia, PA 19122
Thursday, October 8, 2026 at 7:30 PM
Jennifer’s Body: Watch Party and Drag Show
Cost: $12.65
Franky Bradley’s — 1320 Chancellor Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107
Friday, October 9, 2026 at 5:30 PM
Opening Reception: Michelle Angela Ortiz
Cost: Free
The Galleries at Moore College of Art & Design — 1916 Race Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103
Saturday, October 10, 2026 at 1 PM
Barnes Cinema: Tiguex by Raven Chacon
Cost: $0-$15
The Barnes Foundation — 2025 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, PA 19130
Sunday, October 11, 2026 at 7 PM
Philadelphia Film Society x Girls Like Horror Present: The Exorcist
Cost: $12-$16
Philadelphia Film Society Center — 1412 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102
Thursday, October 15, 2026 at 6 PM
Thomas Edison Film Festival and The Rotunda Present: Short Films, a Q&A, and Live Jazz
Cost: Free
The Rotunda — 4014 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Saturday, October 17, 2026 at 2 PM
Legacy Lab Documentary Screening with House of Zamani
Cost: Free
Parkway Central Library — 1901 Vine Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103
Saturday, October 17, 2026 at 7:30 PM
An Evening with Peggy Reavey Featuring David Lynch Shorts
Cost: $24.20
PhilaMOCA — 531 North 12th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19123
Tuesday, October 20, 2026 at 7 PM
Viva Video Presents: A Chinese Ghost Story
Cost: $11.75-$16.25
Bryn Mawr Film Institute — 824 West Lancaster Avenue, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010
Sunday, October 25, 2026 at 6 PM
Lightbox Presents: Magic Thinking With Filmmaker Conversation
Cost: $13.24-$15.28
Bok Auditorium — 800 Mifflin Street, Philadelphia, PA 19148
Thursday, October 29, 2026 at 7 PM
Cost: $12.50-$25
Val’s Lesbian Bar — 605 South 3rd Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147
*Featured Image: Still from The Feeling of Being Watched, screening at Collective Futures with Batikh Batikh. Courtesy of the director Assia Boundaoui.
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.
