26 Dec Philadelphia Monthly Cinema Arts Round-Up: January 2025
BY SOPHIA ABRAHAM-RAVESON
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.
New year, new exciting film programming happening in Philadelphia! January can be a slow time of year as we return from winter breaks, come down from the high of holiday celebrations and travels, and retreat into our homes during this cold and dark month. Though some Philadelphia independent film organizations are still on programming breaks, there is plenty to enjoy this month if you feel called to go out into the world and be in community with other film lovers.
Highlights this month include another installment in BlackStar’s Love + Time screening series at the Barnes and the PMA, a screening of VHS Kahloucha presented in collaboration with Penn Museum, and a Scribe Video Center Producers’ Forum with Contessa Gayles. Make sure to read the full round-up below to plan your January.
Friday, January 10, 2025 at 7 PM
Seeking Mavis Beacon
Seeking Mavis Beacon is a hybrid documentary that follows director Jazmin Jones and collaborator Olivia McKayla Ross as “e-girl detectives” in search of Renee L’Esperance, the Haitian woman who modeled as the in-game typing instructor Mavis Beacon in 1987. “Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing” sold 10 million copies worldwide and L’Esperance became the face of the educational software. Though Mavis Beacon became a household name for millennials, Renee was paid $500 for the use of her image and would soon fade into obscurity. The film highlights ethical questions about representation and education while investigating, “What ever happened to Mavis Beacon?”
Cost: $4-$7.50
Scribe Video Center — 3908 Lancaster Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Saturday, January 11, 2025 at 2 PM
All About Love Film Series: Shorts
This film is part of a series, presented in conjunction with the current Barnes exhibition, Mickalene Thomas: All About Love. Curated by BlackStar Film Festival founder Maori Karmael Holmes, each screening explores a theme reflected in All About Love—kinship, femininity, and desire. Kinship is the focus of this short film program, which includes Happy Birthday to a Beautiful Woman (2012), Mickalene Thomas’s directorial debut. These films explore the idea that what is past is also present and celebrate the art created by Black people across time. After the screening, a Q&A with some of the featured filmmakers will be moderated by James Claiborne, deputy director for community engagement at the Barnes. This program includes access to the Barnes collection and the Mickalene Thomas: All About Love exhibit.
Cost: $0-$15
Barnes Foundation — 2025 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, PA 19130
Sunday, January 12, 2025
The Time is Always Now: Feature Film
This screening is part of BlackStar’s Love + Time Screening Series, in partnership with the Mickalene Thomas: All About Love exhibition at the Barnes Foundation and The Time is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The feature film screening at this event hasn’t been announced yet (check BlackStar’s website closer to the event date!) but in keeping with the theme of the PMA exhibit, will push us to consider the contenders and contradictions of Black life in America.
Cost: Free
Philadelphia Museum of Art — 2600 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, PA 19130
Thursday, January 16, 2025 at 7 PM
PJFM and The Weitzman Present: Colleyville
Marking three years since the harrowing events that shook the quiet town of Colleyville, Texas, join Philadelphia Jewish Film and Media and The Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History for the Philadelphia Premiere of Colleyville, the critically acclaimed documentary that delves into the 11-hour hostage crisis at Congregation Beth Israel. Following the screening, the film’s director, Dani Menkin, and Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker, whose courage during the crisis became a global story of heroism and hope, will join the event for a live talkback.
Cost: $15-$20
Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History — 101 South Independence Mall East, Philadelphia, PA 19106
Friday, January 17, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Friday Film Fest at The German Society of Pennsylvania
The German Society of Pennsylvania presents Friday Film Fest, a German cinema series running through May. This month features a screening of Ein Ganzes Leben (2023) presented in German with English subtitles. The film takes place at the turn of the 20th century and follows a young orphan named Andreas Egger who is sent to a valley where he experiences poverty and war, but also love. The evening will start with dinner, dessert, and a bilingual introduction to the film. Afterwards, attendees can take part in an English-language discussion.
Cost: $12-$15
The German Society of Pennsylvania — 611 Spring Garden Street, Philadelphia, PA 19123
Saturday, January 18 and Sunday, January 19, 2025
Delco: The Movie
Delco: The Movie is a coming-of-age dramedy set in Delaware County in 2004 and starring local actors Steve Harding, Jeff Pfeiffer, and Jenna Kuerzi, with a supporting cast of superstars including Brian O’Halloran (Clerks), Brian Dunkleman (American Idol), Brian Anthony Wilson (The Wire), Leah Cevoli (Robot Chicken), and J.J. Cohen (Back to The Future). This screening is a fun opportunity to support local filmmakers and actors and see a film set and filmed in the Philadelphia area.
Cost: $10-$75
The Media Theatre — 104 East State Street, Media, PA 19063
Wednesday, January 22, 2025 at 5 PM
VHS Kahloucha: Screening and Discussion
This screening of the 2006 documentary VHS Kahloucha is presented in collaboration with Penn Museum. VHS Kahloucha endearingly chronicles Tunisian housepainter and amateur filmmaker Moncef Kahloucha and the low-budget VHS production of his feature, Tarzan of the Arabs. In this award-winning documentary, director Nejib Belkadhi not only captures Kahloucha’s passion for Hollywood genre films and his ingenuity given his limited resources, but also offers a glimpse into the lives of the Sousse locals who double as actors, cameramen, and stuntmen. The film will be introduced by Penn Museum film archivist Kate Pourshariati, and will be followed by a conversation with Penn Middle Eastern Studies scholar Radwa El Barouni and director Nejib Belkadhi, who will be joining remotely.
Cost: Free
Penn Museum — 3260 South Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Thursday, January 23, 2025 at 7 PM
Producers Forum: Contessa Gayles
Producers’ Forum is Scribe Video Center’s screening and discussion series featuring a live post-screening discussion with filmmakers. This forum will feature Contessa Gayles and her film Songs from the Hole. In this unique film, incarcerated musician James “JJ’88” Jacobs reveals his innermost struggles as a person who has both committed and experienced violent harm. While serving a double-life prison sentence, he searches for healing and peace as he comes of age in this documentary-musical odyssey composed behind bars. Contessa Gayles is an award-winning film director, writer, DP, editor, and Emmy-nominated producer. Songs from the Hole world premiered at SXSW 2024 winning the Audience Award, Visions category.
Cost: $4-$7.50
Scribe Video Center — 3908 Lancaster Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19104
More Events:
Saturday, January 4 and Sunday, January 5, 2025
Purple Rain with The Paul Green Rock Academy
Cost: $31.10
PhilaMOCA — 531 North 12th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19123
Wednesday, January 8, 2025 at 7 PM
Cost: $13.24-$15.28
Bok Auditorium — 800 Mifflin Street, Philadelphia, PA 19148
Wednesday, January 15, 2025 at 7 PM
Cost: $13.24-$15.28
Bok Auditorium — 800 Mifflin Street, Philadelphia, PA 19148
Wednesday, January 22, 2025 at 7 PM
Cost: $13.24-$15.28
Bok Auditorium — 800 Mifflin Street, Philadelphia, PA 19148
Sunday, January 26, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Theatre Organ Society of the Delaware Valley Presents: Casablanca
Cost: $10-$12
The Colonial Theatre — 227 Bridge Street, Phoenixville, PA 19460
Monday, January 27, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Cost: $12.44
PhilaMOCA — 531 North 12th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19123
*Featured Image: Still from Look Back at It. Courtesy of BlackStar and the Barnes Foundation.
Sophia Abraham-Raveson is the Managing Editor for the cinéSPEAK Journal. She has previously worked for several Philadelphia-based film festivals, including BlackStar and Tri-Co Film Festival.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.