You (Probably) Haven't Seen This Before is a screening series of shorts from Indiana University Libraries Moving Image Archive (IULMIA), focused on underrepresented narratives and unpolished modes of expression: educational, experimental, amateur. 16mm and scratched, these are films that reward the curious. You may have seen these on a rainy Wednesday in a classroom in 1962, otherwise, you probably haven’t seen these before.
FILMS TO BE ANNOUNCED
About the guests
Carmel Curtis & Charlie Allen are archivists and collaborators based in Bloomington, Indiana. They work together at Indiana University Libraries Moving Image Archive (IULMIA), a space that prioritizes human connection while preserving media of purpose and practice: moving images created with specific social, educational, or cultural objectives, as well as works that explore the craft of media making itself. With more than 130,000 items spanning nearly 100 years of media production, IULMIA is dedicated to the long-term preservation of this history and its active use today.
The archive's Director (Curtis) and Media Digitization Specialist (Allen) embody IULMIA's mission by modeling care and compassion toward each other, their communities, and the media they preserve. Curtis, a Bronx native, and Allen, originally from Rochester, NY, bring over 30 years of combined experience across libraries, archives, museums, projection booths, and cultural heritage institutions.
About Special Collections
From major research universities with dedicated film archives to liberal arts colleges, art schools, and even public libraries, archivists and librarians at institutions across the US maintain and facilitate access to significant (and sometimes one-of-a-kind) film and video collections. Each of these archives tells fascinating stories about passionate educators using media to enhance their curriculum, about regional filmmakers whose work found crucial support in local librarians, and about the malleability, durability, and portability of the medium of film.
Block Cinema’s “Special Collections” initiative will invite the archivists and librarians stewarding these materials to showcase rare, significant, and underappreciated materials held at their institutions. Each quarter, the Block will spotlight one collection of significant film materials at a different institution, bringing audiences into the practical challenges of exhibiting physical media in the present, and of preserving these legacies for the future.
Cost: Free
Block Museum of Art
(847) 491-4000
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