Digging Deeper into Movies
with Nick Davis
Join the Chicago International Film Festival and Nick Davis, Northwestern Professor and film critic, for this series of free interactive lectures exploring recent releases and festival films from around the world with a focus on the nuances of imagery, editing, and sound that complicate story and theme.
Admission is free and open to the public with registration.
The Digging Deeper into Movies Lecture Series is made possible with the support of the Robert & Penelope Steiner Family Foundation.
Upcoming Digging Deeper Events
On the Road with Pawel Pawlikowski
This Digging Deeper session will chart the extraordinary versatility but also some consistent signatures across Pawal Pawlikowski’s career, ranging from 2004’s psychosexual suspenser My Summer of Love to 2013’s post-Holocaust drama Ida, which further raised his profile and earned him an Oscar.
Past Digging Deeper Events
Cannes Staycation 2026
This year’s program for the Cannes Film Festival tilts refreshingly toward less familiar voices. We’ll spend this session catching up with past work by names that may be newer to many of us, plus some established masters always worth reconsidering.
What a Difference a Director Makes: Documentary Edition!
Looking at clips from some of last year’s most acclaimed nonfiction releases, each very different in style and topic, we will highlight unique aesthetic decisions that make each film a creative achievement as well as a valuable inquiry into real lives and events.
Oscar Spotlight: What a Difference a Director Makes
This year, Oscar’s Directing Branch nominated two movies showcased at last fall’s Festival and three bigger-budget features by filmmakers who started out as independents.
Buried Treasures: Unsung Movies of 2025
