CAL Film Series Fall 2025
NAU and the Flagstaff community are invited to come together in front of the big screen for the College of Arts and Letters Film Series.
Discussions and screenings take place most Tuesdays at 7 PM in Cline Library Assembly Hall
All screenings are free and open to the public.
Each classic movie will be preceded by a short introduction from NAU faculty and followed by a community discussion.
The film series promotes understanding and appreciation of cinema through Northern Arizona University and the greater Flagstaff community. The CAL Film Series blends well-known audience favorites along with lesser-known films, as well as a mix of genres, directors, and actors.
This semester we are focused on directors who were on the outside of the industry in some way—the outsiders of film.
The film series is made possible with the support of the College of Arts and Letters, and NAU’s Cline Library, and under the direction of professors Paul Helford and Paul Donnelly.
Free weeknight parking is available for community members behind Cline Library and requires a special free permit.
Manhattan Short Film Festival 2025
September 30 | 7 PM
One World – One Week – One Festival. View some of the finest short films produced over the past year and vote for your favorites.
Poor Things
2023 | Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
October 7 | 7 PM
Poor Things (2023) is a visually striking dark comedy. Set in a fantastical world, it follows Bella Baxter (Emma Stone), a woman brought back to life by an eccentric scientist (Willem Dafoe).
This was the third collaboration between Lanthimos and Stone and earned eleven Oscar nominations and won four, including best actress for Stone.
Rotten Tomatoes 92%
The Witch
2015 | Directed by Robert Egger
October 21 | 7 PM
Eggers’ directorial debut depicts a family’s struggles with an increasingly menacing presence in the wilderness in 17th century New England.
The film features meticulous attention to period-accurate detail, stark black and white photography, and a genuinely chilling soundtrack.
Anya Talor-Joy stars as eldest child, Thomasin, in her debut performance.
Rotten Tomatoes 91%
Escape from New York
1981 | Directed by John Carpenter
November 4 | 7 PM
Following on the success of Halloween, Carpenter made this gritty sci-fi action film, which he had written in the mid-70s as a reaction to the Watergate scandal.
In a dystopian future (1997), Manhattan has been turned into a maximum-security prison, from which ex-soldier and federal prisoner Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) must rescue the president.
Rotten Tomatoes 86%
Blue Velvet
1986 | Directed by David Lynch
November 18 | 7 PM
Last year saw the passing of David Lynch, perhaps the premier outsider director.
In Blue Velvet, Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlin) returns to his seemingly idyllic hometown and stumbles upon a dark mystery involving a singer (Isabella Rosselini) and a psychopathic criminal (Dennis Hopper). As Jeffrey and his neighbor (Laura Dern) delve deeper, they discover a horrific underworld that is both shocking and irresistible.
Rotten Tomatoes 91%
A Hard Day's Night
1964 | Directed by Richard Lester
December 9 | 7 PM
This NAU tradition continues with Film screenings and discussions hosted by NAU’s own Paul Donnelly and Paul Helford on most Tuesday evenings in Cline Library Auditorium. This year we are celebrating directors on the outside of the mainstream. Free and Open to the Public
Lester’s breakthrough film, starring The Beatles and released during the height of Beatlemania, portrays 36 hours in the lives of John, Paul, George, and Ringo as they prepare for a television performance.
The film is credited as being one of the most influential of all musical films, with Village Voice critic Andrew Sarris deeming it, “the Citizen Kane of jukebox musicals.”
Rotten Tomatoes 98%