Last Updated: 7/4/25

ALL SECRET CINEMA PRESENTATIONS ARE SHOWN IN 16mm (or larger!) FILM ON A GIANT SCREEN (NOT VIDEO...NOT EVER!)

Since 1992, the Secret Cinema has been the Philadelphia area’s premiere floating repertory cinema series, bringing hundreds of unique programs to nightclubs, bars, coffee houses, museums, open fields, colleges, art galleries, bookstores, and sometimes even theaters and film festivals. Drawing on its own large private film archive (as well as other collections), the Secret Cinema attempts to explore the uncharted territory and the genres that fall between the cracks, with programs devoted to educational and industrial films, cult and exploitation features, cartoons, rare television, local history, home movies, erotic films, politically incorrect material, and the odd Hollywood classic. As long as it exists on real celluloid, that is—Secret Cinema screenings never use video/digital projection. While mainly based in Philadelphia, the Secret Cinema has also brought programming to other cities and countries.

35mm Dreams at Bryn Mawr Film Institute

Bryn Mawr Film Institute
824 W. Lancaster Avenue, Bryn Mawr, PA
610-527-9898

Wednesday, August 6, 2025
7:30 pm
Admission: $14.50, $9.00 BMFI members, $12.00 seniors/students, $10.00 children

On Wednesday, August 6, the Secret Cinema will return to the Bryn Mawr Film Institute to present another unique program of short films, this time projected using rare, original 35mm film prints. The program is called 35mm Dreams.

Short films are currently seen in film festivals, or occasionally at one-time showings of new Oscar-nominated works. But for most of the history of film exhibition, many different types of shorts were presented at every single screening, before feature films -- comedy series, newsreels, documentaries, cartoons, travelogues, and sponsored films. These reels are fascinating time capsules of their era, as well as simply fun (as originally intended). The Secret Cinema has been actively collecting examples of these now extinct entertainments, which were seen in theaters until the practice wound down in the 1960s and '70s. We'll present a good -- and unpredictable -- assortment of shorts in 35mm Dreams, spanning the 1940s through the 1970s.

There will be one complete show at 7:30 pm. Admission is $14.50, $12.00 seniors/students, $9.00 BMFI members.

35mm Dreams includes many films that we've never shown before, as well as some that we've not shown for a long time. Just a few highlights include:

American Frontier (1953, Dir: Willard Van Dyke) - A beautifully photographed documentary detailing the search for petroleum in North Dakota, and its impact on the community. While director Willard Van Dyke is a famed auteur of socially-conscious, federally funded films like The City and Valley Town, this film was sponsored by the American Petroleum Institute, a trade organization representing the interests of big oil (still around today, the API has promoted climate change denial and blocking of climate legislation). Richard Leacock, later one of the fathers of the Direct Cinema movement, produced the film. Van Dyke later served as director of the Museum of Modern Art's film department.

Bulls of Pamplona (1967, Dir: Arthur Cohen) - An amusing investigation of the famous running of the bulls in the Spanish city of Pamplona, captured in vivid Technicolor.

Design for Freedom (1967) - A somewhat frightening sales film -- for General Dynamic's F-111 Aardvark supersonic fighter jet!

Down Jamaica Way (1960, Dir: Carl Dudley) - Universal made this short travel film showing the fun to be had on a Jamaican vacation, from relaxing on beautiful beaches of Montego Bay, to the challenge of limbo dancing.

Western Relay (1952) - Bell Telephone's manufacturing division, Western Electric, made this promotional look at the advanced wireless technology employed to enable coast-to-coast live television broadcasts…while still in the early days of television ownership.

Plus cartoons, newsreels, trailers and more!

FUTURE SECRET CINEMA EVENTS (more info soon):