First-Run Programming
The Nickelodeon’s first-run theatrical programming provides the community with the best of current independent film. Relying on the advice of our film booker, we present award-winning independent feature films and documentaries from around the world.
Festivals and Series
Our film festivals and film series augment our first-run programming with curated collections of films designed to spark community dialogue and provide community members with the opportunity to understand diverse perspectives. Planning for most of the festivals and series involves consultations with guest curators or advisory committees made up of diverse members of the community. We provide frequent opportunities for conversations before and after screenings, pulling together experts and community members as speakers and respondents.
Each of our eleven festivals and series has a unique focus and audience:
- the Indie Grits Festival, our award-winning festival of regional independent film
- “Out Here,” our LGBTQ series
- “Black Stories,” our African-American festival
- the Women’s History Month Film Festival
- “Saturday Stories,” our children’s series
- “Foreign Focus,” our international series
- “DocTalk,” our documentary series
- the Jewish Film Festival
- “Silver Screen Studies,” our classic film series
- “Holly Jolly Hollywood,” our holiday festival
- “Nick After Hours,” our avant-garde series
Community Partners Series
Our ultimate measure of success in involving the community is the demand for partnerships from other community organizations. Our Community Partners Series provides community organizations the opportunity to partner with the Nickelodeon on special screenings beneficial to both organizations. As a core member of Columbia’s arts community, the Nickelodeon has developed strong partnerships with an extremely wide range of non-profit organizations and local colleges and universities. These collaborations are central to our mission of providing the opportunity for critical dialogue related to films.
The Community Partner Series includes a wide range of events. Organizations may request screenings of specific documentaries and organize a panel of local experts for a talk-back after the film. Independent filmmakers may screen their finished or almost-finished films and solicit feedback or conversations. And over time all of these partnerships ideally lead to more involvement of these organizations in planning, executing, and promoting our other programming.
Media Literacy and Education Programs
The Nickelodeon is a center for media education and a space for supporting media-makers. Our media literacy and media education programs work to foster the 21st Century skills necessary to be an active citizen in our increasingly media-heavy society and to plant the seeds for the film and media artists of the future by offering training, space, and resources for the creation of new film and video work.
We have sponsored a wide variety of in-school and after-school media literacy programs for children of all ages, summer camps, adult workshops, media workshops, and field trip programs. Additionally, the speakers, panels, and talk-backs provided by our regular theatrical programming are an integral part of our media literacy efforts.