05/01/2026
ONE NIGHT ONLY!
Two recent theatrical releases that skipped over the CU!
Wednesday, May 6 – 7:00pm
https://2026lumiere.chambanafilmsociety.org/the-christophers/
The Christophers is a recent black comedy directed by Steven Soderbergh (Ocean’s 11, Out of Sight, Erin Brockovich, Traffic, Magic Mike, and many more). The film stars legendary stage and screen actor Ian McKellen alongside Michaela Coel, best known for creating and starring in HBO’s I May Destroy You.
McKellen plays Julian Sklar, an aging painter whose family hires a new assistant to care for him. Unbeknownst to Julian, she is actually a skilled art restorer. Fearing that Julian will pass away without producing new work to sell, his family secretly tasks her with locating his unfinished paintings and completing them—effectively forging new pieces to secure their inheritance.
The Christophers premiered at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival and was released in April by Neon, but it never screened in Champaign County. The film currently holds a 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 3.5 average on Letterboxd.
Don’t miss this rare opportunity to see The Christophers on the big screen—and to support bringing more mid-budget, artist-driven films to the CU community.
Thursday, May 7 – 7:00pm
https://2026lumiere.chambanafilmsociety.org/exit-8/
Exit 8
In Japanese with English subtitles.
A quick glance at the history of films based on video games shows a pretty consistent pattern: most of them are… not great. But Exit 8 is anything but typical. In fact, it may be the strongest video game adaptation ever made—and it’s possibly the only one to screen at the Cannes Film Festival.
The original game is built on a deceptively simple idea: you walk through a subway corridor, carefully observing every detail. In the next corridor, something might be off—a flickering light, a shifted door, a poster whose eyes seem to follow you. If everything looks normal, you keep moving forward. If something feels wrong, you turn back… only to find yourself progressing anyway. Reach Corridor 8, and you escape. Miss something, and the loop continues.
The film expands this minimalist concept into something far more layered and cinematic. It stays true to the eerie, observational tension of the game while building out a richer narrative filled with psychological twists and mounting dread. The result is a gripping, PG-13 thriller that manages to feel both faithful and entirely fresh.
With a 92% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, Exit 8 proves that video game adaptations don’t have to be hollow spectacle—they can be thoughtful, unsettling, and genuinely compelling.
Don’t miss your chance to see it on the big screen—and to support more mid-budget, artist-driven films coming to the CU community.
