Summer Screenings is Cinema/Chicago’s annual free film series that casts a spotlight on a different country’s national cinema each week all summer.
This year’s theme is On the Road. Few ideas have shaped cinema as deeply as the act of setting out—of leaving something behind in search of what lies ahead. The road has long offered filmmakers a space for transformation, where chance encounters, shifting landscapes, and the passage of time invite characters to reconsider who they are and where they belong.
This program brings together films that trace journeys both expansive and intimate. Some follow long distances across borders and horizons; others unfold in quieter, more personal ways. Along the way, these stories reveal how movement can unsettle, connect, and renew.
Taken together, the series reflects on the enduring pull of the journey—not only as a physical passage, but as a way of understanding change, companionship, and the unexpected turns that shape our lives.