Above: Four members of a royal family standing around a throne. Below: Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall standing on a snowy city street.

“Coming to America” (1988)
Mon. Apr. 20, 7:30 p.m.

Eddie Murphy stars as Prince Akeem, heir to the throne of Zamunda, who leaves royal luxury for Queens, New York, in search of love on his own terms.

Q&A with “The Black Pack” author Artel Great and cast member Eriq La Salle

Free! ucla.in/4tebZvl

The cast members of "In Living Color" smiling and posing together.

“In Living Color” (4 episodes)
Sunday 4/19, 7 p.m.

Created by Keenen Ivory Wayans, the sketch comedy show “In Living Color” (1990–4) uproariously harnessed satire and spectacle to explore issues of race, class and celebrity. In person: Artel Great, author of “The Black Pack.”

Free! ucla.in/4ekEmTQ

Gene Kelly dancing and singing around a lamp post.

“Singin’ in the Rain” (1952)
Sunday, Apr. 12, 11 a.m.

35mm! In this classic musical, a silent movie star (Gene Kelly) tries to make the leap to talkies, while a chorus girl (Debbie Reynolds) finds her entry into Hollywood no less complicated.

Co-presented by @hammer.ucla.edu
Free! ucla.in/4dzlhNs

A group of women, children and men.

4/12: Please, Don’t Bury Me Alive! (1976)
Director in person
Considered the 1st Chicano feature, Efraín Gutiérrez’s film offers a look at ’70s South Texas Chicano culture. Its character questions his place in a society that undervalues Latinos, many of whom had been killed in Vietnam ucla.in/4smfA9s

Rediscovering the Black Pack, plus the week's best films in L.A. Also this week: William Friedkin and Harold Pinter's 'The Birthday Party' in 35mm, Spike Lee's 'He Got Game' and Harmony Korine's 'Gummo.'

Thank you to L.A. Times Staff Writer Mark Olsen for featuring our film series “The Black Pack: Rewriting American Comedy,”
which begins tonight! Details: ucla.in/3PlgjK9

www.latimes.com/entertainmen...

A man using a handheld film camera next to a road marker for Le Perthus.

The Hearst Metrotone News Collection and the Spanish Civil War
Friday, Apr. 10, 7:30

Marking the 90th anniversary of the Spanish Civil War, Silvia Ribelles de la Vega, a historian at The Packard Humanities Institute, will give a talk featuring rarely seen footage of the war.

Free! ucla.in/4mdE4QS

“All the tract of land included within the limits of the Pueblo de Los Angeles as heretofore known and acknowledged, shall henceforth be known as the City of Los Angeles.”

@uclalibrary.bsky.social: digital.library.ucla.edu/catalog?f%5B...

An African American man speaks into a microphone with a redacted bar over his eyes. A stamp labeled "TOP SECRET STUDENT ACTIVISM" to his right. The visual is in an old newspaper article aesthetic. Student Activism: A Reckoning in the Archives Keynote Speaker Robin D.G. Kelley Monday, April 20 | 10-11 a.m. Charles E. Young Research Library

Robin D.G. Kelley headshot “Keynote Speaker” “Robin D.G. Kelley” “Distinguished Professor and Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in U.S. History at UCLA” “Robin D.G. Kelley’s books include “Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination”; “Hammer and Hoe: Alabama Communists During the Great Depression”; “Race Rebels: Culture, Politics, and the Black Working Class”; “Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original” and the forthcoming “Making a Killing: Capitalism, Cops, and the War on Black Life.” His essays have appeared in dozens of publications, including The Boston Review, for which he is a contributing editor.”

Mon. April 20: UCLA Library and Project STAND present Student Activism: A Reckoning in the Archives, with an opening keynote from Robin D.G. Kelley, author of “Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination” and Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in U.S. History at UCLA.

RSVP: ucla.in/4c2jiio

Robert Mitchum leaning against a porch fence with the words Love and Hate tattooed on his fingers.

“Would you like me to tell you the little story of right-hand/left-hand? The story of good and evil?”

Robert Mitchum stars in “The Night of the Hunter” (1955), director Charles Laughton’s classic Southern Gothic thriller, screening Sunday, Apr. 5, 7 p.m. 35mm! 🎞️

Free: ucla.in/4bX88eJ

Above: Robert Townsend's character being threatened by a crowd with weapons. Below: his character listening to an older woman at a dinner table.

“Hollywood Shuffle” (1987) — 35mm!
Fri 4/3, 7:30 p.m.
In his razor-sharp satire, Robert Townsend stars as an actor pressured to fit an “Eddie Murphy type” while auditioning for a Blaxploitation knockoff.

In person: author Artel Great, actor Anne-Marie Johnson, Spring Mooney
Free! ucla.in/4179w9B

A woman with extra hand-drawn arms, and wings on her head.

An illustrated street scene showing a fruit vendor and shoe shop.

Closeup of a man's face with on-screen words "How much longer before you stop it?"

A cartoon of a large cube with numerous doors, and a cartoon figure reaching for a bird.

On our blog, UCLA M.L.I.S. graduate Christina Scholze highlights the rich history of the UCLA Animation Workshop, which has been teaching students the art and craft of animation since the late 1940s. 13 animated student films from our collection are newly available online 🎨 ucla.in/4dLvqqm

Man and woman picking flowers at a flower mart on street corner

Mickey McBan and an unidentified girl gardening

Vendors wrap up flowers for customers at the flower market

Mary Fiesel poses with wildflowers for the Los Angeles Times

Today marks the first day of spring and the last day of UCLA finals! Enjoy the fresh flowers blooming all around heading into spring break 💐

📸Los Angeles Times Photographic Collection, UCLA Library Special Collections

Members of a royal family standing around a throne.

Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor in a nightclub.

Robert Townsend threatened by a crowd holding weapons.

Smiling cast members of In Living Color.

The Black Pack: Rewriting American Comedy
Apr. 3–26

In the 1980s, five comedy pioneers — Eddie Murphy, Paul Mooney, Robert Townsend, Keenen Ivory Wayans and Arsenio Hall — formed a creative alliance, fusing politically Black satire with edgy, defiant humor in Hollywood hits: ucla.in/3PlgjK9

Research report from special collections @uclalibrary.bsky.social where I learned that Dorothy Arzner was paid $30k (to Katharine Hepburn’s $15k) for directing “Christopher Strong” in 1932. That’s some serious Depression Era $$$.

#dorothyarzner #hollywoodhistory #katharinehepburn

A person's face reflected in water.

A plane flying over a city, with puzzle piece shapes cut out from the photo.

A girl running with a bag of items in her mouth.

A piece of fruit perched on a snow-covered fence.

Gunvor Nelson Tribute Trilogy
Mar. 22–28
A pioneer of personal cinema and feminist film, Nelson combined painting, collage and sound experimentation in her works, embodying humor, resistance, intimacy and tactile sensation.

Co-presented by L.A. Filmforum/Rotations and Academy Museum
ucla.in/4scD3dQ

Closeup of a young woman and man.

Two young women eating ice cream outside.

A young mand and woman crossing a bridge set in nature.

A young man smoking on a motorcycle.

Sunday 3/22, 7 p.m.
“Devoted to You” (1986) + “Love Unto Waste” (1986)

🎞️ 35mm double feature about 1980s Hong Kong youth starring Tony Leung, Chow Yun-fat

Join us for the closing night of “Echoes From Spring Street: The World of Sing Lee and Chinese-Language Cinema in L.A.” Free! ucla.in/3P6fMf8

A collage of film stills arranged in triptychs.

3/21: “THE DREAM & THE LIE” (2024)

In 2018, Albanian American artist Elena Dorfman was granted unprecedented access to the Albanian National Film Archive. Her experimental feature documentary brings scenes from the archive’s film holdings together in a widescreen triptych.

Free! ucla.in/4baqydc

“A Face in the Crowd” (1957) — 35mm! 🎞️
Friday 3/20, 7:30 p.m.

Scouted in jail by a radio producer (Patricia Neal), opportunistic guitar picker “Lonesome” Rhodes (Andy Griffith) is vaulted to fame and political power through the new medium of television.

Free! ucla.in/40ZvJ9s

UCLA Film & Television Archive unveils free spring programs. Restorations, retrospectives, and other special programs are free to the public from March 22 to June 28. Image of “Coming to America” (1988)

Archive Treasures from March 29 to June 28, 2026. Image of “The Night of the Hunter” (1955)

60th anniversary screening of ABC-TV’s “Dark Shadows” on June 27, 2026. Image of “Dark Shadows” (episode 250)

Find UCLA Film & Television Archive’s full spring 2026 schedule at cinema.ucla.edu/events

This spring, @uclaftvarchive.bsky.social, a unit of UCLA Library, presents free public programs March 22-June 28.

Restorations, retrospectives and a biennial festival of preservation explore comedy, film history, experimental filmmaking and international storytelling.

Full details: ucla.in/4dmHPkk

Powell Library

Powell Library has been honored with a 2026 Preservation Award from the Los Angeles Conservancy!

Read more about the winning Powell Library Seismic Retrofit and Rehabilitation Project: lnkd.in/gg_dXMTk

nominations open! librarian of the year 2026 Know a librarian who deserves to be recognized for their contributions? Nominations due: Mon, March 30 bit.ly/LOTY_2026 collage of previous winners

Has a UCLA librarian made an impact on your teaching, advanced your research, or partnered with you on an innovative project? Celebrate their contributions by nominating them for the 2026 LAUC-LA Librarian of the Year Award!

🗓️ Nominations due: March 30
Submit a nomination: bit.ly/LOTY_2026

Men getting haircuts in a barbershop.

Four men posing for a photo.

Two people speaking next to a sign that says "No shoes in the cell."

A man carrying a bouquet of flowers on a sidewalk.

“Conbody vs Everybody” ep. 1–5 (2024)
Mar. 13–14

Director Debra Granik (“Winter’s Bone”) documents the journey of former drug dealer turned fitness entrepreneur Coss Marte as he builds CONBODY, a NYC gym that empowers previously incarcerated people. Free screening and Q&A! ucla.in/40PuZU9

Sat 3/7: Restoration premiere of “The Burning Cross” (1947) + “Open Secret” (1948)

The independently made “The Burning Cross” was one of the boldest US films of its era to tackle homegrown fascism. Followed by a noir that takes a grittier approach to antisemitism than its precedents ucla.in/4bg0uNj

Tribute to Gene Hackman: “CBS Playhouse: My Father and My Mother” (1968) 📺 Sun. Mar. 8, 7 p.m.

Between his star-making turns in “Bonnie and Clyde” and “The French Connection,” Hackman landed a lead role on the prestigious TV anthology “CBS Playhouse.” Join us for a free screening: ucla.in/46wkSak

Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer leaning against a lamppost.

Friedrich Torberg as a melancholy looking man playing piano.

📽 Friday, Mar. 6, 7:30 p.m.
“Arch of Triumph” (dir. Lewis Milestone, 1948) — 35mm
“Voice in the Wind” (dir. Arthur Ripley, 1944)
UCLA restorations!

Both films powerfully express the disorientation and despair of European refugees in the wake of fascism.

Free admission: ucla.in/401a14x

Lilli Palmer and Gary Cooper standing together outside.

Katharine Hepburn sitting on a horse next to Spencer Tracy.

📽 Sunday, Mar. 1, 7 p.m.
“Cloak and Dagger” (dir. Fritz Lang, 1946) — 35mm!
“Keeper of the Flame” (dir. George Cukor, 1942) — 35mm!

Join us for a WWII espionage thriller starring Gary Cooper + a mystery melodrama starring Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. Free! ucla.in/3MstDeP

Announcing our free spring lineup! 🌼 Starting in late March:

Tribute to Swedish/S.F. Bay Area experimental filmmaker Gunvor Nelson

The Black Pack: When Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall, Paul Mooney, Robert Townsend and Keenen Ivory Wayans Rewrote American Comedy

+ much more: cinema.ucla.edu/events

Beyond the Job Title: User Experience Designer - Choice 360 What does a User Experience Designer at a library do? Axa Liauw tells us about her library tech job in user experience and design.

Curious about user experience design in libraries?

Check out this library tech job interview with Axa Liauw, interim head of Library Access & Discovery Interfaces and lead user experience designer at UCLA Library, recently published by @choicereviews.bsky.social: www.choice360.org/libtech-insi...

This black and white photo shows a big group of people dancing in front of the Olvera Street cross. Most folks are dressed in costumes, and one adult is dressed as a clown wearing all white as a toddler (dressed as a mariachi) holds his hand.

Happy Fat Tuesday! The Mardi Gras festivities at Olvera Street (1955) courtesy of @uclalibrary.bsky.social: digital.library.ucla.edu/catalog/ark:... #MardiaGras #FatTuesday #OlveraStreet

📽️ “Giannis in the Cities” (Greece, 2024)
Sunday, Feb. 22, 7 p.m.

Writer-director Eleni Alexandrakis tells the story of Giannis Atzakas, who grew up in government-run “Childcare Cities” during the Greek Civil War, unable to forget his rebel father. Filmmaker in person! Free: ucla.in/3On4zGv