Presented by the Chambana Film Society
April 29 – May 5, 2026 plus additional screenings
Visit chambanafilmsociety.org for more info (I know, I shouldn’t be sending you to a different website, lol).
At the Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX | 232 Burwash Ave, Savoy, IL
- Individual Screening: $12
- Festival Pass: $160
- 10 Ticket Pass: $100
- Reduced Price Screening: $1
Every few weeks, I am reminded how amazing it is to live here in Champaign-Urbana. There are just so many things to do. In fact, often times there are so many things to do, there’s no way to get to everything.
The Savoy Lumiere Film Festival is one of those things. Over the past couple of years, I can remember hearing about films being shown in Savoy, but never thought much of it. But I was recently walking in the Krannert Center, I think, and I picked up a brochure for the Film Festival. Wow, I was shocked!
The Savoy Lumiere Film Festival is in its second year, and has more than, uhh, I think 70 showings in April and May. The showings range from 3 minutes to full length documentaries, spanning all genres, and even themes such as Thriller/Horror Shorts, “Is this Therapy”, which I’m not sure what that means exactly, Asian American Identity Shorts, and Jewish-American Identity shorts.
Get this: There’s even a showing about a burlesque troop dedicated to the music and work of Weird Al Yankovic. And after the screening, there’s a hope that local a Champaign-Urbana burlesque troop will perform! Two performances in one! The screening-live show combo reminds me of the Rocky Horror Picture Show screening at the Virginia Theater. Amazing!
Another one of the things I love about Champaign-Urbana is how unique partnerships between community organizations form. Obviously, the U of I fosters great connections with a huge number of organizations in the area. But it is super cool to see the Savoy IMAX theater partnering with the Film Society of Champaign Urbana to support this film festival. A lot of times, it can be hard to partner with corporations, but it seems like the Savoy theater is on board, which is super cool.
Well, I hope to get out to see at least 1 showing of the festival. I think it would be cool if they had day passes, because I could see how someone would want to go on May 3rd, May 8th, or May 15th. Especially, since there are a number of shorts on those days.