The Gene Siskel Film Center strives to host inclusive, accessible events that enable all individuals to engage fully. That’s why we offer Hearing Loop, Amplified Audio, Audio Description, Closed and Open-Captioned technologies, and accessible seating—with both wheelchair spaces and companion seats.
ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY
Icons by select films will indicate what assistive features are available. Our box office staff can instruct guests on how to use the devices. For additional questions or for large parties, please email the theater in advance at filmcenter@saic.edu.
Hearing Loops
Both of our theaters are equipped with hearing loops. Switch your hearing device to T-Coil program to use, or request a headset and transmitter from the box office.
Hearing Loops are available for all films.
Audio Description
Using an Audio Description device, audience members can experience a separate audio track that describes visual details of what is happening on screen, including physical actions, facial expressions, costumes, settings, and scene changes. Through headphones or another device, this audio is balanced with the film's main dialogue, so both are heard clearly.
Audio Description availability is subject to the content made available from distributors. Look for the Descriptive Narration icon on film pages to see which films have this option available.
Open-Captioned Screenings
Open-Captioned (OC) showtimes are presented with on-screen subtitling and sound descriptions. Whenever possible, the Gene Siskel Film Center will theatrically present films with open captions to accommodate our deaf and hard-of-hearing audiences.
Open Caption availability is subject to the content made available from distributors. Look for the Option Caption icon on film pages for screenings that will be presented with open captions.
Amplified Audio
This audio device delivers clear, amplified audio directly from the movie soundtrack onto headphones or personal earbuds.
Amplified Audio availability is subject to the content made available from distributors. Look for the Amplified Audio icon on film pages to see which films have this option available.
Closed Captioning Device (CC)
During select features, Closed Captions can be displayed via a receiver placed in your cup holder. Simply push the base down into the cup holder and adjust the display into your field of vision. The text displays as white and will not appear until the film begins.
Closed Captioning availability is subject to the content made available from distributors.
Look for the Closed Caption icon on film pages to see which films have this option available.
BUILDING ACCESSIBILITY
The Siskel Film Center is fully ADA accessible. Front doors can be opened with automated door openers; restroom doors cannot. The box office and theaters are located on the second level. An elevator is available down the hall from our building entrance.
Accessible Seating
We strive to make our theater convenient for guests who use wheelchairs or mobility devices, and their companions. Spaces have been designated to accommodate wheelchairs or mobility devices in each auditorium, providing unrestricted sightlines.
Theater 1 features five spaces, and Theater 2 features four spaces. Up to four companion seats have been set aside next to each wheelchair-accessible area. If contiguous seats are not available, companions will be seated as close as possible to the accessible location. If you need assistance finding seating at a screening, please visit our staff at the theater entry.
We ask that all patrons respect the needs of our patrons who use wheelchairs and their companions, with the understanding that they may be asked to relocate if sitting in one of the designated companion seats.
Gender Neutral Restroom
An accessible gender neutral restroom is available on the third floor of the Gene Siskel Film Center. Please see a Siskel Film Center staff member for assistance.
LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The Gene Siskel Film Center acknowledges the land we occupy is the unceded ancestral homelands of the Council of Three Fires: Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi Nations, and a meeting place for other indigenous nations, including the Miami, Ho-Chunk, Sauk and Fox, Kickapoo, Peoria, and the Sioux. Through a series of deceitful treaties and discriminatory policies, colonial settlers displaced these Native communities from their homeland. The forced removal of these nations gave way to strife, disease, and discrimination, and these once powerful nations dwindled. In spite of this colonization, Native and Indigenous people have endured. Over 170 tribes are represented in Cook County alone and Chicago continues to be an important location with the third largest Urban Native population in the United States.
Cinema historically omits, erases or falsifies this important history. As Chicago’s premier art house cinema, we are responsible for centering film in true historical and cultural context, which is ultimately entangled with the colonization of this land.
It is our commitment and our mandate to be a leader in the decolonization of history and culture. We recognize our institutional complicity: we are hosting this and future programs, discussions, and presentations on Native land. True acknowledgment can only be made through action.
We commit ourselves to reflecting authentic Native and Indigenous stories on screen by working with filmmakers and distributors who embrace these voices; we commit ourselves to putting films in contexts that explore authentic histories; and we commit ourselves to building partnerships with organizations that can enable and sustain conversations around Native and Indigenous storytelling and representation.
When we cannot meet these commitments, we will audit our operations and programming to understand why, and endeavor, continuously, to do better. This acknowledgement was written specifically by the Film Center.
To request reasonable accommodations, or for inquiries about accessibility, please contact filmcenter@saic.edu or call (312) 846-2600 at your earliest convenience.