Through our brilliant events and festivals, you’ll experience the vibrance of the Champaign-Urbana area! Discover something new every day!
Note: Fundraisers, sales, meetings related to membership-based groups, political events, and events outside of our coverage area are not included on the calendar.
All Skate @ DoctoberFest
Phoenix Theatres Savoy 16 + IMAX
232 Burwash Ave.
Savoy, Illinois
(217) 530-4671
Category
Hours
View Website
DoctoberFest, a new event from The Chambana Film Society, will be featuring over a dozen documentary screenings throughout the month, mostly high profile theatrical releases that did not play in the CU area. Most of them have played at world-class film festivals like Sundance, SXSW, and Tribeca.
From director April Wright:
All Skate is the full history of roller rinks and roller skating as told by a diverse group of people who are currently involved with roller skating and rinks, and through my point of view having grown up in a roller rink built by my grandfather.?
We cover everything from the early inline skating inventions, the patented Plimpton four-wheel design which prevailed, and then go though multiple phases of popularity including 1920s skaters including vaudeville performers and silent films, professional roller sports, the Skating Vanities, the 40s/50s during and post WWII when we expanded to over 5000 mostly family-owned roller rinks in the US, to the huge 1970s roller disco era, the return of roller blades in the 80s.?
We also visit the times of decline over the years, especially since the 2000s, and the reasons many rinks couldn’t survive, visiting many former roller rinks to see what the buildings hold today, including retail stores, homeless shelters, and a sad return to my family’s rink which is now an indoor shooting range. But we end on a high note, with the amazing roller skating resurgence brought on by Covid, including skating in the Super Bowl for the first time ever in 2024.
Tickets are $12. Please purchase from the Chambana Film Society.