Filling a longtime void in the city’s cultural landscape, Film Streams opened its doors in 2007 in downtown Omaha, Nebraska, with a sold-out screening of SEVEN SAMURAI. With the help of filmmaker and Omaha native Alexander Payne, who has been closely involved with the institution from the beginning, Film Streams soon expanded to a second location at the historic Dundee Theater, the city’s longest-surviving neighborhood cinema. Distinguished by its world-class education program, which offers film-literacy seminars for adults and students alike, and outreach events that bring Omaha residents into dialogue with artists, Film Streams has become an integral part of its community. Reflecting its commitment to adventurous programming, the theater has selected a mix of influential favorites by Charlie Chaplin, Akira Kurosawa, and Agnès Varda; revolutionary landmarks of political cinema from Ousmane Sembène and Tomás Gutiérrez Alea; and portraits of larger-than-life artists from documentary greats D. A. Pennebaker and Les Blank.