C-U Blogfidential

For our first article since July – we know, scary, right? – we suggest that you take a look at a new horror media streaming site called Scareplex, founded in downstate Illinois by and for indies.

At one time, four indie television shows were being worked on simultaneously in downstate Illinois. Only PEORIA has persisted with little interruption. What happened to the rest? These are their stories.

The Normal Theater in downtown Normal, Illinois, will allow local filmmaker Paul A. Brooks and friends to unleash HUNTING FOR THE HAG on their silver screen on May 12, 2023. Dare to dig the Hag!

Gemelli Films of Brookhaven, NY, has taken a liking to downstate Illinois. The first result of this team-up, BAKING UP LOVE, arrived in stores nationwide in November through SP Releasing, Inc.

Trick or treat! Five indie horror flicks originating in or adjacent to the meat-and-potatoes midsection of Illinois make the cut in our new marathon report. Come along for the haywire hayride, hardy souls!

When Into the Night Motion Pictures of Normal, Illinois, emerges from the Pontiac woods at the end of August, they will be haggard due to long hours spent HUNTING FOR THE HAG. Is the flick worth the risk?

The University of Illinois Press publishes a fair amount of books and journals concerned with cinema, television, and new media. We provide a quick guide to what’s available as their “Summer Sale” winds down very soon!

Burning Bulb Publishing has released Champaign filmmaker Jeff Kacmarynski’s long-unseen first feature, DISSOLUTION. We speak with the writer/director about it and upcoming projects.

University of Illinois students a generation apart do their on-camera best to convince viewers that campus spirits drift among us. Their existence somewhat haunts your humble editor to this day.

The scenes from a film culture that we have been watching mostly from afar fill us with mild disenchantment instead of wonder. And then we were ordered to self-shelter and keep personal spaces to ourselves. Joy.

It is sometimes important to take a few steps back and reevaluate your purpose for producing films independently of the studio system. Robin Christian reminds us the American Film Market is here to help.

Little more than 10 years ago, Shatterglass Studios premiered their short film PRELUDE in a small-town theater. Today, the producers based in Champaign, IL, create on a much grander scale.

The vast amount of avenues for storytelling content can be mind boggling, although the industry experts at the American Film Market can’t stress enough their importance. Robin Christian relates their advice.

CUBlog correspondent Robin Christian reports on how film production experience can always be augmented by professional advice given at the American Film Market in Santa Monica, CA.

We had a good thing going, you and we, but the forces of media upheaval, consumer complacency, and altogether reasonable life changes have pried us apart as feared. Don’t you cry, TR. We’ll always have Chambana.