Calendar: March 23-29, 2018
Our movie and media Calendar appears every Friday/Saturday on C-U Blogfidential and caters to the downstate region anchored by Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, USA.
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MILESTONES | Happy Birthday to You!
3/24: Brian Krumm (singer-guitarist, The Great Crusades/The Suede Chain)
3/25: Stephanie Kelly (actress, DOOZIES)
3/26: Jack Snyder (cowriter, BAD GRANDMAS)
DEADLINES, ETC. | Participate in Cinema Activity
@ The Art Theater, Champaign, IL
Shocktober Film Festival call for entries | Full Information
Early: 3/1; Regular: 6/30; Late: 7/16; Extended: 8/1
@ Capital City Bar & Grill, Springfield, IL
Route 66 Film Festival call for entries | Full Information
Early: 4/1; Regular: 6/30; Late: 7/31; Extended: 8/15
@ Gregory Hall, UIUC, Urbana, IL
Illinifest Student Film Festival call for entries | Full Information
Regular: 3/10; Late: 3/20
@ Independent Media Center, Urbana, IL
ChamPain Indie Horror Festival call for entries | Full Information
Early: 3/16; Regular: 6/4; Late: 7/6; Extended: 8/3
@ Savoy Recreation Center, Savoy, IL
Dark History & Horror Convention call for entries | Full Information
Early: 3/31; Regular: 5/31; Late: 6/30; Extended: 7/31
@ Savoy Recreation Center, Savoy, IL
Indie Art Convention & Film Festival call for entries | Full Information
Early: 2/28; Regular: 3/31; Late: 4/14; Extended: 4/30
@ TBA, Champaign-Urbana, IL
UIUC Feminist Film Festival call for entries | Full Information
Regular: 4/4
CONFIDENTIAL ALMANAC | Dates in Film Culture History
45 Years Ago … Wednesday, March 28, 1973: Movie-loving students at the University of Illinois set up a booth at the Illini Union to sell copies of their brand-new journal, MacGuffin, according to the Daily Illini on this same date. Originated by two juniors enrolled in Liberal Arts & Sciences, Barry Sabath and Todd Harrison, the 24-page debut edition is an impressive effort by undergraduate writers to fashion their own forum for critical thinking about the cinema. Film directors whose work is analyzed in the issue include Federico Fellini, Ingmar Bergman, Sam Peckinpah, and D.W. Griffith, while faculty helping them reach this milestone include professors Robert Carringer, as an advisor, and Edwin Jahiel, who compiled the “Film Focus” campus calendar appearing in the back of the issue. Staff would publish five additional numbers by the spring of 1975 before dissolving MacGuffin due to monetary woes; some continued with careers in media after graduating from UIUC including Sabath, an instructor at the American Film Institute and previously a Hollywood producer, and Chip Shields, a former school teacher and recent biographer (as Charles J. Shields) of literary giants Harper Lee and Kurt Vonnegut. The title MacGuffin comes from a term famously described in elusive language by Alfred Hitchcock. Essentially, it is a storytelling device that sets a narrative in motion even if it has no true meaning or bearing on the outcome of the narrative.
45 Years Ago … Wednesday, March 28, 1973: “102 minutes of thud-filled excitement” fills the Auditorium on the University of Illinois Main Quad at both 8 and 10 p.m. as the student group Cinemaguild premieres their first feature-length production, SHOT. Written and directed by Mitch Brown and produced by Nate Kohn, both graduate students at UIUC, the film is an arch riff on tough police procedurals of the day such as THE FRENCH CONNECTION. Theater majors Richard Watt and Charles Russell star as Midwestern officers playing fast and loose with etiquette as they tail a wild-eyed and goateed drug dealer played by Frank Himes, their adventures ranging from Campustown and downtown Champaign to the Urbana fairgrounds and outlying areas. With a cast and crew filled out by students except for the occasional adult actor or helicopter pilot, SHOT is scheduled for several more shows in the hopes that Cinemaguild can break even on their reported $15,000 investment. Tongue-in-cheek advertising in the Daily Illini has stoked interest in the premiere, such as an impressive two-page spread already touting the “Best Picture of 1973” after last night’s Oscar win for 1972 by THE GODFATHER. DI reporters have provided as much coverage as those ads for the film, which began production before Thanksgiving according to an article run on January 4, and would soon foreshadow the slide into limbo of both Cinemaguild and SHOT itself, which received a token VHS release nearly 15 years later through Sony in the United States and on various other labels worldwide.
NOW PLAYING | Champaign-Urbana Area
@ The Art Theater, Champaign, IL
THE PARTY (3/23 on), I TONYA (3/23-3/25), Essential Cinema: A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH (a.k.a. STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN; 3/26, 7:30 p.m.)
@ AMC Champaign 13, Champaign, IL
MIDNIGHT SUN, PAUL, APOSTLE OF CHRIST, PACIFIC RIM: UPRISING, SHERLOCK GNOMES, UNSANE, DEATH WISH, GAME NIGHT, I CAN ONLY IMAGINE, JUMANJI: WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE, LOVE, SIMON, PETER RABBIT, TOMB RAIDER, A WRINKLE IN TIME (3/23 on), READY PLAYER ONE (3/28 on), GOD’S NOT DEAD: A LIGHT IN DARKNESS (3/29 on)
@ English Building, UIUC, Urbana, IL
Illini Film & Video meeting, Room 160 (3/26, 7 p.m.)
@ Family Video, Champaign-Urbana, IL
JUMANJI: WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE, PITCH PERFECT 3, DOWNSIZING, SMALL TOWN CRIME, KICKBOXER: RETALIATION, THE SCENT OF RAIN & LIGHTNING, CON MAN, THE CLAPPER, more! (3/20 on)
@ Goodrich Savoy 16, Savoy, IL
MIDNIGHT SUN, PAUL, APOSTLE OF CHRIST, PACIFIC RIM: UPRISING, SHERLOCK GNOMES, UNSANE, 7 DAYS IN ENTEBBE, ANNIHILATION, BLACK PANTHER, GAME NIGHT, I CAN ONLY IMAGINE, LOVE, SIMON, PETER RABBIT, RED SPARROW, THE STRANGERS: PREY AT NIGHT, TOMB RAIDER, A WRINKLE IN TIME (3/23 on), MY LITTLE PONY: THE MOVIE (3/23-3/25, 10 a.m.), ICE DRAGON: LEGEND OF THE BLUE DAISIES (3/24, 3/26), THE DARK CRYSTAL (3/25, 3/28), Studio Ghibli Fest: PONYO (3/25-3/26), READY PLAYER ONE (3/28 on)
@ Illini Union, UIUC, Urbana, IL
Illini Union Board presents “Weekend Films at the Union” feat. LADY BIRD, Pine Lounge (3/23-3/24, 7 p.m., free w/i-card)
@ Savoy Recreation Center, Savoy, IL
Art in Equality Convention & Film Festival (3/24, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.)
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL
SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE (3/27, 3/29, 7 p.m.)
Events featuring locally produced movies are marked with an asterisk (*). Additional “Now Playing” and “Coming Soon” listings appear after the jump!
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NOW PLAYING | The Cities Beyond
@ AMC Classic Village Mall 6, Danville, IL
I CAN ONLY IMAGINE, PACIFIC RIM: UPRISING, SHERLOCK GNOMES, LOVE, SIMON, TOMB RAIDER, A WRINKLE IN TIME (3/23 on)
@ The Avon Theater, Decatur, IL
SHERLOCK GNOMES (3/23 on), THOROUGHBREDS, TOMB RAIDER (3/23-3/27), READY PLAYER ONE (3/28 on)
@ The Lincoln Grand 8, Lincoln, IL
MIDNIGHT SUN, PACIFIC RIM: UPRISING, SHERLOCK GNOMES, I CAN ONLY IMAGINE, LOVE, SIMON, TOMB RAIDER (3/23 on), BLACK PANTHER, A WRINKLE IN TIME (3/23-3/28), READY PLAYER ONE (3/29 on)
@ The Little Lorraine, Hoopeston, IL
JUMANJI: WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE (3/23-3/25)
@ The Normal Theater, Normal, IL
CALL ME BY YOUR NAME (3/23-3/25), BREAKIN’ (3/23), 19th annual Animation Show of Shows (3/24-3/25), THE PUBLIC ENEMY (3/27), CLUE (3/29)
@ The Onarga Theatre, Onarga, IL
TOMB RAIDER (3/23-3/25, 3/28)
@ The Princess Theatre, Leroy, IL
BLACK PANTHER (3/23-3/25), MY LITTLE PONY: THE MOVIE (3/24, 11 a.m., free)
COMING SOON | Area-wide Events
4/5
THE INFORMANT!* anniversary show & discussion
@ The Avon Theater, Decatur, IL, 7 p.m., free w/ticket
4/5-4/12
20th annual Wisconsin Film Festival, Madison, WI
4/18-4/22
20th annual Roger Ebert’s Film Festival
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL
4/28
4th annual Illinifest Student Film Festival
@ Gregory Hall, UIUC, Urbana, IL, free
5/3
UNDERGROUND SOUND* documentary premiere
@ The Avon Theater, Decatur, IL, 7 p.m.
6/6-6/10
25th annual Chicago Underground Film Festival, Chicago, IL
7/14
Indie Art Convention & Film Festival
@ Savoy Recreation Center, Savoy, IL
10/3
2018 Shocktober Film Festival
@ The Art Theater, Champaign, IL
10/28
2nd annual ChamPain Indie Horror Festival
@ Independent Media Center, Urbana, IL
11/2-11/3
17th annual Route 66 Film Festival
@ Capital City Bar & Grill, Springfield, IL
11/9-11/10
4th Dark History & Horror Convention
@ Savoy Recreation Center, Savoy, IL
COMMUNITY & CAMPUS SERIES | Champaign-Urbana area
AEMS presents AsiaLENS Documentary/Film Series
@ Spurlock Museum, UIUC, Urbana, IL, 7 p.m., free
4/10: DRAWING THE TIGER
Illini Union Board Presents “Weekend Films at the Union”
@ Pine Lounge, Main Level, Illini Union, UIUC, Urbana, IL, 7 p.m., free w/i-card
3/23, 3/24: LADY BIRD; 3/30, 3/31: MOLLY’S GAME; 4/6, 4/7: INSIDIOUS: THE LAST KEY; 4/12: STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS; 4/13, 4/14: STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI; 4/20, 4/21: DEN OF THIEVES; 4/26: FIFTY SHADES OF GREY, FIFTY SHADES DARKER; 4/27, 4/28: FIFTY SHADES FREED
The News-Gazette Film Series
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL, 1 & 7 p.m.
4/14: SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN; 5/12: MY DARLING CLEMENTINE; 6/23: TBA
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Compiled by Jason Pankoke.
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“Calendar du C-U”
© 2018 Jason Pankoke/C-U Blogfidential