Calendar: April 23-29, 2021
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.
~~~~~
MILESTONES | Happy Birthday to You!
4/24: Ron Bonk (producer/distributor, SRS Cinema, Syracuse, NY)
4/25: Marty McKee (writer, Johnny LaRue’s Crane Shot, Chicago, IL)
4/28: John Isberg (producer/owner, Swede Films, Urbana, IL)
4/29: Sophie McMahan Berkley (artist, Sophie McMahan, Urbana, IL)
4/29: Shannon Swords (composer, FEATHERS, Moonwish Productions, Eugene, OR)
CONFIDENTIAL ALMANAC | Dates in Film Culture History
15 Years Ago … Saturday, April 22, 2006: The University of Illinois students of Illini Film & Video premiere their feature length horror-comedy, THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS VS. A MUMMY. Involving dozens of undergraduates and taking the better part of two academic years to finish, MUMMY plays at 7 and 9 p.m. in the lecture auditorium of Noyes Laboratory on the UI Main Quad, with an encore set for the following afternoon at the UI Spurlock Museum a few blocks away. The prerequisite DVD of this project, envisioned by IFV president Chris Lukeman as a way to encourage club members to work together as a team and try out multiple roles on a single production, would debut the next month and become a long-standing ice breaker for incoming freshmen unfamiliar with the group. In recent years, MUMMY has been in permanent late-night rotation on UI-7, the broadcasting service of the university. As reported on 4/15/06, 4/21/06, 5/14/06 at CUBlog. [R]
15 Years Ago … Sunday, April 23, 2006: BrainSmart Productions, a townie collective led by lo-fi filmmakers Jason Butler and Mark Peaslee, unleashes “Episode 2” of their action-filled B-movie WEREWOLF CEMETERY. The program introducing this newest creation also features “Episode 1” of the “gravediggers vs. lycanthropes vs. normal folk from the big city” epic, the first installment of smaller-scale series THE ADVENTURES OF THE SCREAMING APE, and a music video for “Serrated Edge” by The Living Blue, playing both this night and the next at the stroke of midnight in the beer garden of Mike ‘n Molly’s in downtown Champaign. Four segments total of WEREWOLF would eventually be made by Butler and company, although one must be tight with participants to access the full episodes as they have never been formally released on home video or uploaded for on-line streaming. This is about as underground as it gets with the films of Champaign-Urbana! As reported on 4/15/06, 4/22/16 at CUBlog. [R]
LOCAL FILMS & EVENTS | Support Your Media Storytellers
@ online Zoom/Gregory Hall room 100
Illini Film & Video virtual meeting (4/26, 8 p.m.) Join mailing list
NOW PLAYING | Champaign-Urbana Area
@ AMC Champaign 13, Champaign, IL
DEMON SLAYER THE MOVIE: MUGEN TRAIN, MORTAL KOMBAT, GODZILLA VS. KONG, NOBODY, RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON, VOYAGERS (4/23 on), BACK TO THE FUTURE (4/24, 3 p.m.), SEPARATION (4/29 on)
@ Illini Union, UIUC, Urbana, IL
Illini Union Board presents “Spring 2021 Film Series” feat. INCREDIBLES 2, The Courtyard Café, 1st floor (4/23, 7 p.m.; free w/i-card)
@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL
DEMON SLAYER THE MOVIE: MUGEN TRAIN, MORTAL KOMBAT, THE COURIER, GODZILLA VS. KONG, MINARI, NOBODY, RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON, THE UNHOLY (4/23 on), UFC 260: Kamaru Usman vs. Jorge Masvidal, more (4/24, 9 p.m., simulcast)
@ Redbox, Champaign-Urbana, IL
VANQUISH, more! (4/20 on) Online rentals
Events featuring locally produced movies are marked with an asterisk (*). Additional “Now Playing” and “Coming Soon” listings appear after the jump!
~~~~~
NOW PLAYING | The Cities Beyond
@ AMC Classic Village Mall 6, Danville, IL
MORTAL KOMBAT, GODZILLA VS. KONG, NOBODY, RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON (4/23-4/25)
@ AMC Peru Mall 8, Peru, IL
DEMON SLAYER THE MOVIE: MUGEN TRAIN, MORTAL KOMBAT, THE FATHER, GODZILLA VS. KONG, NOBODY, PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN, RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON (4/23-4/25)
@ The Avon Theater, Decatur, IL
MORTAL KOMBAT, THE NOTEBOOK, GODZILLA VS. KONG (4/23-4/25)
@ The Fischer Theatre, Danville, IL
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (1991; 4/24, 10 a.m.), BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (2017; 4/24, 7 p.m.), THE AVENGERS (4/25, 2 p.m.)
@ The Harvest Moon Twin Drive-in, Gibson City, IL
MORTAL KOMBAT (Screen 1) (4/23-4/24), BAD BOYS (4/23), BAD BOYS FOR LIFE (4/24) (both Screen 2)
@ The Little Lorraine, Hoopeston, IL
Closed for the week.
@ The Normal Theater, Normal, IL
MINARI (4/23-4/25), MONDAY (4/29), “Living Room Film Festival” virtual screenings: THE MALI-CUBA CONNECTION (through 5/6), The Oscar Nominated Short Films 2021 (through 5/14, all three programs) Purchase
@ The Onarga Theatre, Onarga, IL
Closed for the week.
@ The Princess Theatre, Leroy, IL
Closed for the week.
@ Route 34 Drive-in, Earlville, IL
SIXTEEN CANDLES, THE BREAKFAST CLUB (4/23-4/25)
@ Route 66 Twin Drive-in, Springfield, IL
MORTAL KOMBAT, MONSTER HUNTER (Screen 1), NOBODY, THE UNHOLY (Screen 2) (4/23-4/24)
@ Roxy Cinemas, Ottawa, IL
MORTAL KOMBAT, TOGETHER TOGETHER, THE GIRL WHO BELIEVES IN MIRACLES, GODZILLA VS. KONG, NOBODY, RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON, THE UNHOLY (4/23 on)
@ Streator Eagle 6, Streator, IL
THE GIRL WHO BELIEVES IN MIRACLES, MORTAL KOMBAT, GODZILLA VS. KONG, RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON, THE UNHOLY (4/23 on)
NOW PLAYING | Midwest
For detailed and curated listings of Chicago-area film presentations and related events, as well as cancellations and postponements due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, please visit the fine folks at Cine-File and subscribe to their definitive “Cine-List” weekly blast.
COMING SOON | Area-wide Events
5/1
University of Illinois Student Film Festival
@ Urbana, IL (virtual event)
5/13-5/20
22nd Wisconsin Film Festival
@ Madison, WI (virtual event)
6/10-6/13
31st Onion City Experimental Film + Video Festival
@ Chicago Filmmakers, Chicago, IL
9/8-9/11
22nd Roger Ebert’s Film Festival
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL
10/22-10/23
Dark History and Horror Convention’s Screaming Mad Film Festival 2.1
@ I Hotel and Conference Center, UIUC, Champaign, IL
COMMUNITY & CAMPUS SERIES | Champaign-Urbana area
Illini Union Board presents “Spring 2021 Film Series”
@ The Courtyard Café, 1st floor, Illini Union, UIUC, Urbana, IL, 7 p.m. Fri., free w/i-card
4/23: INCREDIBLES 2; 4/30: GHOSTBUSTERS (2016)
~~~~~
Compiled by Jason Pankoke.
~~~~~
“Calendar du C-U”
© 2021 Jason Pankoke/C-U Blogfidential