Calendar: July 15-21, 2022
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!
7/15: Jill Van Voorst (owner, LIX, Savoy, IL)
7/17: Derek Huey (cinematographer, TIN ROOF, Subfolders Studios, Martinsville, IN)
7/19: Don May, Jr. (president, Synapse Films, Inc., Novi, MI)
7/21: Shawnee E. Tefteller (owner, Shawnee Studios: Model & Talent Management/Casting, Mt. Olive, IL)
FIELD REPORT DU HQ | From Wherever It May Be Said
Apparently, this week’s Calendar is all about “dates with death,” and I don’t mean it as a rip on what’s playing this week despite last week’s soapbox about the egregiously limited choices in the C-U. To start, the organizers of the Popcorn Frights Film Festival in Florida announced on Monday, July 11, their first wave of selections for 2022 and it includes FINAL SUMMER, the retro slasher picture filmed last year in the east central Illinois woodlands by Champaign-based writer/director John Isberg and his crew. This constitutes the film’s world premiere and it will shock audiences on Saturday, August 13, at 11 p.m. EST, making it the second feature-length film by local producers to be unveiled in the last four months after the twin debut of Shatterglass Studios’ REVEALER at showings in Brazil and Kansas City, Missouri.
Elsewhere, Jim Dey of the News-Gazette made the connections between a real-life 1993 abduction and murder case in Vermillion County and the new Apple TV+ miniseries BLACK BIRD, a six-part affair that premiered with two episodes on Friday, July 1, and centers on a law enforcement scheme to send a felon, Jimmy Keene (Taron Egerton), into a maximum-security wing and elicit a murder confession from a dangerous inmate, Larry Hall (Paul Walter Hauser), in exchange for his own early release. Greg Kinnear, Sepideh Moafi, and the late Ray Liotta also star in this offering developed by crime story veteran Dennis Lehane, author of Shutter Island and Gone Baby Gone, and those with an Apple ID can visit this website to watch the first installment for free. You’ll have to decide if you’re up for reenactments of the last days in the life of Georgetown teenager Jessica Roach, played in this series by Laney Stiebing.
And then, promotion has increased lately for an upcoming gathering at which the twain shall meet – meaning, tales of fictional murderers in all media and writings and presentations based on and derived from factual killings. The sixth Dark History and Horror Convention is set to take place on Friday, August 19, and Saturday, August 20, at the I Hotel and Conference Center in south Champaign, and is a long-gestating effort by organizer and founder Brian L. Ward that finally seems to be operating at full stride. National and area personalities who create in the true crime and horror culture spaces will populate the conference, filled to the coffin brim with special events, several dozen vendors, and an indie-leaning Screaming Mad Film Festival that is included in the admission price. Partake if it’s to your taste.
CONFIDENTIAL ALMANAC | Dates in Film Culture History
25 Years Ago … Tuesday, July 15, 1997: As part of its tenth season on PBS, the nonfiction showcase POV airs a documentary produced by University of Illinois faculty member Jay Rosenstein, IN WHOSE HONOR? At its heart is Charlene Teters, a Native American belonging to the Spokane tribe who became alarmed by the presence of sports mascot “Chief Illiniwek” on the UI campus while attending for graduate studies in the late Eighties. Her subsequent efforts to alert the general public on the misuse of Indians as commercialized symbols, in particular for activities embraced largely by white audiences who otherwise ignore their racist and classist overtones, created a firestorm of opinion and emotion in Champaign-Urbana. HONOR presents the issue in a balanced and rational manner while illustrating a stubborn lack of empathy from “Chief” defenders who see the fictional warrior as a positive influence on the student body and iconic symbol embraced by alumni. More than one million viewers tune in to this episode of POV, according to Rosenstein, and HONOR has persisted as a catalyst in the discussion of cultural appropriation in America during conferences and film festivals, via community organizations, and within the classroom ever since. Following Teters’ lead and Rosenstein’s convictions, Indian activists and allies would accelerate their protests across the United States of similar imagery connected to sports teams. Original distributor New Day Films of Blooming Grove, NY, a specialist in social issue media, still offers HONOR to rent or purchase for educational use. [R]
NOW PLAYING | Champaign-Urbana Area
@ AMC Champaign 13, Champaign, IL
PAWS OF FURY: THE LEGEND OF HANK, WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING, THE BLACK PHONE, ELVIS, JURASSIC WORLD: DOMINION, LIGHTYEAR, MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU, THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER, TOP GUN: MAVERICK (7/15 on), NOPE (7/21 on)
@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL
MRS. HARRIS GOES TO PARIS, PAWS OF FURY: THE LEGEND OF HANK, WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING, THE BLACK PHONE, ELVIS, JURASSIC WORLD: DOMINION, LIGHTYEAR, MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU, THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER, TOP GUN: MAVERICK (7/15 on), Turner Classic Movies presents CABARET 50th anniversary (7/17, 7/20, 3 & 7 p.m.), POLY STYRENE: I AM A CLICHÉ (rock documentary; 7/17, 7/20, 3, 7 & 10:05 p.m.), ABOMINABLE, DESPICABLE ME (7/19-7/21, 10 a.m., free), National Theatre Live: Prima Facie starring Jodie Comer (7/21, 7 p.m., simulcast), NOPE (7/21 on)
@ Main Quad, Illini Union, UIUC, Urbana, IL
Illini Union Board presents “Summer Films on the Quad” feat. FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE SECRETS OF DUMBLEDORE (7/21, 9 p.m., free)
@ Redbox, Champaign-Urbana, IL
DASHCAM, MONSTROUS, SHARK BAIT, WOLF HOUND, more! (7/12 on) Online rentals
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL
No movies this week!
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
PAWS OF FURY: THE LEGEND OF HANK, WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING, ELVIS, MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU, THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER (7/15 on)
@ AMC Peru Mall 8, Peru, IL
PAWS OF FURY: THE LEGEND OF HANK, WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING, ELVIS, JURASSIC WORLD: DOMINION, MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU, THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER, TOP GUN: MAVERICK (7/15 on)
@ The Avon Theater, Decatur, IL
PAWS OF FURY: THE LEGEND OF HANK, MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU, THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER (7/14-7/17)
@ The Fischer Theatre, Danville, IL
No movies this week!
@ The Harvest Moon Twin Drive-in, Gibson City, IL
THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER (Screen 1), MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU (Screen 2) (7/15 on)
@ The Little Lorraine, Hoopeston, IL
Private parties this week.
@ The Normal Theater, Normal, IL
OFFICIAL COMPETITION (7/15-7/17), SUNSET BOULEVARD (7/16-7/17)
@ The Onarga Theatre, Onarga, IL
PAWS OF FURY: THE LEGEND OF HANK (7/15-7/17)
@ The Princess Theatre, Leroy, IL
JURASSIC WORLD: DOMINION (7/15-7/17)
@ Route 34 Drive-in, Earlville, IL
MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU, THE BAD GUYS (7/15-7/17)
@ Route 66 Twin Drive-in, Springfield, IL
MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU, ELVIS (Screen 1), THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER, TOP GUN: MAVERICK (Screen 2) (7/15 on)
@ Streator Eagle 6, Streator, IL
PAWS OF FURY: THE LEGEND OF HANK, WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING, THE BLACK PHONE, ELVIS, MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU, THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER (7/15 on), THE BOSS BABY: FAMILY BUSINESS (7/19-7/20, 10 a.m., free), NOPE (7/21 on)
@ VIP Lincoln Grand 6, Lincoln, IL
PAWS OF FURY: THE LEGEND OF HANK, WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING, ELVIS, MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU, THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER, TOP GUN: MAVERICK (7/15 on), TROLLS WORLD TOUR (7/20-7/21, 10 a.m.)
@ VIP Roxy Cinemas, Ottawa, IL
PAWS OF FURY: THE LEGEND OF HANK, WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING, ELVIS, MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU, THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER, TOP GUN: MAVERICK (7/15 on), TROLLS WORLD TOUR (7/20-7/21, 10 a.m.)
NOW PLAYING | Midwest
@ Chicago Filmmakers, Chicago, IL
12th annual Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival (7/15-7/21)
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
NEW! 8/13
Popcorn Frights Film Festival presents FINAL SUMMER* world premiere
@ Savor Cinema, St. Lauderdale, FL, 11 p.m.
NEW! 8/19-8/20
Dark History and Horror Convention feat. Screaming Mad Film Festival
@ I Hotel and Conference Center, UIUC, Champaign, IL
9/22-10/2
40th Reeling: The Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film Festival, Chicago, IL
4/19-4/22, 2023
23nd Roger Ebert’s Film Festival
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL
COMMUNITY & CAMPUS SERIES | Champaign-Urbana area
“The Arthouse Experience Film Series” curated by Sanford Hess
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL, 7 p.m.
7/27: THE WHITE TIGER
Illini Radio Group presents “Mix 94.5 Animation Vacation Movie Series”
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL, 7 p.m.
7/26, 7/28: THE LION KING (6:30 p.m.); 8/13: “Saturday Morning Cartoons” (9:30 a.m. & 2:30 p.m.); 8/20: SLEEPING BEAUTY (2 & 6:30 p.m.)
Illini Union Board presents “Summer Films on the Quad”
@ Main Quad, Illini Union, UIUC, Urbana, IL, 9 p.m. Thursdays, free
7/28: THE UNBEARABLE WEIGHT OF MASSIVE TALENT; 8/4: FATHER STU; 8/11: MORBIUS; 8/18: DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS
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Compiled by Jason Pankoke.
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