Calendar: April 21-27, 2023
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!
4/21: Brian Paris (multimedia producer, City of Champaign administration department, Champaign, IL)
4/21: William Kephart (scene shop chief clerk, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, UIUC, Urbana, IL)
4/24: Ron Bonk (producer/distributor, SRS Cinema, Syracuse, NY)
4/25: Marty McKee (writer, Johnny LaRue’s Crane Shot, Champaign-Urbana, IL)
FIELD REPORT DU HQ | From Wherever It May Be Said
Given how the crowd at Roger Ebert’s Film Festival is in part reflecting on the 10th anniversary of the revered film critic’s passing, we present to you three items that recall other locally connected folks who once were active in the film arts. First, included in the Kino Lorber home video sale that will end after Monday, April 24, is the neorealist drama THE OLIVE TREES OF JUSTICE from 1962, directed by the American documentarian James Blue and photographed by the University of Illinois cinematography professor Julius Rascheff. This unusual production is the only French film to be shot in Algeria during that country’s war to gain independence from France and also one of the only feature credits for Rascheff, who died in 2017. OLIVE TREES had not been properly distributed in the United States before Kino began to offer it theatrically in January 2022 and on Blu-ray and VOD in April of last year.
Gone for much longer but still a source of inspiration is Vachel Lindsay, the Springfield-raised poet and traveling performer who authored the first true publication of film analysis, The Art of the Moving Picture, which was published in 1915. We’ve learned the state of Illinois recently collaborated with the Vachel Lindsay Foundation and The Storyteller Studios to produce a documentary, THE LIFE AND WORK OF VACHEL LINDSAY, which had its first public screening last Friday, April 14, at UI-Springfield and will be shown again this Saturday, April 22, 7 p.m., at the Varsity Center in Carbondale. Participants in the project include Lindsay scholar David Logan, a previous special guest of the New Art Film Festival, while fans can soon view the piece, directed by Kevin Christensen, at both the historic Vachel Lindsay Home in the Capital City and online courtesy of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and State Historic Sites Springfield. Dearest readers can watch a trailer right now at the Storyteller website.
To close, who the heck du C-U was ever going to tell us about Dora Hall? Based on what little we now know from online writing about this peculiar saga, Chicago suburbanite Hall rekindled her love of performing later in life and recorded extensively in the 1960s and 1970s while she was in her sixties and seventies, bankrolled by husband and well-off Solo Cup founder Leo Hulseman. Most of the songs were covers, mixed-and-matched on various LPs and cassettes issued by various labels invented for the cause, and when their allure waned with customers, even as giveaway products sent through the mail or bound into the packaging of Solo’s plastic ware, Team Dora began to develop a series of syndicated television specials to star her and lower-tier Hollywood celebrities in the service of old-fashioned fun. Several of these were resurrected as VHS releases in the late 1980s around the time of Hall’s death, listing as a mailing address the former Solo Cup factory in Urbana that is now known as Dart Container. Presumably, Hall’s products were stored and shipped from there.
NOW PLAYING | Champaign-Urbana Area
@ AMC Champaign 13, Champaign, IL
CHEVALIER, THE COVENANT, EVIL DEAD RISE, HOW TO BLOW UP A PIPELINE, AIR, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: HONOR AMONG THIEVES, JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 4, MAFIA MAMMA*, THE POPE’S EXORCIST, RENFIELD, THE SUPER MARIO BROS. MOVIE (animation), SUZUME (animé; in Japanese w/English sub or English dub) (4/14 on), Studio Ghibli Fest: Spirited Away: Live on Stage (animé adaptation; in Japanese w/English sub) (Feat. Kanna Hashimoto: 4/23, 4 p.m., simulcast; 4/25, 7 p.m., recorded) (Feat. Mone Kamishiraishi: 4/27, 7 p.m., simulcast), ARE YOU THERE, GOD? IT’S ME, MARGARET., BIG GEORGE FOREMAN: THE MIRACULOUS STORY, POLITE SOCIETY, PONNIYIN SELVAN: PART 2 (in Tamil), SISU (4/27 on) *single shows daily
@ Illini Union, UIUC, Urbana, IL
Illini Union Board presents “Spring 2023 Weekend Films” feat. ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA; (4/21-4/22, 7 p.m., free w/i-card)
@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL
BEAU IS AFRAID, THE COVENANT, EVIL DEAD RISE, AIR, AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER (3-D)*, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: HONOR AMONG THIEVES, JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 4, NEFARIOUS, THE POPE’S EXORCIST, RENFIELD, SCREAM VI, THE SUPER MARIO BROS. MOVIE (animation), SUZUME (animé; in Japanese w/English sub or English dub) (4/21 on), MAFIA MAMMA, SWEETWATER* (4/21-4/22, 4/24-4/27), Studio Ghibli Fest: Spirited Away: Live on Stage (animé adaptation; in Japanese w/English sub) (Feat. Kanna Hashimoto: 4/23, 4 p.m., simulcast) (Feat. Mone Kamishiraishi: 4/27, 7 p.m., simulcast), BLAZING SADDLES (4/23, 3 & 7 p.m.; 4/26, 7 p.m.), FLASHDANCE 40th anniversary (4/26, 7 p.m.), ARE YOU THERE, GOD? IT’S ME, MARGARET., BIG GEORGE FOREMAN: THE MIRACULOUS STORY (4/27 on) *single shows daily
@ Redbox, Champaign-Urbana, IL
COCAINE BEAR, MAGIC MIKE’S LAST DANCE, MARLOWE, TRANSFUSION, WICKED GAMES, more! (4/18 on) Online rentals
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL
College of Media at Illinois and Chaz Ebert present the 23rd Roger Ebert’s Film Festival* (through 4/22), Illinois Public Media presents “The Arthouse Experience Film Series” feat. LET THE RIGHT ONE IN (4/26, 7 p.m.), Illini Radio Group presents “Rewind 92.5 Movie Series” feat. GHOSTBUSTERS (1984) (4/27, 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
@ The Avon Theater, Decatur, IL
AIR, THE COVENANT, THE SUPER MARIO BROS. MOVIE (animation) (4/21-4/23)
@ The Fischer Theatre, Danville, IL
EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE (4/21, 7 p.m.; 4/22, 2 & 7 p.m.)
@ The Harvest Moon Twin Drive-in, Gibson City, IL
THE SUPER MARIO BROS. MOVIE (animation) (Screen 1), EVIL DEAD RISE (Screen 2) (4/21-4/23)
@ The Little Lorraine, Hoopeston, IL
ALIVE INSIDE documentary screening (4/23, 3 p.m., free w/reservation), private parties and “Family Movie Packs” this week.
@ The Normal Theater, Normal, IL
LEONOR WILL NEVER DIE, SUNDAY* (4/21), UHF (4/22), A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS (4/22-4/23), ISU Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders presents MOONLIGHT SONATA: DEAFNESS IN THREE MOVEMENTS (documentary) (4/25, 7 p.m., free)
@ The Onarga Theatre, Onarga, IL
THE SUPER MARIO BROS. MOVIE (animation) (4/21-4/23)
@ The Princess Theatre, Leroy, IL
SHAZAM! FURY OF THE GODS (4/21-4/23)
@ The Route 66 Drive-in Theater, Springfield, IL
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: HONOR AMONG THIEVES, THE SUPER MARIO BROS. MOVIE (animation) (Screen 1), EVIL DEAD RISE, SCREAM VI (Screen 2) (4/21-4/22)
NOW PLAYING | Midwest
@ The Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago, IL
Midwest Film Festival presents GREENER PASTURES farming documentary w/director Samuel-Ali Mirpoorian (4/24, doors 6:30 p.m., film 7:30 p.m.)
For detailed and curated listings of Chicago-area film presentations and related events, please visit the fine folks at Cine-File and subscribe to their definitive “Cine-List” weekly blast.
COMING SOON | Area-wide Events
4/27-4/30
Foxtail Film Festival (student films)*
@ Normal Theater, Normal, IL
4/28
UIUC Film Festival (student films)*
@ Spurlock Museum, UIUC, Urbana, IL, 7 p.m., free
5/6
MACS Student Showcase (UIUC student media classwork)*
@ Spurlock Museum, UIUC, Urbana, IL, 7 p.m., free
5/6
DESPERATE SOULS* world premiere
@ The Princess Theater, LeRoy, IL, 4 p.m.
NEW! 5/13
HUNTING FOR THE HAG* downstate premiere
@ The Normal Theater, Normal, IL, 7 p.m.
COMMUNITY & CAMPUS SERIES | Champaign-Urbana area
“The Arthouse Experience Film Series” curated by Sanford Hess and sponsored by Illinois Public Media
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL, 7 p.m.
5/31: THE TWO POPES; 6/14: MULHOLLAND DRIVE; 7/12: BARAKA
Illini Radio Group presents “Rewind 92.5 Movie Series”/“Mix 94.5 Throwback Thursdays”*
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL, 7 p.m.
5/18: BEETLEJUICE; 6/29: RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK; 7/27: TOP GUN
Illini Union Board presents “Spring 2023 Weekend Films”
@ Pine Lounge, 1st floor, Illini Union, UIUC, Urbana, IL, 7 p.m. Fri. & Sat, free w/i-card
4/28-4/29: COCAINE BEAR
The News-Gazette Film Series
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL, 1 & 7 p.m.
4/29: FANTASIA; 5/20: TOPPER; 6/17: ENTER THE DRAGON; 7/15: I LOVE LUCY: THE MOVIE
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Compiled by Jason Pankoke.
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