Calendar: November 1-7, 2024
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!
10/29: Julie Staley (producer/director, FIELDS OF GOLD, Spencer Films, Springfield, IL)
11/1: Amy Lynn Best (co-owner, Happy Cloud Media, LLC, Pittsburgh, PA)
11/3: Wes Melton (actor, RETURN OF THE CORN ZOMBIES, Acrostar Productions, Chicago, IL)
FIELD REPORT DU HQ | From Wherever It May Be Said
Let’s keep the Report on the brief side this week, shall we? Spencer Films of Springfield, led by the multi-hyphenate media producer and personality Julie Staley, announced last week that FIELDS OF GOLD, their acclaimed and well-traveled documentary on the life of Decatur business legend A. E. Staley, is now available to watch on Amazon Prime; the Spencer team, including Tim Lynn and Laura Richter, also just received a Mid-America Emmy Award for their affecting short subject, MUSIC OF HOPE, about the outreach done by University of Illinois-Springfield instructor and violinist Dr. Yona Stamatis to keep alive the memory of those affected by the Holocaust. Happening as well in the Capital City is the 23rd annual Route 66 International Film Festival, which is showing a program of approximately thirty shorts and features between today, Friday, November 1, and tomorrow, Saturday, November 2, at the Hoogland Center for the Arts in the downtown district; the array includes a half-dozen “Made in Illinois” selections, such as Ben Harl’s documentary AFTERLIFE and Thomas Nicol’s drama THE VENUS GAMBIT, and a set of shorts made by youth involved in the local 4-H chapter. And, helping young people find their talents and voices was surely on the mind of professional media veterans Leslie and Richard Frank who, according to a Daily Illini article from September 23, have bestowed a $2.5 million donation upon the College of Media at the University of Illinois in Urbana for major upgrades to Gregory Hall; the work, expected to start next summer, would modernize the basement classrooms and hallways as well as install a multi-purpose media production area that will provide space for “a press conference room, a cinema production studio, and a hybrid teaching classroom” to be utilized by students enrolled in Media’s various majors.
25 YEARS DU C-U | Publishing and Our Screen Scene
We won’t be shy about the significance that today’s Almanac entry holds for us here at the Secret MICRO-FILM Headquarters – behold the “anniversary collage” made by Ye Ed over on a site we haven’t had a legitimate occasion to highlight for some time – and we might as well point out the less-obvious dual meaning of it. Even though C-U Blogfidential was launched in 2006 and its companion print digest arrived the following year, it was within MICRO-FILM issue 1 where the concept of characterizing the movies of Champaign, Urbana, and the cities beyond under the “C-U Confidential” umbrella was born. Therefore, the overall project of chronicling and lifting up the film culture local to us has technically reached the quarter-century mark of existence along with our original Paper Opteryx endeavor. Since we don’t have the master files handy from the past life of MICRO-FILM – who knew we’d reach a point where CD-ROMs and compatible drives were not needed in the weekly workflow? – we’ll share a snap of the very first page of content to ever brandish that Confidential flair. We need to celebrate this close-to-impossible DIY milestone, we know, and should have figured it out by now. Oh, what will it be, C-U?
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CONFIDENTIAL ALMANAC | Dates in Film Culture History
25 Years Ago … Friday, October 29, 1999: After more than a year of development, networking, and production, the first print issue of MICRO-FILM magazine is introduced on opening night of the third annual Freaky Film Festival at the New Art Theater in downtown Champaign, Illinois. [R]
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LOCAL FILMS & EVENTS | Support Your Media Storytellers
@ Hoogland Center for the Arts, Springfield, IL
23rd Route 66 International Film Festival* (11/1-11/2)
@ Lincoln Hall, UIUC, Urbana, IL
Illini Film & Video* meeting (11/1, 7 p.m., Room 1002)
@ Golden Corral, Springfield, IL
Central Illinois Film Commission* meeting (11/7, 7 p.m.)
NOW PLAYING | Champaign-Urbana Area
@ AMC Champaign 13, Champaign, IL
ABSOLUTION, BHOOL BHULAIYAA 3 (in Hindi with English sub), CHASING CHASING AMY (documentary), GODZILLA MINUS ONE* and …MINUS COLOR* (re-release) (in Japanese with English sub), HERE, HITPIG!* (animation), LOST ON A MOUNTAIN IN MAINE*, SINGHAM AGAIN (in Hindi with English sub), BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE, CONCLAVE, SMILE 2, TERRIFIER 3, VENOM: THE LAST DANCE, WE LIVE IN TIME, THE WILD ROBOT (animation) (11/1 on), THE BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER advance screening (11/2, 4 & 7 p.m.), AX Cinema Nights presents METROPOLIS (animé) (11/3, 11/6, 4:30 p.m., in Japanese with English sub; 11/4, 7:30 p.m., English dub), ANORA, THE BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER (faith film), ELEVATION, HERETIC, MEANWHILE ON EARTH, MEMOIR OF A SNAIL (animation), SMALL THINGS LIKE THESE (11/7 on) *single screenings daily
@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL
GODZILLA MINUS ONE (re-release) (in Japanese with English sub), HERE, HITPIG! (animation), BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE, CONCLAVE, GOODRICH*, JOKER: FOILE À DEUX*, SMILE 2, THE SUBSTANCE, TERRIFIER 3, VENOM: THE LAST DANCE, WE LIVE IN TIME, THE WILD ROBOT (animation) (11/1 on), CORALINE (animation) (re-release) (11/1, 12:45 & 6:15 p.m. standard, 3:30 & 9 p.m. 3-D), THE BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER advance screening (11/2, 4 & 7 p.m.), Brandon Lake and Phil Wickham present “For the One” (worship concert film) (11/2, 3 p.m.), JOHN WICK 10th anniversary (11/3, 4 & 7 p.m.; 11/6, 7 p.m.), TWISTER (11/3, 3 & 7 p.m.; 11/6, 7 p.m.), THE BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER (faith film), HERETIC (11/7 on) *single screenings daily
@ Pine Lounge, 1st floor, Illini Union, UIUC, Urbana, IL
Illini Union Board presents FLY ME TO THE MOON (11/1-11/2, 7 p.m., free w/i-card)
@ 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
@ The Avon Theater, Decatur, IL
GOODRICH, HITPIG! (animation), TITANIC (3-D) (11/1-11/3)
@ Clintonia Eagle Theater, Clinton, IL
THE CARPENTER (faith film), HITPIG! (animation), SMILE 2, VENOM: THE LAST DANCE (11/1 on), THE BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER advance screening (11/2, 4 & 7 p.m.)
@ Crescent Cinemas, Pontiac, IL
VENOM: THE LAST DANCE (11/1 on)
@ The Fischer Theatre, Danville, IL
Downtown Danville “PotterFest 2024” feat. HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE (11/1, 7 p.m.)
@ Marcus Bloomington Cinema + IMAX, Bloomington, IL
ABSOLUTION, GODZILLA MINUS ONE* and …MINUS COLOR* (re-release) (in Japanese with English sub), HERE, HITPIG!* (animation), BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE, CONCLAVE, SPEAK NO EVIL*, TERRIFIER 3, VENOM: THE LAST DANCE, WE LIVE IN TIME, WHITE BIRD, THE WILD ROBOT (animation), YOUR MONSTER* (11/1 on), Indian cinema: SINGHAM AGAIN (11/1-11/3, 11/5, Hindi w/Eng sub), AMARAN (11/1-11/5, Tamil w/English sub), BLOODY BEGGAR* (11/1-11/6, Tamil w/English sub), KA* (11/1-11/3, 11/5-11/6, Telugu w/English sub), LUCKY BASHIR (11/1-11/6, Telugu w/English sub), BROTHER* (11/1-11/6, Tamil w/English sub), BAGHEERA* (11/1-11/3, 11/5-11/6, Kannada w/English sub), and BHOOL BHULAIYAA 3* (11/1-11/3, 11/5, Hindi w/English sub), HALLOWEEN (1978) (11/1-11/2, 9:30 p.m.), THE BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER advance screening (11/2, 4 & 7 p.m.), Brandon Lake and Phil Wickham present “For the One” (worship concert film) (11/2, 3 p.m.), HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 2 (11/3, 4 p.m.; 11/4, 6 p.m.), JOHN WICK 10th anniversary (11/3, 11/6, 7 p.m.), Marcus “Mystery Movie” (11/4, 7 p.m.), THE BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER (faith film), HERETIC, OVERLORD: THE SACRED KINGDOM (animé) (Japanese w/Eng dub or Eng sub) (11/7 on) *single screenings daily
@ The Normal Theater, Normal, IL
Severin Films presents … “Post Apocalyptic Triple Feature” feat. ACCIÓN MUTANTE, WARRIORS OF THE YEAR 2072, OK TO RUN* (short film) (11/1, 6 p.m. doors, 7 p.m. program), COCO (animation) (11/2-11/3), “Silents Synced” feat. NOSFERATU (1922) and “Kid A”/“Amnesiac” by Radiohead (11/2-11/3, 7 p.m.), THE FALLING STAR (11/7)
@ The Onarga Theatre, Onarga, IL
Closed until November.
@ The Princess Theatre, Leroy, IL
TRANSFORMERS ONE (animation) (11/1-11/3)
@ The Route 66 Drive-in Theater, Springfield, IL
Closed for the season.
@ VIP Lincoln Grand 6, Lincoln, IL
ABSOLUTION, HERE, SMILE 2, TERRIFIER 3, VENOM: THE LAST DANCE, WE LIVE IN TIME, THE WILD ROBOT (animation) (11/1 on)
NOW PLAYING | Midwest
@ College of Lake County, Grayslake, IL
14th Lake County Film Festival (10/31-11/3, 11/8-11/11) Information
@ Chicago Filmmakers Firehouse, Chicago, IL
Mostra XV Brazilian Film Festival presents DORIVAL CAYMMI, THE SOUNDS OF LIFE (music documentary) w/filmmaker Daniela Broitman (11/3, 4:30 p.m., free)
@ The Hi-Pointe Theatre, St. Louis, MO
Cinema St. Louis presents the 33rd St. Louis International Film Festival (11/7-11/17)
UPDATE! 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. And for northern Illinois industry news, be sure to read Reel Chicago and Screen Magazine.
COMING SOON | Area-wide Events
2/15/25
3rd annual CU International Film Festival*
@ Spurlock Museum of World Cultures, UIUC, Urbana, IL
3/27-3/29/25
2025 Big Muddy Film Festival*
@ The Varsity Center, Carbondale, IL
4/23/-4/25/25
25th Roger Ebert’s Film Festival*
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL
5/29-6/2/25
The Chambana Film Festival
@ TBA, Champaign-Urbana, IL
COMMUNITY & CAMPUS SERIES | Champaign-Urbana area
Chambana Film Festival* screening series
@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL, 4 p.m.
11/17: THE PROBLEM OF THE HERO; 11/24: THE HOBBY; 12/29: documentary shorts incl. FACING THE FALLS
Illini Radio Group presents “Rewind 92.5 Movie Series”/“Mix 94.5 Throwback Thursdays”*
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL, 7 p.m.
11/20: THE BOY AND THE HERON (animé); 12/5: FRIDAY*
Illini Union Board presents “Fall 2024 Weekend Films”
@ Pine Lounge, 1st floor, Illini Union, UIUC, Urbana, IL, 7 p.m. Fri. & Sat, free w/i-card
11/8-11/9: IT ENDS WITH US; 11/15-11/16: SCREAM (1996); 11/22-11/23: BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE; 12/6-12/7: HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS
Illinois Public Media presents “The Arthouse Experience Film Series”
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL, 7 p.m.
11/22: RUSHMORE; 12/14: ROBOT DREAMS (animation)
The News-Gazette Film Series
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL, 1 & 7 p.m.
11/30: THE WIZARD OF OZ; 12/7: IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE
Roger Ebert Center for Film Studies* event series
@ Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Center for World Cultures, UIUC, Urbana, IL
11/14: ALIEN: ROMULUS screening; 12/5: GREMLINS screening
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Compiled by Jason Pankoke.
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“Calendar du C-U”
© 2024 Jason Pankoke/C-U Blogfidential
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