C-U Biz-en-scène: 02.11.2011
“C-U Biz-en-scène” appears every Thursday/Friday on C-U Blogfidential to give our readers a succinct snapshot of the cinema activity in and near Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, USA. Please support the artists and their work, attend screenings and events, and otherwise become active in our esoteric little world!
~~~~~
MFHQ & YOU:
Talk, Talking, Walk, Walking
The past two weeks have been interesting for us at the Secret MICRO-FILM Headquarters, although not necessarily in the mysterious confines of MFHQ itself, as we’ve communicated with a good number of friends and neighbors about their projects in various Champaign-Urbana locales as well as virtual environments. At Aroma Café, Ed and Meagan Glaser of Dark Maze Studios talked PRESS START 2, Japanese pop culture, and annoying toothaches. At Guido’s, Luke Boyce and Brett Hays of Shatterglass Studios discussed University of Illinois jobs, “Ebertfest” possibilities, FINDING VIRGINIA realities, and potential expansions into propagating film culture in the C-U. At Café Kopi, Chris and Anne Lukeman of Kill Vampire Lincoln Productions reminisced about ONCE UPON A TIME IN 1972, meeting crazy deadlines, and establishing a formal boutique production business. At Mike ‘n Molly’s, Colin Price divulged the downlow on RED LIGHT, “The Swann Saga” Web series co-created with Sasan Shabrou, bad karaoke singing, and even worse-sounding Hollywood releases coming this spring and summer. At Prairie Production Group, Mike Trippiedi updated on AMBER ROSE festival progress and financial hassles. In the English building at UIUC, Beanz Ramirez provided SNOWBOUND details while other Illini Film & Video members pitched project ideas. At the Art Theater, owner Sanford Hess revealed numerous upcoming first-runs, revivals, special events, and New Art Film Festival nuggets. Back at Kopi, Mike Boedicker and Bill Kephart of Roselawn Productions brought up REVOLTING and a new full-length screenplay. On Facebook, Thomas Nicol of Unfocused Films uploaded fresh looks at THE WINDOW INTO TIME special effects, while supporting actor Michael Kilcullen took time out of a Jupiter’s pizza run to describe his scenes in the same. Via e-mail, Skip Huston of the Avon Theater unloaded candid comments about movie distribution practices. Maybe most definitively of all, Tim Ro, Sean O’Leary, Polly Bland, and others shared with your humble editor the experience of making Ro’s dramatic short film, THE CONVERSATIONIST, at Pekara Bakery & Bistro. Do we need any further illustration that the hardy souls providing the real-world backbone to the movies of Champaign, Urbana, and the cities beyond simply kick ass? Stick with us, comrades, and you’ll get some on a weekly basis if you know what’s good for you!
MEETINGS
Keep in mind that on Tuesday, February 15, 7 p.m., Champaign Movie Makers will meet at Class Act Interactive, 114 S. Neil St., Champaign, to afford area filmmakers and talent an opportunity to discuss and join forces in the making of independent cinema in the area. The highlight of this month’s meeting is “Open Projector Night” for which the group invites attendees to bring DVDs and flash drives with short films and trailers or clips from feature films that they have been involved with! Additional topics are TBA. Feel free to contact Johnny Robinson at johnny [at] johnnyrobinson [dot] com for further information!
Also don’t forget that on Thursday, February 17, 7 p.m., the Central Illinois Film Commission will meet at Lake Pointe Grill, 1386 Toronto Rd., Springfield, to discuss member activities and area opportunities. CIFC head Cameron Counts tells CUBlog that this month’s highlights are TBA; you can contact Counts at nmdcone [at] yahoo [dot] com or visit their Web site for more information.
SUBMISSIONS
Watch your favorite local news outlets for the formal announcement that the New Art film Festival is returning! At the least, we hope it appears everywhere that we’ve sent the press release to; feel free to request the scoop from the editors, writers, and producers covering entertainment and arts in the area if you think their NAFF quotient is sorely lacking! (Remember to thank them after following through!) NAFF flames can also be fanned on our behalf by spreading the official word to your family, friends, and colleagues; check out the C-U Confidential and NAFF Facebook pages for the intellectual goods! Otherwise, you can glean the basic Call for Entries from our prior post if you have something of local filmic origin you would like us to consider including in the NAFF!
MEDIA LINKS
Mean and lean this week we are, yet we do have a little bit of meat clinging to our bones that will hopefully satiate your reading appetite. (Relax, vegetarian and vegan friends, it’s 100% pure metaphor!) On Tuesday, February 8, the Pantagraph reported about a historically nourishing Abraham Lincoln special airing next month on the National Geographic Channel that was filmed a year ago, partially in Lincoln, Galesburg, and Clinton, IL, with local actors and historians. And on Wednesday, February 9, the Herald & Review deepened the pit in our stomachs by confirming the AMC theater chain has closed the two-screen Paris (IL) Theatre as of last Sunday, mere weeks after shuttering the Will Rogers Theatre in downtown Charleston. We rebounded in the dead of night Wednesday evening thanks to MIDNITE MAUSOLEUM, yet another no-fi “horror host” program receiving a try-out on Urbana Public Television a la DR. DRECK; this one hails from Iowa and is emceed by “Marlena Midnite” and “Robyn Graves” who appeared during breaks in the Sixties junk food cinema classic, THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN’T DIE. (Conspicuously, MIDNITE presented this “public domain” title letterboxed and packing ahead-of-its-time gore effects long cut out, possibly using the DVD release by our friends at Synapse Films as their source. Naughty, naughty!) To wrap it up, yesterday SmilePolitely.com pointed out just enough fictional references to Fighting Illini sports to leave a high calorie, low flavor taste in our mouths: baseball in the new FOX dramedy TRAFFIC LIGHT and football in the ABC hit MODERN FAMILY. All in all, it’s a pretty yucky news week when highlights mostly involve the boob tube. We’ll be awaiting your hate mail.
PLAYING THIS WEEK
@ The Art Theater, Champaign, IL: ANOTHER YEAR (2/11 on), THE ROOM (2/11, 2/12, 2/14, 2/17, 10 p.m.), Rigoletto from Mantua (2/12, 2/13, 12 p.m., opera)
@ The Canopy Club, Urbana, IL: THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (2/12, Midnight)
@ The Avon Theater, Decatur, IL: THE TEMPEST, THE RITE, 127 HOURS (2/11 on), THE WAY BACK (2/11-2/13)
@ The Normal Theater, Normal, IL: THE GREAT DICTATOR (2/10-2/11, 7 p.m.), CASABLANCA (2/12-2/13, 7 p.m.), Oscar Nominated Short Films 2011: Documentaries (2/15-2/16, 7 p.m.), Oscar Nominated Short Films 2011: Live Action (2/17-2/18, 7 p.m.)
@ The Lorraine Theatre, Hoopeston, IL: JUST GO WITH IT, JUSTIN BIEBER: NEVER SAY NEVER (2/11 on)
@ Gemini Cinemas, Villa Grove, IL: COUNTRY STRONG, THE TOURIST (2/11 on)
@ The Onarga Theatre, Onarga, IL: TRUE GRIT (2/11-2/13, 2/16, 7 p.m.)
@ That’s Rentertainment, Champaign, IL: PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2, FOR COLORED GIRLS, LIFE AS WE KNOW IT, MY SOUL TO TAKE, TAMARA DREWE, ONG BAK 3, THE ROMANTICS, more! (2/8 on)
<><><><><>
Locally produced movies and events featuring locally produced movies are marked with an asterisk (*). Go see ‘em!
COMING SOON
2/18-2/27: Big Muddy Film Festival
@ Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL
2/27: PROBABILITY OF POSSIBILTIES* dance film (Premiere)
@ Krannert Art Museum, UIUC, Champaign, IL, 3 p.m.
2/27: Central Illinois Film Commission “Red Carpet Party”
@ TBD, 5:30 p.m.
3/10: THE LINGUISTS w/filmmakers
@ Doudna Fine Arts Center, Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, IL, 7 p.m.
3/11: DVD release: PRESS START 2 CONTINUE*
+ Dark Maze Studios, Champaign, IL
3/22-3/27: Ann Arbor Film Festival, Ann Arbor, MI
3/30-4/1: Wisconsin Film Festival, Madison, WI
4/8: The New Art Film Festival at Boneyard Arts Festival
@ The Art Theater, Champaign, IL
4/27-5/1: Roger Ebert’s Film Festival
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL
6/23-6/26: Onion City Experimental Film and Video Festival, Chicago, IL
9/16-9/18: Route 66 International Film Festival
@ Hoogland Center for the Arts, Springfield, IL
COMMUNITY FILM SERIES
“Real Vs. Reel” Movie Series
@ Danville Public Library, Danville, IL, 6:30 p.m.
2/14: HOOSIERS; 3/14: A PLACE IN THE SUN; 4/11: THE FUGITIVE
Springfield Art Association 20th Annual Film Festival
@ AMC Parkway 8, Springfield, IL, 1 & 4 p.m. (Sun.), 7 p.m. (Tues.)
2/13, 2/15: MADEMOISELLE CHAMBON; 2/27, 3/1: UNDERTOW; 3/13, 3/15: MOTHER AND CHILD; 3/27, 3/29: MADE IN DAGENHAM; 4/10, 4/12: MY DOG TULIP
The News-Gazette Film Series 2011
@ The Virginia Theater, Champaign, IL, 1 & 7 p.m.
3/12: THE MATRIX; 4/23: TOY STORY; 5/14: REAR WINDOW; 6/4: MOULIN ROUGE!; 7/23: BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S; 8/6: ARSENIC AND OLD LACE; 9/10: ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT; 10/8: THE EXORCIST; 11/5: THE GODFATHER; 12/3: THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS
WILL-TV/Independent Lens “Community Cinema” series
@ Champaign Public Library, Champaign, IL, 6:30 p.m.
2/24: ME FACING LIFE; 3/17: PUSHING THE ELEPHANT; TBA: BHUTTO, WELCOME TO SHELBYVILLE, TWO SPIRITS
UNIVERSITY FILM SERIES
IPRH Film Series Spring 2011
@ Room 62, Krannert Art Museum, UIUC, Urbana, IL, 5:30 p.m.
3/3: AFTER HOURS; 3/31: AVALON
OUTRO
And what about making films, videos, fantabulous multi-media, and vivacious viral content the Confidential way? We’ll admit it. We’ve mentally logged a million and one ideas – and managed to commit at least a thousand and one of them to paper or digital document – since well before our contiguous history launched with the original MICRO-FILM reign, yet we’ve never lost that quiet yearning to somehow, someday mold ideas into 4-by-3 or 16-by-9 reality. Could we finally break the dearth of in-house movie creation and join our C-U cinema brethren in the trenches with newfangled recording device at the ready? Roll the dice and place your bets, dearest readers! No telling from us what our first opus might entail, but we could hint that one particular project would involve a “lost” event taping from last summer ushered to completion as a DVD presentation. The nature of the eventual product is “for P.O.O. eyes only” and those in the drunken know should rejoice not only in the possibilities, but the actuality that we’ll finish the damn thing . Who likes mustaches? We do! We do! CA-CAW!
~~~~~
That’s it for the “business of our scene” this week!
If you have relevant news, opportunities, dates, or promotions that you would like included in CUBiz, please forward the who, what, where, when, and how much to cuconfidential [at] gmail [dot] com.
Compiled by Jason Pankoke
~~~~~
MF FIRE SALE!
We ask that you consider purchasing back issues of MICRO-FILM and C-U Confidential to help erase our outstanding print bill before we return to the printer with files for not only CUZine no.5 but our delayed special issues, C-U Confidential ’99 and MICRO-FILM 2000. You can order by using the “Donate” PayPal button here or sending cash/check/money order/cashier’s check to: Jason Pankoke, Editor, MICRO-FILM, 401 N. Prairie, Suite 3D, Champaign, IL, 61820. Documents should be made payable to “Jason Pankoke” and personal/business checks will have to sit 4-6 weeks to clear. The sale is good for MICRO-FILM issues 1-7 (do not use the old PayPal buttons if you want sale prices) and C-U Confidential issues 1-4 until further notice. For any single order: 1st copy MF, $5 ppd; 2nd copy MF, $4 ppd, 3rd copy MF, $3 ppd; 4th+ copy MF, $2 ppd each; 1st copy CUZine, $4 ppd; 2nd copy CUZine, $3 ppd, 3rd+ copy CUZine, $1 ppd each. If you have trouble figuring out a total price, simply write us at cuconfidential [at] gmail [dot] com for help. We need to nail this by Friday, April 1, 2011, or nefarious decisions will have to be made in the bowels of the Secret MICRO-FILM Headquarters. Thanks in advance for your support!
~~~~~
~~~~~
“C-U Biz-en-scène” no.29 © 2011 Jason Pankoke/C-U Blogfidential.