C-U Biz-en-scène: 04.01.2011
“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!
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MFHQ & YOU:
Riding the Critical Mass of Champaign-Urbana Cinema
Greetings to you, Confidential friends! We resume our regular Biz-ness this week in abbreviated form, but with good reason! Your humble editor just finished up the fabled full-color insert appearing in the next issue of C-U Confidential, officially titled C-U Blogfidential Exceeds the Fifth!, that will hit the twin cities next Friday, April 8, starting exclusively at the Art Theater in Champaign during the New Art Film Festival! Of course, our attentions also include the NAFF itself as Art guru Sanford Hess and mistress of magic Lisa Cerezo have been helping shore it up for prime time; watch this space as well as the Art’s Web site, our new NAFF Facebook page, and the local press for previews and interviews about the films and filmmakers we’re featuring this year! On top of all this – or crushed underneath, depending on our vantage point at any given moment – is CUZine itself, still on track to take on the C-U beginning Wednesday, April 27, the first day of Roger Ebert’s Film Festival! But wait, there’s even more relevant goodness taking place during this time frame … although you should continue reading to learn about it for yourselves. Away we go!
SUBMISSIONS
Our friend John Fischer of the Bloomington Public Library just alerted CUBlog that the B/N Short Film Festival (a.k.a. BNFilmFest) will return this year on Tuesday, May 10, and Wednesday, May 11, at the Normal Theater in downtown Normal, IL. Submissions will be accepted until Wednesday, April 20, according to the revived Web site, which provides more specific detail than in the past. Awkward phrasing implies all entries should be made by college-aged filmmakers or younger – we could be reading that wrong, so ask before you apply – yet the organizers make it quite clear the material must be appropriate for a family audience. This apparently means the previous “first day for everyone, second day for a mature audience” schema is kaput. If your work fits the criteria, though, pursue it by all means!
AWARDS
Local filmmaker Jay Rosenstein let us know Thursday his most recent work, THE LORD IS NOT ON TRIAL HERE TODAY, has won a Peabody Award, the oldest and most prestigious honor given to producers each year for significant achievements in television, film, radio, and new media. Thirty-nine recipients were chosen this year by the Peabody committee, headquartered at the University of Georgia-Athens, and announced earlier this week. The official press release calls TRIAL an “artfully assembled documentary [which] examined the landmark court case that established separation of church and state in public schools.” Also read this post from sponsor station WILL-TV Channel 12, briefly running down the accolades TRIAL has amassed in recent months since its public and televised unveiling back in the fall. We wish Rosenstein all the best success with this project and his future explorations of American culture and social equality.
In addition, the C-U dramatic feature AMBER ROSE directed by local movie stalwart Mike Trippiedi earned a “Grand Jury Award – Best Feature” prize from its festival debut screening during last month’s Washington D.C. Independent Film Festival in our nation’s capital! Trippiedi also let CUBlog know the film has been selected to play the Sunscreen Film Festival in St. Petersburg, FL, on Thursday, April 14, as well as the Bare Bones Film Festival in Muskogee, OK, on Wednesday, April 27. We also wish Trippiedi the best of luck in ushering his screen story about mental illness and questionable life choices into the world; watch for new AMBER ROSE coverage to appear exclusively in the next issue of C-U Confidential later this month!
MEDIA LINKS
Try this one out on the ol’ mental wheelhouse, folks. Numerous Web sources are having big fun sharing this Weblog post by Paleofuture magazine about a 1987 Omni magazine piece featuring Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, in which the latter predicts an entertainment landscape very closely resembling the one existing today. Maybe Ebert is magic…
PLAYING THIS WEEK
@ The Art Theater, Champaign, IL: BLUE VALENTINE (4/1 on), THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE (4/1, 4/2, 4/7, 10 p.m.), Girl of the Golden West (4/2-4/3, 12 p.m., opera), PRESS START* (4/6, 10 p.m.)
@ 88 Broadway, Urbana, IL: Buttered Corn on the Cob Film Festival* (4/3, 2-10 p.m.)
@ Altgeld Hall (Room 314), University of Illinois, Urbana, IL: “Rhetoric 233 – Composing and Cinema” student films* (7 p.m.)
@ The Avon Theater, Decatur, IL: SOURCE CODE, INSIDIOUS, LIMITLESS (4/1 on)
@ The Normal Theater, Normal, IL: THE KING’S SPEECH (3/31, 4/1-4/3, 7 p.m.)
@ The Lorraine Theatre, Hoopeston, IL: HOP (4/1 on)
@ Gemini Cinemas, Villa Grove, IL: I AM NUMBER FOUR, MARS NEEDS MOMS (4/1 on)
@ The Onarga Theatre, Onarga, IL: HOP (4/1, 7 p.m.; 4/2-4/3, 2 & 7 p.m.; 4/6, 7 p.m.)
ADDED! @ Princess Theatre, LeRoy, IL: HALL PASS (4/1-4/3)
OPEN! @ Harvest Moon Drive-In, Gibson City, IL: RANGO, PAUL (4/1-4/3)
OPEN! @ Route 66 Drive-In, Springfield, IL: RANGO, TRUE GRIT, GNOMEO & JULIET, I AM NUMBER FOUR (4/1-4/2)
@ That’s Rentertainment, Champaign, IL: BLACK SWAN, TANGLED, MESRINE: PUBLIC ENEMY #1, FAIR GAME, ALL GOOD THINGS, MADE IN DAGENHAM, ONE WEEK, MAD MEN s4, more! (3/29 on)
OPEN! @ Centerbrook Drive-In, Martinsville, IN: BATTLE: LOS ANGELES, THE GREEN HORNET (4/1-4/3)
@ Orpheum Theatre, UW Cinematheque, etc., Madison, WI: 13th Wisconsin Film Festival (through 4/3)
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Locally produced movies and events featuring locally produced movies are marked with an asterisk (*). Go see ‘em!
COMING SOON
4/8: The New Art Film Festival* at Boneyard Arts Festival
@ The Art Theater, Champaign, IL
4/14: STONEWALL UPRISING screening/discussion/taping
@ Champaign Public Library, Champaign, IL, 6:30 p.m.
4/14-4/17: Chicago International Movies & Music Festival
@ Wicker Park Arts Center/Music Box Theatre/etc., Chicago, IL
4/27-5/1: Roger Ebert’s Film Festival
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL
4/30: THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW
@ The Canopy Club, Urbana, IL, 11 p.m. w/Millikin U. shadow cast
5/4: 2nd Annual Feminist Film Festival
@ The Art Theater, Champaign, IL
6/23-6/26: Onion City Experimental Film and Video Festival, Chicago, IL
7/19-7/24: Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival, Palatine, 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.
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.)
4/10, 4/12: MY DOG TULIP
The News-Gazette Film Series 2011
@ The Virginia Theater, Champaign, IL, 1 & 7 p.m.
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.
4/26: BHUTTO: 5/10: WELCOME TO SHELBYVILLE; TBA: TWO SPIRITS
UNIVERSITY FILM SERIES
AsiaLENS: AEMS Documentary/Film Series
@ Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, 7 p.m.
4/5: THE SWEETEST EMBRACE; 5/3: IN THE MATTER OF CHA JUNG HEE
Global Lens 2011: International Films
@ Latzer Hall, University YMCA, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, 5:30 p.m.
4/21: DOOMAN RIVER, China; 5/19: THE INVISIBLE EYE, Argentina; 6/16: THE LIGHT THIEF, Kyrgyzstan; 7/21: SOUL OF SAND, India; 8/18: STREET DAYS, Georgia; 9/15: THE TENANTS, Brazil; 10/20: A USEFUL LIFE, Uruguay; 11/17: WHITE MEADOWS, Iran
IPRH Film Series Spring 2011
@ Room 62, Krannert Art Museum, UIUC, Urbana, IL, 5:30 p.m.
3/31: AVALON
OUTRO
“Buttered! Corn! Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuutered Corn!” Because of the slammed-tastic atmosphere permeating the Secret MICRO-FILM Headquarters right now, we’re picking and choosing our happy battles in what we can spend time reporting about extensively on CUBlog and elsewhere. Therefore, we won’t be able to formally preview this weekend’s Buttered Corn on the Cob Film Festival which takes place Sunday, April 3, starting at 2 p.m. in downtown Urbana hot spot 88 Broadway, located in the mall of Lincoln Square Village. Please check out this free event showcasing more than 20 independent film shorts and features; you can read over the schedule here. Watch for us to make a brief appearance during one or two blocks’ worth to watch some cinema, kick up our feet, and tie one on for the cause!
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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
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“C-U Biz-en-scène” no.36 © 2011 Jason Pankoke/C-U Blogfidential.