C-U Biz-en-scène: 04.14.2011
“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:
There’s Something Happening Here, That’s Relatively Clear
Make sure to read our “desperation post” from yesterday which attempted to regain ground on keeping up with the movies of Champaign, Urbana, and the cities beyond, featuring several fresh news items in addition to the following:
- Jennifer Bechtel, a co-writer of LEADING LADIES, will audition child actors this Sunday, April 17, for a teaser trailer she will use to raise awareness and funds for her next independent feature, scheduled to shoot in summer 2012. Per her Facebook posting, the new project “is GLBT sympathetic coming-of-age story about a teenage girl and her wild independent filmmaking family. For the kid characters, I am looking for young actors with confidence and maturity [that] are willing to have some fun with their roles. No experience necessary.” Bechtel is looking for “a young white boy, approximately 6-8 years old, and a young black girl, [also] approximately 6-8 years old” for the trailer shoot taking place this summer, explaining that race factors into their scenes. Parents can contact Bechtel with questions or to schedule an appointment for their child at jmbechtel [at] sbcglobal [dot] net;
- Also on Sunday, April 17, sneak preview scenes from the Bloomington-Normal indie feature USING will be shown during a multi-artist performance at Gregor Salon in downtown Bloomington between 12 and 5 p.m. Producer and featured actress Kymberly Harris of TheatresCool will present the clips during the event, sponsored by the Illinois State University Creative Writing Program and Department of English. Joining Harris are poets Adrian Matjeka and Ryan Clark, installation artist Brian Collier, dancer-choreographer Tanya Picard, singer-songwriter Eva Hunter, and the host, landscape artist Harold Gregor;
- Current University of Illinois undergraduate A.J. Christensen, who has helped with several recent local films including ONCE UPON A TIME IN 1972, will explore Disney’s “Blue Sky” method of generating story during the next Champaign Movie Makers meeting at Class Act Interactive in downtown Champaign. Christensen’s group exercise will begin at 7 p.m. and the monthly get-together will finish out with a pitch session where members can announce needs for their upcoming summer/fall projects;
- UIUC alum and former Illini Film & Video veep Andrew Nygard, responsible for the two student-made “Midwesterns” ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE MIDWEST and THE BALLAD OF DIRTY DON, will return to his C-U stomping grounds this June and July to film a short called THE GIANT COMMUNIST and promises it will pertain to “exploring Communism and very tall people.” Auditions will take place Sunday, May 1, 5 p.m. in Room 104 of the English Building on the Main Quad; queries can be forwarded to GiantCommunist [at] gmail [dot] com;
- As local favorite BEDTIME FOR TIMMY by Thomas Nicol and Becky Griesheimer hit all the correct beats at the New Art Film Festival last weekend, it also entertained a more horror-centric crowd at the Imagi-Movies Festival in Beverly Hills, CA, sponsored by the resurrected Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine.
We’ll save not-as-timely updates for the next couple of Biz blasts. Until then…
PLAYING THIS WEEK
@ The Art Theater, Champaign, IL: OF GODS AND MEN (4/15 on), CORALINE (4/15, 4/16, 10 p.m.), Caligula (4/16-4/17, 12 p.m., ballet), PERSEPOLIS (4/21, 10 p.m.)
@ Champaign Public Library, Champaign, IL: STONEWALL UPRISING screening/discussion/taping (4/14, 6:30 p.m.)
@ The Avon Theater, Decatur, IL: THE CONSPIRATOR, ARTHUR, SOURCE CODE (4/15 on)
@ The Normal Theater, Normal, IL: THE ILLUSIONIST (4/14-4/17, 7 p.m.)
@ The Lorraine Theatre, Hoopeston, IL: RIO (4/15 on)
@ Gemini Cinemas, Villa Grove, IL: RIO, DIARY OF A WIMPY KID: RODRICK RULES (4/15 on)
@ The Onarga Theatre, Onarga, IL: RIO (4/15, 7 p.m.; 4/16-4/17, 2 & 7 p.m.; 4/20, 7 p.m.)
ADDED! @ Princess Theatre, LeRoy, IL: MARS NEEDS MOMS (4/15-4/17)
OPEN! @ Harvest Moon Drive-In, Gibson City, IL: RIO, HOP (4/15-4/17)
OPEN! @ Route 66 Drive-In, Springfield, IL: RANGO, TRUE GRIT, THE GREEN HORNET, JUST GO WITH IT (4/15-4/16)
@ That’s Rentertainment, Champaign, IL: VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER, COUNTRY STRONG, A SUMMER IN GENOA, BEHIND THE BURLY Q, WHITE MATERIAL (Criterion), more! (4/12 on)
OPEN! @ Centerbrook Drive-In, Martinsville, IN: SCREAM 4, HALL PASS (4/15-4/17)
@ Wicker Park Arts Center/Music Box Theatre/etc., Chicago, IL: Chicago International Movies & Music Festival (4/14-4/17)
@ Northwestern University, Evanston, IL: The Talking Pictures Festival (4/14-4/17)
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Locally produced movies and events featuring locally produced movies are marked with an asterisk (*). Go see ‘em!
COMING SOON
NEW! 4/19: Champaign Movie Makers* meeting
@ Class Act Interactive, Champaign, IL, 7 p.m., free
NEW! 4/25: FALLING UP* w/UIUC filmmakers
@ The Art Theater, Champaign, IL, 7 p.m., free
NEW! 4/26: AMERICAN MOVIE w/Mark Borchardt
Sponsored by Roger Ebert’s Film Festival
@ Foellinger Auditorium, UIUC, Urbana, IL, 7:30 p.m.
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
NEW! 5/1: THE GIANT COMMUNIST* audition
@ Room 104, English Building, UIUC, Urbana, IL, 5 p.m.
5/4: 2nd Annual Feminist Film Festival
@ The Art Theater, Champaign, IL
NEW! 5/8: Film Firm Casting audition for untitled indie film*
@ Room 409, Illini Union, UIUC, Urbana, IL, 12-7 p.m.
NEW! 6/2-6/9: Chicago Underground Film Festival, Chicago, 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
NEW! 10/6-10/20: Chicago International Film Festival, Chicago, IL
NEW! 10/28-10/30: Freeky Creek Short Film Festival
@ Sleepy Creek Vineyards, Fairmount, IL
NEW! 11/10-11/12: Embarras Valley Film Festival
@ EIU campus/Will Rogers Theater/etc., Charleston, IL
COMMUNITY FILM SERIES
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.
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
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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.38 © 2011 Jason Pankoke/C-U Blogfidential.