C-U Blogfidential

“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:
Brothers and Sisters, Can You Spare Your Two Cents’ Worth?

Apart from the C-U Confidential advertisers we feted last week in the Biz, there is another select group deserving of kudos for helping us in our five-plus years of existence. We already dedicated the C-U Blogfidential color section in CUZine issue 5 to them, but we’ll gladly repeat ourselves since CUBlog channels most of their output directly to these very Interwebs. Therefore, we bow to thee: Anthony Zoubek, Eric Pankoke, Jamie Newell, Jeff McCoy, Michelle Elizabeth Kaffko, Robin Christian, Tyler Tharpe, and Thomas Nicol. While we treasure the editorial and technical contributions of everyone just mentioned, let alone all our guest editorialists, cover models, and local media mavens regularly feeding us useful materials, the Secret MICRO-FILM Headquarters is sorely in need of talented individuals apart from your humble editor to improve our efforts on a continual basis. Will the true believers please stand up – yes, please stand up – and think creatively about how you can aid the CUBlog semi-empire in shedding its chrysalis and emerging a more fruitful entity? At the least, we’d love to entertain A. writers who can deliver well-written copy on deadline in the form of news items, interviews, features, and columns, B. entrepreneurs who can engineer a modest cash flow to pay bills and embellish our offerings, and C. impresarios who can build a consistent CUBlog presence in people’s minds and our community’s consciousness. Today is a better day than ever before to get proactive for the sake of the movies of Champaign, Urbana, and the cities beyond! Also feel free to pursue the following:

• Several points this week relate to teaching the children (and young-at-heart) well, so we start with news that Class Act Interactive, the improv training space run by Natalie Ellis in downtown Champaign, is co-sponsoring a “music video camp” from August 1-5 with the Orpheum Children’s Museum. Geared towards kids in grades 3-6, the camp guides campers in making rockin’ visuals that will premiere at an Orpheum “red carpet” party. Go here to register;
• Not strictly in the CUBlog realm but worth a mention, the Orpheum is also looking for performers to appear in an all-ages “walkthrough” variation of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland on June 10-12. Contact Deborah at deborah [at] orpheumkids [dot] com or (217) 352-5895 for further information;
• Disabled residents living in the C-U receive opportunities to perform publicly thanks to Brian Hagy and the Prompting Theater, a program of Developmental Services Center in Champaign. Hagy seeks production assistance for Prompting’s annual haunted house event, in collaboration with the Orpheum and Class Act, related to real-time video effects. Please write Hagy at dellarte69 [at] yahoo [dot] com for further details;
• Skip Huston of Decatur’s venerable Avon Theater has announced his next “Richland [Community College] at the Avon” movie class. “Overlooked Films, Part 9,” which will run from Thursday, June 16, to Thursday, August 4. As usual, movie selections will not be revealed in advance. Hit up the Avon for registration details, course fee is $80;
• The Avon is also hosting a different sort of educational event – some would say, of the pseudo kind – on Saturday, July 2, when attendees can join Decatur ghost/true crime author Troy Taylor on an overnight paranormal investigation at the theater from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. the following morning. More about the spooky agenda can be gleaned from this Web site;
• Our final item in the schooling vein concerns a summer class at Champaign’s Parkland College called “Conversation & Culture” (Spanish 220), apparently using cinema to explore contemporary Spanish-speaking milieu in the world. Fliers picture such art house hits as MARIA FULL OF GRACE, UNDER THE SAME MOON, and VOLVER, and we’ll presume titles will be subject to change. The course begins Monday, June 13, and concludes Thursday, July 21. Get in touch with instructors Martha Zarate (mzarate [at] parkland [dot] edu, 581-5213) and Sean Dannenfeldt (sdannenfeldt [at] parkland [dot] edu, 373-3733) to find out fees and requirements;
• And, our penultimate bullet for the week is a reminder for Illinois filmmakers to enter the annual Illinois Film Office “Shortcuts” contest which we’ve mentioned previously. Deadline is Monday, August 1, which will arrive before you know it so check out the scoop right here!

In addition to the two local feature productions we discussed in the Biz last week, we’ll drop the skinny on two more downstate shows in next week’s column along with first casting news on an additional endeavor to be written and directed by a Springfield filmmaker in Chicago. Time to work it, folks!

MEDIA LINKS

We have very little to show for ourselves, dearest readers, but here goes! First, read and heed another feature about Paul Holze and Groundwork Global Media’s acceptance into the YouTube filmmakers’ mentoring initiative, published in last week’s buzz magazine. (Hats off to buzz for loading up that issue with interesting subject matter including: local music on WEFT Radio, Radical Librarians at the Independent Media Center, summer music festivals, graffiti in the C-U, and Porgy and Bess in Chicago.) Then, we segue from the substantial to the near-trivial in this Associated Press wire story about NFL running back Reggie Bush’s one-week residence in nearby Danville during taping of the upcoming CBS-TV reality show, SAME NAME; of course, his everyman namesake took Bush’s place in the latter’s off-season regimen – which most likely means the lucky fella earned a paid trip to the Big Easy since Bush plays for the New Orleans Saints. (Must be nice “work” if one can, um, score it…) Finally, this just in: We rarely bother Roger Ebert about anything but given his disdain for 3-D and other overt theatrical gimmicks – particularly those adding surcharges to already steep ticket prices – we had to send him a Pantagraph article by Dan Craft about “motion seating” slowly appearing in ‘plexes nationwide; Ebert reacted expectedly and has already posted commentary on this development.

PLAYING THIS WEEK

@ The Art Theater, Champaign, IL: I AM (6/3 on), RANGO (6/3, 10 p.m.; 6/4, 3 p.m.; 6/9, 10 p.m.), The Barber of Seville (6/3-6/4, 12 p.m., opera), PeckaKucha Night (6/3, 5:30 p.m.), READY (6/3, 10 p.m., Bollywood), CALL + RESPONSE (6/4, 4 p.m., free), THE LIGHT THIEF (6/9, 5:30 p.m., free)

@ The Virginia Theater, Champaign, IL: MOULIN ROUGE! (6/4, 1 & 7 p.m.)

@ The Avon Theater, Decatur, IL: THE HANGOVER PART II, KUNG FU PANDA 2, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES (6/3 on)

@ The Normal Theater, Normal, IL: NINE NATION ANIMATION (6/2-6/5), KINGS OF PASTRY (6/7-6/8)

@ The Lorraine Theatre, Hoopeston, IL: X-MEN: FIRST CLASS, KUNG FU PANDA 2 (6/3 on)

@ Gemini Cinemas, Villa Grove, IL: X-MEN: FIRST CLASS, KUNG FU PANDA 2 (6/3 on)

@ The Onarga Theatre, Onarga, IL: KUNG FU PANDA 2 (6/3-6/5, 6/8)

@ Princess Theatre, LeRoy, IL: SOMETHING BORROWED (6/3-6/5)

@ Harvest Moon Drive-In, Gibson City, IL: X-MEN: FIRST CLASS, THE HANGOVER PART II (6/3 on), PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES (6/3-6/4)

@ Route 66 Drive-In, Springfield, IL: KUNG FU PANDA 2, THOR, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES, FAST FIVE (6/3 on?)

@ That’s Rentertainment, Champaign, IL: BIUTIFUL, DRIVE ANGRY, KA-BOOM, UNDERTOW, PASSION PLAY, THE WAITING CITY, GREEN DRAGON, TRUE BLOOD (s3), more! (5/31 on)

@ Centerbrook Drive-In, Martinsville, IN: X-MEN: FIRST CLASS, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES (6/3-6/8)

@ Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago, IL: Chicago Underground Film Festival (6/2-6/9)

<><><><><>

Locally produced movies and events featuring locally produced movies are marked with an asterisk (*). Go see ‘em!

COMING SOON

6/18: PARANOIA* local movie premiere w/filmmakers
@ Hoogland Center for the Arts, Springfield, IL, 8 p.m.

6/23-6/26: Onion City Experimental Film and Video Festival, Chicago, IL

7/14-7/24: Indianapolis International Film Festival, Indianapolis, IN

7/15-7/17: G-Fest XVIII (Japanese pop culture), Rosemont, IL

7/19-7/24: Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival, Palatine, IL

8/4-8/7: Gen Con (Gaming), Indianapolis, IN

8/11-8/14: Wizard World Chicago (Comics & entertainment), Rosemont, IL

9/16-9/18: Route 66 International Film Festival
@ Hoogland Center for the Arts, Springfield, IL

9/23-9/25: B Movie Celebration, Franklin, IN

10/6-10/20: Chicago International Film Festival, Chicago, IL

10/13-10/22: Heartland Film Festival, Indianapolis, IN

NEW! 10/21-10/23: Dark Carnival Film Festival, Bloomington, IN

10/28-10/30: Freeky Creek Short Film Festival
@ Sleepy Creek Vineyards, Fairmount, IL

11/3-11/12: Reeling Lesbian & Gay International Film Festival, Chicago, IL

11/4-11/5: Drunken Zombie Film Festival
@ Peoria Theater, Peoria, IL

11/10-11/12: Embarras Valley Film Festival
@ EIU campus/Will Rogers Theater/etc., Charleston, IL

11/11-11/13: HorrorHound Weekend (Horror culture), Cincinnati, OH

11/10-11/20: St. Louis International Film Festival, St. Louis, MO

COMMUNITY FILM SERIES

The New Classics: Great Books to Great Films from the Past 50 Years
@ Danville Public Library, Danville, IL, 6:30 p.m.
6/13: FIELD OF DREAMS; 7/11: THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK; 8/8: INTO THE WILD; 9/12: TRUE GRIT (2010); 10/10: THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS; 11/14: ORDINARY PEOPLE; 12/12: FAIL SAFE 1964); 1/9/12: NEVER CRY WOLF; 2/13/12: AWAKENINGS; 3/12/12: ADAPTATION; 4/9/12: UP IN THE AIR

The News-Gazette Film Series 2011
@ The Virginia Theater, Champaign, IL, 1 & 7 p.m.
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
@ The Art Theater, Champaign, IL, Time TBA
6/11: TWO SPIRITS

UNIVERSITY FILM SERIES

UPDATE! Global Lens 2011: International Films
@ The Art Theater, Champaign, IL
6/9, 5:30 p.m.: 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

~~~~~

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

~~~~~

We welcome your virtual presence in the Confidential scheme!

290 awesome (but way too few) peeps dig our Facebook page, while 17 astounding (yet way way way too few) comrades keep a watchful eye on our YouTube channel, the C-U Confidential Revue! We’d place our bets in a heartbeat that many more would enjoy our social/video outreach if they knew about us! Have you joined us on-line? Will you be ambassadors for our indie film cause and send your recruits in our direction? The more attention we receive, the better we can serve the interests of local artists and the movies of Champaign, Urbana, and the cities beyond!

~~~~~

Prior “CUBiz” | Next “CUBiz”

~~~~~

“C-U Biz-en-scène” no.45 © 2011 Jason Pankoke/C-U Blogfidential.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 3rd, 2011 at 9:00 am and is filed under Alums Done Good, C-U Biz-en-scène, C-U Blogfidential, Column du C-U, Deadline du C-U, Education/Classes, Job Opportunities, Media Coverage, Music Video, Public Events, Roger Ebert. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.