C-U Biz-en-scène: 07.09.2011
“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:
No Punishment in Entertaining the Capital
Producing C-U Blogfidential week after week, we often run short of time to provide you dearest readers with the rest of the story when it comes to public outings. We do venture forth from the Secret MICRO-FILM Headquarters to attend events listed here in the Biz, believe it or not, yet we’re usually looking forward again while writing our posts before we ever get a chance to recount that which we soak in while roaming Champaign, Urbana, and the cities beyond. Today, we’d like to reverse the trend and bring up our Springfield trip with the lady Cara Day back on June 18 to attend the premiere of Walkaway Entertainment’s locally made micro-budget thriller PARANOIA. Roughly a hundred folks, many of them “friends of the production” such as Dark Maze Studios’ Ed and Meagan Glaser, converged in the spacious 4th floor event room at the downtown Hoogland Center for the Arts rented by filmmakers Ryan Mitchelle and Brad Jones. Apart from our mildly “bumpy” sightline due to a sea of heads situated between us and a low-mounted screen, we liked this psychological romp about a writer wannabe played by Jones who flirts with murder and other disasters one long dark night after his wife bolts in general disgust. We possibly enjoyed the discussion session even more when a sprightly bunch led by Jones and Mitchelle took the stage post-credits to talk, explain, and joke about their project and teamwork, introducing us to a movie-making nucleus we otherwise hadn’t known about. Once they finished, we offered congratulations and then broke away to spend time with our friends Linda McElroy of the Route 66 International Film Festival and Cameron Counts of the Central Illinois Film Commission, also in attendance. After spending time critiquing television talent shows and avoiding eye contact with half-drunk hotties at the Firehouse Tavern, we bid adieu to Counts and McElroy before making our way to nearby Brewhaus where Route 66 stalwart Meredith Dumyahn had joined the Walkaway entourage, sadly less Mitchelle, Jones, and PARANOIA co-star Jillian Zurawski. With chat becoming idle and closing time looming, we took our leave for the long I-72 drag home. A modest evening out, the PARANOIA show left us with the rather secure feeling that movie-making crazies were among us even in our non-usual haunts, although sometimes one has to go out of one’s way to engage them. Cases in point:
- We also love unexpectedly meeting new people in our own backyard making the effort to find their way creatively such as Abigail Graham, a C-U native who recently returned after several stops in places as diverse as Austin, New Orleans, and Washington D.C. Graham attended last month’s Champaign Movie Makers meeting to recruit talent and crew for her start-up label Graham City and first Internet/broadcast effort, THE ABIGAIL SHOW. Feel free to read up on her exploits so far at this Web site and contact grahamcity [at] gmail [dot] com if interested in working on SHOW, conceptualized as a variety program in the classic mold with Graham serving as its offbeat host;
- Urbana’s DIY rapper-slash-madman Duckman happens to be pretty prolific with his homemade video output as evidenced with this new clip for the song, “Alan Moore’s Autograph,” due to appear on the upcoming album District 4:20;
- Chris Lusvardi of the Decatur Herald & Review reminds that the Land of Lincoln Credit Union is accepting entries in its annual 21 Film Project until Monday, July 18. Winning entries – including the $1500 Grand Prize submission – will be shown at the Avon Theater on Friday, August 5, time TBD, during Decatur Celebration. The main hook is that movie-makers should somehow work the Credit Union itself into their movies;
- Through the Chicago Filmmakers e-newsletter blast, we learned about a brand-new Windy City event called CHICAGO 8: A Small Gauge Film Festival which will take place in late October and present the best in international experimental Super 8 filmmaking. They will field entries until Thursday, September 15, and while there is no entry fee (yay!) selections are intended to be projected from film (old school!) although the organizers will foot the bill for return shipping of your prints. It’s time for sprockets! And now you dance!!
By the by, our unfortunate dearth of event coverage on CUBlog could be solved by installing a dependable, personable, well-rounded Scene Editor who would entrance our readers with well-written recaps of all the hip and applicable events in town, particularly those our humble editor isn’t able to attend. Hit us up if you have journalistic game. Thanks!
MEDIA LINKS
Sorry to disappoint you, but it’s all about Hollywood this week. [Cue the boo birds and hardcore artists-activists, we can take it.] For starters, the Associated Press reports that the producers of TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON wound up spending a cool $24 million in Illinois [read: Chicago], boosting the industry’s annual expenditure in the state to a record $161 million [read: mostly in northernmost Illinois] in 2010. The AP also latched onto the announcement that Bradley University in Peoria will offer a course in the business of Tinseltown starting next spring, during which students will soak up SoCal madness for an entire semester; let’s dare the University of Illinois to offer an equivalent. And finally, we hold out hope that rays of sunshine will someday diffuse the dense fog perennially hovering over the Hollywood Hills by the likes of good guy Paul Holze, who has posted a series of videos about his participation in the YouTube Creator Institute at the University of Southern California.
PLAYING THIS WEEK
@ The Art Theater, Champaign, IL: THE TREE OF LIFE (7/8 on), RUBBER (7/8-7/9, 7/14, 10:30 p.m.), SOUL OF SAND (7/14, 5:30 p.m., free)
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL: RANGO (7/7, 7/9, 7 p.m.)
@ Danville Public Library, Danville, IL: THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK (7/11, 6:30 p.m.)
@ The Avon Theater, Decatur, IL: LARRY CROWNE, TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON, CARS 2 (7/8 on)
@ The Normal Theater, Normal, IL: WAKING NED DEVINE (7/7-7/8), THE RED VIOLIN (7/9-7/10), BURZYNSKI (7/12-7/13)
@ The Lorraine Theatre, Hoopeston, IL: TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON, CARS 2 (7/8 on)
@ Gemini Cinemas, Villa Grove, IL: TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON, CARS 2 (7/8 on)
@ The Onarga Theatre, Onarga, IL: CARS 2 (7/8-7/10)
@ Princess Theatre, LeRoy, IL: THE HANGOVER PART II (7/8-7/10)
@ Harvest Moon Drive-In, Gibson City, IL: TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON, CARS 2 (7/8 on)
@ Route 66 Drive-In, Springfield, IL: TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON, SUPER 8, CARS 2, X-MEN: FIRST CLASS (7/8 on)
@ That’s Rentertainment, Champaign, IL: BARNEY’S VERSION, 13 ASSASSINS, OF GODS AND MEN, HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN, WITCHVILLE, LIES IN PLAIN SIGHT, more! (7/5 on)
@ Centerbrook Drive-In, Martinsville, IN: SUPER 8, CARS 2 (7/8-7/12)
@ Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN: Indianapolis International Film Festival (7/14-7/24)
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Locally produced movies and events featuring locally produced movies are marked with an asterisk (*). Go see ‘em!
COMING SOON
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
9/9: COPS and THE KID w/live accompaniment
@ Ellnora: the Guitar Festival, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, UIUC, Urbana, IL, 6:30 p.m.
9/10: THE GREAT FLOOD w/live accompaniment
@ Ellnora: the Guitar Festival, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, UIUC, Urbana, IL, 1:30 p.m.
9/13: DVD release: LEADING LADIES*
+ Wolfe Video, New Almaden, CA
9/15-9/17: IMC Film Festival
@ Independent Media Center, Urbana, 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: CHICAGO 8: Small Gauge Film Festival, Chicago, IL
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
POSTPONED: THE ST. FRANCISVILLE EXPERIMENT w/Troy Taylor
@ The Avon Theater, Decatur, IL, date/time TBA
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.
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.
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
UNIVERSITY FILM SERIES
UPDATED! Global Lens 2011: International Films
@ The Art Theater, Champaign, IL
7/14: 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.50 © 2011 Jason Pankoke/C-U Blogfidential.