C-U Biz-en-scène: 07.14.2011
“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:
How to Get Burned by “Rubber” While Not Quite Trying
An abject lesson in how Internet search tools can giveth as well as taketh away, local on-line magazine SmilePolitely.com elected last week to remove a movie review of the French-American indie RUBBER when readers called out contributor A.B. Koontz for swiping text wholesale from material posted on other Web sites. This development piqued our attention due to the subject matter of the critique turned in by Koontz, an Indiana native who apparently came to work for downtown Champaign’s Volition, Inc., videogame publisher after a few years’ flirtation with breaking into the movie business. C-U Blogfidential has no interest in passing personal judgment on Koontz, whom we’ve never met to our knowledge, but rather plea common sense to all writers whether famous or an unknown quantity. If you put your name on a submission, you had better be the one who drafted all the words within the submission. If you can’t figure out an original way to state something, excerpt it from elsewhere and give proper citation. Koontz obviously found out what can happen to writers who endanger the credibility of all involved with a media venture, even in a non-paying capacity that he may or may not have approached as “only a hobby,” for it placed SP.com in a defensive position to justify their publication of his words even if they did not exonerate the wordsmith himself. (Presumably the prompt removal of Koontz and his RUBBER rebuttal from SP.com will head off any legal ramifications.) Low budget operations such as SP.com and CUBlog have to put some measure of trust in their staff to deliver quality content with authentic authorship behind it, otherwise editors would regularly bang their heads against brick walls after spending countless hours per week cross-checking material in addition to merely shaping it up for public consumption – even discussion of a meta-genre art film starring a murderous psychokinetic rubber tire named “Robert.” Our minds will therefore be blown if you choose not to enjoy our own hard work right here on CUBlog:
- Tana Hayes, co-owner of Gemini Cinemas in Villa Grove, has announced on their Web site that the two-screen movie theater is up for sale;
- The organizers of the Wisconsin Film Festival, hosted each April by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, are actively seeking an “Interim Operations Manager” for which the position’s duties are described here. Application date is Friday, July 29, and materials should be sent to nsaldivar [at] wisc [dot] edu, not –aol [dot] com as errantly listed on this page;
- The Midwest Independent Film Festival and AICP Midwest are now accepting submissions for their fall event, the 2011 Advertising Community Shorts Night, which will showcase the work of Midwest professionals in the advertising or commercial production fields. You can read up on requirements here, although we’ll spill the fast-approaching deadline on Sunday, July 31; further queries can be directed to Mike McNamara at mac [at] midwestfilm [dot] com or (773) 398-0021.
While Mr. Koontz licks his wounds and SmilePolitely rebounds faster than a lap ‘round the metaphorical desert, CUBlog has discovered the Illinois Film Office deems us worthy enough to be listed in their exhaustive Production Guide for in-state professionals. Thanks!
MEDIA LINKS
It’s all tangents and asides for today’s CUBiz! Up front is a Pantagraph retrospect written by McLean County historian Bill Kemp about the former Phil-Kron Drive-In once located at the southern end of Bloomington. Next in line is a video that we possibly haven’t linked to before, an episode of WILL-TV’s ILLINOIS PIONEERS commemorative series in which Perry Morris and Leonard Doyle reminisce over the theater density of downtown Champaign in the early 20th century. A News-Gazette story posted this morning tells about the impending retirement of portrait photographer Bob McCandless after an impressive 46-year run doing business in the C-U, sticking mostly with tried-and-true analog materials. Back to the Pantagraph, a report issued on Tuesday details plans to host a benefit music concert – at $500 a head! – in Bloomington on August 12 that will raise funding for a new Peoria-based “interactive, self-help social network” called Justice For All Revolution; the likes of Kevin Bacon, Sally Kirkman, Lorenzo Llamas, Corey Feldman, Kane Hodder, Tony Todd, and John Brandt of Cheap Trick are expected to appear and/or perform. Lastly but not least, CUBlog contributor Tyler Tharpe suggests we should check out the wit and wisdom of Indianapolis classic film preservationist and fan, Eric Grayson a.k.a. “Dr. Film,” who recently produced a pilot episode for a DR. FILM television show as well as remixed an Ed Wood, Jr., chase scene from PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE to demonstrate how editing can make a difference … even with something like PLAN 9. “Can you prove that it didn’t happen?”
PLAYING THIS WEEK
@ The Art Theater, Champaign, IL: SOUL OF SAND (7/14, 5:30 p.m., free), THE TREE OF LIFE (7/15 on), RUBBER (7/14, 10:30 p.m.), ZINDAGI NA MILEGI DOBARA (7/15, 10:30 p.m., Bollywood), SOURCE CODE (7/16, 7/20-7/21, 10:30 p.m.)
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL: SOURCE CODE (7/19, 7/21, 7 p.m.)
@ The Avon Theater, Decatur, IL: HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 1 (7/14, 9 p.m.), HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2 (7/14 on), LARRY CROWNE, TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON (7/15 on)
@ The Normal Theater, Normal, IL: I AM (7/14-7/17, 7 p.m.)
@ The Lorraine Theatre, Hoopeston, IL: CARS 2 (ends 7/14), HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2, TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON (7/14 on)
@ Gemini Cinemas, Villa Grove, IL: CARS 2 (ends 7/14), HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2, TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON (7/14 on)
@ The Onarga Theatre, Onarga, IL: HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 1 (7/14, 8:30 p.m.), HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2 (7/14-7/17, 7/20)
@ Princess Theatre, LeRoy, IL: SUPER 8 (7/15-7/17)
@ Harvest Moon Drive-In, Gibson City, IL: CARS 2 (ends 7/14), HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2, TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON (7/14 on)
@ Route 66 Drive-In, Springfield, IL: HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2, GREEN LANTERN, TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON, SUPER 8 (7/15 on)
@ That’s Rentertainment, Champaign, IL: INSIDIOUS, MIRAL, [REC] 2, THE LINCOLN LAWYER, WHITE IRISH DRINKERS, DINOCROC VS. SUPERGATOR, WAKE WOOD, more! (7/12 on)
@ Centerbrook Drive-In, Martinsville, IN: HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2, GREEN LANTERN (7/14-7/22)
@ Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN: Indianapolis International Film Festival (7/14-7/24)
@ Crowne Plaza Chicago O’Hare, Rosemont, IL: G-Fest XVIII (7/15-7/17)
@ Cutting Hall Performing Arts Center, Palatine, IL: Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival (7/19-7/24)
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Locally produced movies and events featuring locally produced movies are marked with an asterisk (*). Go see ‘em!
COMING SOON
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
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
NEW! 4/18-4/22, 2012: Wisconsin Film Festival, Madison, WI
NEW! 4/25-4/29, 2012: Roger Ebert’s Film Festival
@ The Virginia Theater, Champaign, IL
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.
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
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.51 © 2011 Jason Pankoke/C-U Blogfidential.