THADDEUS badass in C-U debut
This past Sunday, August 18, a full house greeted the Danville-based feature film production HOUSE OF THADDEUS with keen attention and overall acclaim in its Champaign premiere. Later tonight, Tuesday, August 20, 7 p.m., at Shatterglass Studios, 309 S. Neil St., Champaign, the Champaign Movie Makers crew will sit down with core contributors to the psychological drama – including director/cowriter Mike Boedicker, cowriter/lead actor Bill Kephart, and lead actress Joi Hoffsommer, we presume – and discuss the two-year-long process which resulted in the piece screened at the Art Theater Co-op over the weekend. Join the CMM audience to share your THADDEUS thoughts and questions while they’re fresh in your mind! As always, announcements will precede and mingling follow the talkback, and you never know where the hardiest attendees will wind up afterwards for continued social time.
If you missed the premiere and are hesitant to attend CMM this month because you lack THADDEUS street cred, you do have on-line opportunities to brush up on knowledge beforehand. Apart from Roselawn Productions’ official Web site for the film, you can glean plenty from the News-Gazette and the Commercial-News and WCIA Channel 3 and Smile Politely and Smile Politely Radio as local media continues its collective progress in affording area movie productions prompt attention and press. This is heartening to see. Conversely, what is disappointing is we at C-U Blogfidential did not file a timely THADDEUS preview even though your humble editor viewed a rough cut nearly one full year ago courtesy the filmmakers. (Yes, we’re technically still on break, but this is a milestone … right?) We’ll see what we can conjure for you when Roselawn books additional C-U and Danville shows in the fall.
CUBlog will now rebound by pointing you to the one-off program called “Sci-Fi Disco and Dead Unicorns” playing the Art tomorrow, Wednesday, August 21, 10 p.m., featuring the completed New Art Film Festival ’13 selection HEARTSHOT from Thomas Nicol and Joe Taylor as well as a retooled ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE 1970s series from Chris and Anne Lukeman and Kill Vampire Lincoln Productions. While “1972,” “1973,” and “1977” have already played festivals and conventions as individual shorts, this configuration – bowing at last weekend’s Gen Con gaming extravaganza in Indianapolis – presents the complete story arc as five Webisodes. We’re unclear if the segments simply start and end in different places than before with the new 1970s banner appearing up front or if more extensive post-production has taken place, but we can tell you new scenes involving working schlub-come-robot henchhuman Bud (Matt Fear) have been added. Hustle on down to the Art for all the transistorpunk you can handle!
~ Jason Pankoke
p.s. Go ahead and read about “Sci-Fi Disco and Dead Unicorns” at Smile Politely too…
