C-U Blogfidential

Our movie and media Calendar appears every Friday/Saturday on C-U Blogfidential and caters to the downstate region anchored by Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, USA.

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THE BLOGFIDENTIAL TELETYPE | Film News You Can Use, C-U

What we’re seeing on our beat this week … Film festivals are the fan fave topics du jour as our feverish fingers clack away at the Teletype! Up front is this weekend’s forty-third iteration of the Insect Fear Film Festival, organized by the Entomology Graduate Student Association and overseen by its founder. Dr. May Berenbaum, which will take place tomorrow, Saturday, February 28, at its forever home on the University of Illinois campus, Foellinger Auditorium. The free all-ages event will begin at 5 p.m. with the children’s art gallery as well as a live and mounted invertebrate exhibit in the foyer, expand with awards and activities at 6 p.m., and segue into a “human-insect hybrid” program at 7 p.m. The media being presented this round is an episode of the Eighties kidvid animation, SECTAURS, and a low-budget 2009 creature feature, INFESTATION, directed by Kyle Rankin and co-starring Ray Wise. Richard Leskosky writes in the News-Gazette about the (partly unfounded) fear to be faced at this entomological exposé …

Our next observation is about the promo spots blooming on the socials for the gang of annual spring showcases that present student work and are organized, to various degrees, by students. UI has the Illinois Student Film Festival, which is scheduled for May 1 at the Spurlock Museum of World Cultures and is accepting material from enrolled students up until April 17; use either the link or QR code at this Facebook page to sign in and submit. Illinois State University has the Foxtail Film Festival, set for April 23-26 at the Normal Theater in Normal; young folks who quality to enter have until this Sunday, March 1, to do so using the guidelines and directions to be found on their FilmFreeway account. And, Southern Illinois University has the venerable Big Muddy Film Festival on deck for their forty-eighth program to be presented March 19-21 at the revitalized Varsity Theatre in Carbondale; their film selections are long set, but they program more broadly like a traditional festival than the others mentioned here and always make room to highlight the work of both current students and SIU alumni working in media vocations …

Chaz Ebert and Nate Kohn have revealed the first specifics about what “The Last Dance” of Roger Ebert’s Film Festival in Champaign will look like when the house lights go down on April 17-19 at the Virginia Theatre. Two of the eight features will be THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT, part in honor of its late director, Rob Reiner, and surely part in helping us remember what a competent if imperfect leader of democracy looks like, and NUREMBERG, part in respect of the tradition of compelling historical dramas, this one starring Russell Crowe and Rami Malek, and surely part in helping us remember what should happen when powerful individuals commit war crimes and spurn democracy. Also to be presented in a twist is a stage play in which the taping of an early episode of Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel’s seminal television review show in Chicago is dramatized. Given today’s date, soon we should learn more …

To close, we caught a Facebook post from the all-but-dormant account of the Dead in Decatur Film Festival that it is rising from the grave to bring its genre- and gender-friendly program back with a target event date of February 2027. The array of deadlines (if not quite the event description) has been updated on FilmFreeway and it’s unclear where the event might be held after the last one in 2022 was relegated to an online presentation. Check it out and send in your questions to returning director Zelda Tindell … and that’s what we can reveal for today. Always remember – this is not just movies, it’s our lives.

CONFIDENTIAL ALMANAC | Dates in Film Culture History

20 Years Ago … Saturday, February 25, 2006: After the seventh issue of the Champaign film journal MICRO-FILM is published, Opteryx Press adapts its “C-U Confidential” local-zine section into a new internet variation, C-U Blogfidential. The first entry written by editor and publisher Jason Pankoke, dated 8:57 p.m., describes an intention of “[making] a minor splash creating a community history through cinema, one that we can definitely call our own,” with CUBlog as its potential epicenter. Topics to be covered in the following months include the Danville fantasy-comedy SHOW; Dreamscape Cinema’s first features, CRAB ORCHARD and DISCONNECTED; the fan- and convention-favorite spoof of video game tropes, PRESS START, from Dark Maze Studios of Champaign; the second episodes of BrainSmart Productions’ WEREWOLF CEMETERY and THE ADVENTURES OF THE SCREAMING APE, directed by Jason Butler; the infamous UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS VS. A MUMMY and lesser-known ROBOTMAN, made by the UIUC students of Illini Film & Video and directed by Chris Lukeman; a video adaptation of Antigone by the Creative Dramatics Workshop and its director, Robert Picklesimer; an empowering documentary called AN UPHILL CLIMB from Callan Films of Effingham; Blue Bassoon Pictures’ darkly funny crime spoof MERRY CHRISTMAS!; visits from UI alumni working in professional media like Fred Rubin and Michael Wiese; and numerous community and campus screenings such as a run of MICRO-FILM Movie Shows at the beloved bar Mike ‘n Molly’s in downtown Champaign. As of January 2026, CUBlog has published content keyed in to the movies of Champaign, Urbana, and the cities beyond in every single month since its launch over more than 1,700 postings. [R]

LOCAL FILMS & EVENTS | Support Your Media Storytellers

@ Foellinger Auditorium, UIUC, Urbana, IL
UI Entomology Graduate Student Association presents 43rd Insect Fear Film Festival* feat. SECTAURS, INFESTATION (2/28, 5 p.m. doors and activities, 6 p.m. announcements and awards, 7 p.m. cartoon and feature, free)

@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL
Chambana Film Society* presents “2026 Oscar-Nominated Short Films” series: 2/27: Animation (7 p.m.), 2/28: Documentary (7 p.m.), 3/1: Live Action (3 p.m.)

@ Spurlock Museum of World Cultures, UIUC, Urbana, IL
UI Roger Ebert Center for Film Studies presents ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER w/discussion (3/5, 7 p.m.)

NOW PLAYING | Champaign-Urbana Area

@ AMC Champaign 13, Champaign, IL
EPiC: ELVIS PRESLEY IN CONCERT (music documentary), K-POPS!, PEGASUS 3* (in Mandarin with English and Chinese sub), SCREAM 7, UMAMUSUME: PRETTY DERBY – BEGINNING OF A NEW ERA* (animé) (in Japanese with English sub), CRIME 101, GOAT (animation), HOW TO MAKE A KILLING*, I CAN ONLY IMAGINE 2, MIDWINTER BREAK*, PSYCHO KILLER, WUTHERING HEIGHTS (2/27 on), TWENTY-ONE PILOTS: MORE THAN WE EVER IMAGINED* (music documentary) (2/26-2/28), Fan Faves: GET ON THE BUS* (2/27-3/5), THE WOMAN KING* (2/27-3/5), and FRUITVALE STATION* (2/27-3/5), DOLLY sneak preview (3/3, 8 p.m.), THE BRIDE!, DOLLY, HOPPERS (animation), PROTECTOR (3/5 on) *single screenings daily

@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL
SCREAM 7, VISHU VINYASAAM (in Telugu with English sub), AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH, CRIME 101, EPiC: ELVIS PRESLEY IN CONCERT (music documentary), GOAT (animation), GOOD LUCK HAVE FUN DON’T DIE*, HOW TO MAKE A KILLING, I CAN ONLY IMAGINE 2, IRON LUNG, PSYCHO KILLER, SEND HELP, SOLO MIO, WUTHERING HEIGHTS, ZOOTOPIA 2 (animation) (2/27 on), HOPPERS sneak preview (2/28, 1 p.m.), SPIDER-MAN 2 (2/28, 7 p.m.; 3/1, 3 & 7 p.m.; 3/ 4, 7 p.m.), THE BRIDE!, HOPPERS (animation) (3/5 on) *single screenings daily

@ Pine Lounge, 1st floor, Illini Union, UIUC, Urbana, IL
Illini Union Board presents “Spring 2025 Weekend Films” feat. FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S 2 (2/27-2/28, 7 p.m.; free w/i-card)

@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL
The News-Gazette Film Series presents HOOSIERS (2/28, 2 p.m.)

Events featuring locally produced movies are marked with an asterisk (*). Additional “Now Playing” and “Coming Soon” listings appear after the jump!

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Read the rest of this entry »

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Are you still out there, dearest readers who have a vested interest in the movie history and related film culture of Champaign, Urbana, and the cities beyond, spread far and wide throughout the state of Illinois? We certainly hope so, because we are still in here at the Secret MICRO-FILM Headquarters and would like to share with you, in some fashion or another, our continued purpose as we’ve reached this point on the calendar today, Wednesday, February 25. It’s the twentieth anniversary of the moment we went live with the first post from yours truly, the forever editor and publisher, on Saturday, February 25, 2006, in which a simple question was posed – “What is C-U Blogfidential?” – that really couldn’t be answered at the time, even though a precedent was explored in the pages of our flagship journal, MICRO-FILM.

By all rights, a singular forum devoted to the particular thrills of cinematic pursuits, in and adjacent to a pair of specific Midwest college towns, should not have had legs over such a long stretch, never mind a prayer to exist in the first place, during which the faces, places, creations, and achievements of a local pedigree might be covered at length and in knowing detail. CUBlog could have been shut down at several junctions for various reasons, especially during the last few years when my personal challenges and family responsibilities ramped up to an extreme, yet I’ve chosen to continue on for various other reasons and, in the coming months, we’re going to get chatty about how we plan to change our approach to movie coverage and chronicle in east central Illinois. My personal skin in this game is tougher and less elastic than in the past, and middle-aged sweat equity can have dry spells. It’s time to flex different muscles.

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Until we expand on where CUBlog goes from here, there is no harm in celebrating the longevity of a DIY pet project that has more or less maintained that very character. If nothing else, it’s a way to say that CUBlog has never been conformed to corporate interests or blunted by outside pressures – it’s central voice and conscience have always been my own, warts and all – while the definition of its “success” is probably way more subjective to define than one might think. I often let out a sigh of relief that I still find value in doing CUBlog and (usually privately) bemoan how it is probably destined to never become a viable business entity, a beloved local institution, a fashionable presence in the current C-U zeitgeist, or a cult classic with a devoted following that willingly seeks you out instead of the other way around. It’s just “here” until it’s not anymore. And it won’t be here anymore if I say it’s time to flash “The End” up on the screen. Our scene du C-U will keep going no matter what, so I’m good with choosing my own ending.

I plan to share further thoughts on CUBlog so far – watch this space around or on March 3 – and constructive blather on what CUBlog will be – look back for more on or around March 15 – so this is as deep as I want to tap the well for today. Even though my comments here may seem a bit deflated in spirit, it doesn’t mean we haven’t been active; every single month since it launched, CUBlog has posted content and there is plenty of it for you to catch up on, we’d bet. Another level that CUBlog has never unlocked is “award-winner,” so I decided to make the 20-years graphic that you see above and on our social media accounts; we’ll call it a “badge of honor” and, if you are so inclined to help spread the news, you can right-click on either image and download a larger file to share in your spaces, hopefully with a kind word and a link directing your circle back to us. Thank you, friends and neighbors. We will C-U at the ‘blog, then!

Jason Pankoke
Editor & Publisher
C-U Blogfidential
Champaign, Illinois
& Mendota, Illinois

Our movie and media Calendar appears every Friday/Saturday on C-U Blogfidential and caters to the downstate region anchored by Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, USA.

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PASSINGS | You Will Be Missed

2/9: David Schroeder, 66 (house organist, The Virginia Theatre, Champaign Park District, Champaign, IL)

THE BLOGFIDENTIAL TELETYPE | Film News You Can Use, C-U

What we’re seeing on our beat this week … Learning opportunities are the key takeaway from this trip ‘round the block! First, we recently discovered OLLI (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute) at Illinois, which offers online and hybrid teaching for the older generation in east central Illinois, and that certain classes this semester are being taught by friends in film. Perry C. Morris will share “A Brief History of Champaign and Urbana Theaters” weekly between February 25 and April 15, while Chuck Koplinski will investigate “Is It Still Funny? Film Comedy from Different Eras” weekly between February 25 and April 22, except for on March 18, and “The Victorian Novel, Dickens and Trollope, on Film” will be led by local classical music expert John Frayne from February 27 to April 17 …

Senior honors student M. E. Colby, who attends Eastern Illinois University, has combined her love of butterfly research with training in video production to arrive at BUTTERFLIES & YOU, a 24-minute documentary about the various species that inhabit Illinois and the work of the Urban Butterfly Initiative, a non-profit organization based in Charleston. After several semesters’ worth of planning, shooting, and traveling the state thanks to a grant, the double major in communications and biology saw her thesis project air on WEIU-TV and debut via YouTube on Tuesday, January 13 …

Community members young and older have opportunities to stoke their creative fires and hone their brewing skill sets in the coming weeks. A final Pens to Lens workshop for the last-minute massaging of scripts, written by K-12 students and teams from the immediate area, will be held on Saturday, February 28, 1 p.m., at the Urbana Health and Wellness Center on Washington Street, while Flyover Film Studios has a pair of half-weeks dedicated to crash courses on camerawork, led by the cinematographer and producer Robert Patrick Stern, slated for March 9-13 and 16-19 in Rantoul. The latter, which do have a sizeable participation fee, follow a free introductory look at how different makes and models of cameras behave that is scheduled for later tonight, Friday, February 20, at the campus … and that’s what we can reveal for today. Always remember – this is not just movies, it’s our lives.

CONFIDENTIAL ALMANAC | Dates in Film Culture History

25 Years Ago … Tuesday, January 23, 2001: A prolific distributor of micro-budget films and related collectibles, Sub Rosa Studios of Syracuse, New York, announces a trio of new titles releasing to the home video market. One is the debut feature-length project from Shut Up and Do It Productions of Champaign, DOGS IN QUICKSAND, which was filmed by writer/director Mike Trippiedi and cinematographer/editor Bill Yauch with cast and crew in numerous Champaign County locations during the summer of 1997. Although several of their recent video shorts have played in regional film festivals, earned awards in competition, and received coverage in periodicals friendly to the emerging “backyard cinema” movement in America such as Film Threat and Shock Cinema, DOGS is the first effort to be made widely available to the general public in any format. Local audiences received an initial look at the movie, a dark and quirky comedy about an estranged small-town couple played by Anne Shapland Kearns and Trippiedi whose lives are turned upside down after a murder occurs, in November 1999 as a selection of the third Freaky Film Festival at the New Art Theater. PSYCHO SCARECROW and THE MURDER MEN are the other two indies being premiered on VHS by Sub Rosa, which would reissue DOGS in various DVD sets over the next several years after rebranding as SRS Cinema. [R]

LOCAL FILMS & EVENTS | Support Your Media Storytellers

@ Analog Wine Library, Urbana, IL, 6 p.m.
Film Fanatic Movie Nights* presents THE UNKNOWN (1927) (2/26, 6 p.m.)

@ Flyover Film Studios, Rantoul, IL
“Flyover Labs: Camera & Lens Shootout” gear demonstration (2/20, 6 p.m., free w/ticket)

@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL
Chambana Film Society* presents “2026 Oscar-Nominated Short Films” series: 2/20: Live Action (7 p.m.), 2/21: Animation (7 p.m.), 2/22: Documentary (3 p.m.)

@ Spurlock Museum of World Cultures, UIUC, Urbana, IL
UI Department of Slavic Languages & Literatures and Spurlock Museum present 2000 METERS TO ANDRIIVKA w/discussion (in Ukrainian with English sub) (2/24, 5 p.m.)

NOW PLAYING | Champaign-Urbana Area

@ AMC Champaign 13, Champaign, IL
BLADES OF THE GUARDIANS* (in Mandarin with English and Chinese sub), HOW TO MAKE A KILLING, I CAN ONLY IMAGINE 2, MIDWINTER BREAK, PSYCHO KILLER, REDUX REDUX, THIS IS NOT A TEST, AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH*, CRIME 101, GOAT (animation), GOOD LUCK HAVE FUN DON’T DIE, SEND HELP, SOLO MIO, WUTHERING HEIGHTS (2/20 on), Fan Faves: FRUITVALE STATION* (2/20-2/26) and SINNERS* (2/20-2/26), K-POPS! sneak preview w/Anderson .Paak live discussion (2/24, 7:30 p.m., simulcast), TWENTY-ONE PILOTS: MORE THAN WE EVER IMAGINED (music documentary) (2/26, 6 p.m.), EPiC: ELVIS PRESLEY IN CONCERT (music documentary), K-POPS!, SCREAM 7 (2/26 on) *single screenings daily

@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL
EPiC: ELVIS PRESLEY IN CONCERT (music documentary; IMAX), HOW TO MAKE A KILLING, I CAN ONLY IMAGINE 2, PSYCHO KILLER, AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH, COLD STORAGE, CRIME 101, GOAT (animation), GOOD LUCK HAVE FUN DON’T DIE, IRON LUNG, MARTY SUPREME, SEND HELP, SOLO MIO, THE STRANGERS: CHAPTER 3, WUTHERING HEIGHTS, ZOOTOPIA 2 (animation) (2/20 on), Indian cinema: HEY BHAGAWAN (in Telugu with English sub; 2/21-2/25), ASSI* (in Hindi with English sub; 2/21-2/25), and DO DEEWANE SEHER MEIN* (in Hindi with English sub; 2/21-2/25), BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S (2/22, 3 & 7 p.m.; 2/25, 7 p.m.), HOMECOMING: THE TOKYO SERIES (sports documentary) (2/23-2/24, 7 p.m.), SCREAM 7 (2/26 on) *single screenings daily

@ Pine Lounge, 1st floor, Illini Union, UIUC, Urbana, IL
Illini Union Board presents “Spring 2025 Weekend Films” feat. ZOOTOPIA 2 (2/20-2/21, 7 p.m.; free w/i-card)

@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL
Mix 94.5 & Rewind 92.5 present MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO (animé) (2/21, 1 & 7 p.m.)

Events featuring locally produced movies are marked with an asterisk (*). Additional “Now Playing” and “Coming Soon” listings appear after the jump!

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Read the rest of this entry »

Our movie and media Calendar appears every Friday/Saturday on C-U Blogfidential and caters to the downstate region anchored by Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, USA.

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THE BLOGFIDENTIAL TELETYPE | Film News You Can Use, C-U

What we’re seeing on our beat this week … 7 Palms Entertainment, LLC, of Columbus, OH, has started its release strategy for THE FAIRFIELD COUNTY FOUR, the recently completed found footage werewolf horror from Watseka filmmaker Joshua Brucker for Horror Dadz Productions; Amazon Prime is now offering it VOD as of last Friday, February 6, with more avenues on the way and streaming/physical media options going out soon to the project’s backers, per Brucker …

We neglected to mention a special addition to the recent Champaign Movie Makers 48-hour contest presentation at the Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX last month, the local premiere of Earth-217 Studios’ newest short, FLIP & SUZY; the dark romance stars Tayler Holler, Mercedes DeSilva, Chloe Loren, and writer/director Chase Todd, who announced yesterday that it and another Earth-217 dose of doomed love, AN AFFAIR AT THE END OF THE WORLD, are now available to watch on YouTube in time for Valentine’s Day …

Ye Ed’s rummaging around at DeepDiscount has revealed the upcoming physical release of a central Illinois indie that was produced a few years ago, DON’T LET ME STAY, which will be available as MOD from Filmhub starting on Tuesday, March 3; made in the Springfield and Bloomington areas in 2021; director Aaron Thomas’ feature debut, which has already been available to stream on services like Prime, YouTube, and Tubi, is about a young peoples’ outing at a country homestead that exhibits malevolence as the weekend wears on …

Simeon Faith and Fathom Entertainment’s release of MOSES THE BLACK has ended in the area after a two-week run, while it’s difficult to gauge how well it did nationwide since Fathom hasn’t been reporting numbers to the aggregates like Boxoffice Pro or Box Office Mojo; Amy Penne of Smile Politely recounted the special screening of the locally-filmed drama at Savoy 16, hosted by Chambana Film Society, and Chuck Koplinski offered his critical thoughts on it via the News-Gazette … and that’s what we can reveal for today. Always remember – this is not just movies, it’s our lives.

CONFIDENTIAL ALMANAC | Dates in Film Culture History

5 Years Ago … Thursday, January 21, 2021: At approximately 4:30 a.m., following an all-night cleaning session that included removal of the remaining decorations from the walls of the Secret MICRO-FILM Headquarters, publisher Jason Pankoke takes his name off the mailbox in the lobby of the World Famous “Building” on the corner of Hill and Prairie streets in Champaign’s Sesquicentennial Neighborhood and slips the keys through the mail slot of the manager’s office. It concludes a run of nearly thirty years for Pankoke as a citizen, taxpayer, wage-earner, community member, and contributing arts promoter and creator in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, with the last quarter century spent as the occupant of Suite 3D. He makes it safely to his mother’s house at sunrise with a vehicle packed to the hilt and then crashes in bed after an eight-week-long ordeal clearing out the space almost single-handedly during the pandemic.

30 Years Ago … Saturday, July 1, 1995: A recent Twin Cities transplant named Jason Pankoke takes over as the tenant of apartment 3D in a property managed by the owners of a downtown Champaign family business, Custom Flooring and Interior. Wanting to move on from his original residence in west Champaign, Pankoke responded to an advertisement in the News-Gazette and agreed to meet with landlord Jean Niemann at the location, an older and converted business building one block north of West Side Park. He was surprised at the character and make-up of the immediate vicinity, having never set foot before in the Sesquicentennial Neighborhood, and took a liking to the roomy third-floor unit. The spare bedroom would soon be turned into a workspace for his art and design activity, eventually designated as the Secret MICRO-FILM Headquarters after the first issue of MICRO-FILM was published in 1999.

LOCAL FILMS & EVENTS | Support Your Media Storytellers

@ Esquire Lounge, Champaign, IL
Champaign Movie Makers* meeting (2/16, 7 p.m.)

@ Flyover Film Studio, Rantoul, IL
“Background to Speaking Roles” with Compass Casting* (2/16, 6 p.m.); “Flyover Labs: Camera & Lens Shootout” gear demonstration (2/20, 6 p.m., free w/ticket)

@ Martens Center, Champaign, IL
Pens to Lens* Student Screenwriting Workshop (2/14, 1 p.m.)

@ Spurlock Museum of World Cultures, UIUC, Urbana, IL
Francophone Film Festival presents 120 BATTEMENTS PAR MINUTE (2/18, 6:30 p.m.)

NOW PLAYING | Champaign-Urbana Area

@ AMC Champaign 13, Champaign, IL
COLD STORAGE, CRIME 101, GOAT (animation), GOOD LUCK HAVE FUN DON’T DIE, O’ROMEO* (in Hindi with English sub), SCARLET (animé) (in Japanese with English sub), WUTHERING HEIGHTS, AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH*, DRACULA, THE HOUSEMAID*, IRON LUNG*, MELANIA* (documentary), THE MOMENT*, SEND HELP, SOLO MIO, THE STRANGERS: CHAPTER 3*, ZOOTOPIA 2 (animation) (2/13 on), STRAY KIDS: THE DOMINATE EXPERIENCE* (concert film; in Korean with English sub) (2/13-2/15), Fan Faves: LOVE & BASKETBALL* (2/13-2/16) and THE BEST MAN* (2/13-2/16), I CAN ONLY IMAGINE 2 sneak preview (2/14, 5 p.m.), AMC “Screen Unseen” (mystery movie) (2/16, 7 p.m.), BLADES OF THE GUARDIANS* (in Mandarin with English and Chinese sub) (2/17-2/18), HOW TO MAKE A KILLING, I CAN ONLY IMAGINE 2, MIDWINTER BREAK, PSYCHO KILLER, THIS IS NOT A TEST (2/19 on) *single screenings daily

@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL
COLD STORAGE, CRIME 101, GOAT (animation), GOOD LUCK HAVE FUN DON’T DIE, THE MOMENT, O’ROMEO* (in Hindi with English sub), WUTHERING HEIGHTS, AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH, HAMNET, THE HOUSEMAID*, IRON LUNG, MARTY SUPREME, SEND HELP, SOLO MIO, THE STRANGERS: CHAPTER 3, ZOOTOPIA 2 (animation) (2/13 on), PRETTY IN PINK 40th anniversary (re-release) (2/13-2/16), Indian cinema: FUNKY* (in Telugu with English sub; 2/13, 2/16), COUPLE FRIENDLY* (in Telugu with English sub; 2/13-2/14, 2/17), O’ROMEO* (in Hindi with English sub; 2/13, 2/17-2/18), TU YAA MAIN* (in Hindi with English sub; 2/15), and MY LORD* (in Tamil with English sub; 2/18), The Metropolitan Opera: Cinderella (2/14, 12 p.m., simulcast; 2/18, 1 & 6:30 p.m., recorded), CASABLANCA (2/14, 4:30 & 7 p.m.), JURASSIC PARK (2/15, 3, 7 & 10 p.m.; 2/16, 3 & 7 p.m.; 2/18, 7 p.m.), I CAN ONLY IMAGINE 2 (2/19 on) *single screenings daily

@ Pine Lounge, 1st floor, Illini Union, UIUC, Urbana, IL
Illini Union Board presents “Spring 2025 Weekend Films” feat. REGRETTING YOU (2/13-2/14, 7 p.m.; free w/i-card)

Events featuring locally produced movies are marked with an asterisk (*). Additional “Now Playing” and “Coming Soon” listings appear after the jump!

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Read the rest of this entry »

Our movie and media Calendar appears every Friday/Saturday on C-U Blogfidential and caters to the downstate region anchored by Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, USA.

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THE BLOGFIDENTIAL TELETYPE | Film News You Can Use, C-U

If you’ve been paying attention to the Calendar over the last few months, apart from reviewing and using the information we bring to you diligently, then you’ve possibly noticed that we’ve scaled down what it offers to you every week. Ye Ed has decided that he’d like to direct more of his research and writing time elsewhere for CUBlog’s sake and regularly has to remind himself – and now, all of you – that the Calendar is a knowing sketch of our film culture in Champaign, Urbana, and the cities beyond. It does not need to be the end-all be-all, in particular since the movie listings can be accessed elsewhere.

The same will now go for our Report. Arguably, a number of times, the stories and anecdotes we work up for your pleasure and enlightenment might have been presented as their own posts on CUBlog and not encumbered your humble editor as much as it has at roughly the same time every week for many months on end. It’s a recurring bottleneck that is mostly invisible to you, dearest readers, but it’s taken a toll and we did have the mind to strike it from the Calendar for good. But, as they say, context is best.

We’ll instead revert to the old “news ticker” format to bring you the notes and links you’ll need to navigate our cinema. In fact, that is the new Calendar philosophy – make it useful and fruitful at a glance for all our friends and neighbors. If there is any heavy lifting to be done with our writing, we’ll offer it in bonus CUBlog posts instead of here. We hope this change-up meets with your approval and, at the least, it will alleviate the secondary bottleneck for your reading ease, avoiding the kind of posts where it seemed to take forever for your wandering eyes and wondering mind to get to the play dates. Let’s see how it goes.

We’ll begin the new format next week and simply point you to the handful of special events happening in the area over the coming days – the Flatlands Dance Film Festival, the Film-Fanatic.club showing of ONE FROM THE HEART: REPRISE, the “Ebertschool” presentation of THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG, the Virginia Theatre’s booking of WHAT’S UP, DOC?, and the Chambana Film Society’s special screening of the Oscar-nominated film, THE VOICE OF HIND RAJAB, plus a whole string of compelling programs at the Normal Theater. If the cinema du C-U was only this good every week. Cheers.

LOCAL FILMS & EVENTS | Support Your Media Storytellers

@ Gallery Art Bar, Urbana, IL
Film Fanatic Movie Nights* presents ONE FROM THE HEART: REPRISE (2/7, 6 p.m.)

@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL
Chambana Film Society* presents THE VOICE OF HIND RAJAB (2/8, 3 p.m., in Arabic with English sub)

@ Spurlock Museum of World Cultures, UIUC, Urbana, IL
Dance at Illinois presents the 2026 Flatlands Dance Film Festival* (2/6, 7 p.m., free), Roger Ebert Center for Film Studies* presents THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG (2/12, 7 p.m., free)

NOW PLAYING | Champaign-Urbana Area

@ AMC Champaign 13, Champaign, IL
DRACULA, THE MOMENT, SOLO MIO, THE STRANGERS: CHAPTER 3, STRAY KIDS: THE DOMINATE EXPERIENCE (concert film; in Korean with English sub), WHISTLE*, AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH, THE HOUSEMAID*, IRON LUNG, MELANIA (documentary), SEND HELP, SHELTER, ZOOTOPIA 2 (animation) (2/6 on), BUFFALO KIDS (animation) (2/6-2/8), MERCY* (2/6-2/8), Fan Faves: ALI* (2/6-2/12) and GLORY* (2/6-2/12), STILL HOPE (2/8, 4 p.m.), CRIME 101 sneak preview w/discussion (2/9, 7 p.m.), AMC “Screen Unseen” (mystery movie) (2/9, 7 p.m.), COLD STORAGE, CRIME 101, GOOD LUCK HAVE FUN DON’T DIE, GOAT (animation), WUTHERING HEIGHTS (2/12 on) *single screenings daily

@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL
SCARLET (animé) (in Japanese with English sub; IMAX), SOLO MIO, STILL HOPE, THE STRANGERS: CHAPTER 3, 28 YEARS LATER: THE BONE TEMPLE, AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH, HAMNET, THE HOUSEMAID, IRON LUNG, MARTY SUPREME, MERCY, MOSES THE BLACK, NO OTHER CHOICE (in Korean with English sub), PRIMATE, SEND HELP, SHELTER, ZOOTOPIA 2 (animation) (2/6 on), STRAY KIDS: THE DOMINATE EXPERIENCE (concert film; in Korean with English sub; IMAX) (2/6, 2/8-2/11), TIME HOPPERS: THE SILK ROAD (animation) (2/7-2/8, 2 p.m.), CASABLANCA (2/8, 3 & 7 p.m.; 2/11, 2, 4:30 & 7 p.m.), GALE: YELLOW BRICK ROAD (2/11, 7 p.m.), GOAT (animation), WUTHERING HEIGHTS (2/12 on) *single screenings daily

@ Pine Lounge, 1st floor, Illini Union, UIUC, Urbana, IL
Illini Union Board presents “Spring 2025 Weekend Films” feat. TRON: ARES (2/6-2/7, 7 p.m.; free w/i-card)

@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL
The News-Gazette Film Series presents WHAT’S UP, DOC? (2/7, 1 & 7 p.m.)

Events featuring locally produced movies are marked with an asterisk (*). Additional “Now Playing” and “Coming Soon” listings appear after the jump!

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Read the rest of this entry »

Our movie and media Calendar appears every Friday/Saturday on C-U Blogfidential and caters to the downstate region anchored by Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, USA.

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PASSINGS | You Will Be Missed

12/30: Dean E. Williams, 84 (founder/executive director, Central Illinois Film Commission, Springfield, IL)

FIELD REPORT DU HQ | From Wherever It May Be Said

Vintage news items from “The Confidential Teletype” feature in MICRO-FILM have enhanced our knowledge of the movies of Champaign, Urbana, and the cities beyond for the last three weeks, but today it’s time to be present in the here and now before we relax the Report for a few weeks more. One paragraph of weird whimsy will be followed by another graf of cinema du C-U and then a sign-off until we pipe back up for the occasion of our twentieth anniversary, which lands on Wednesday, February 25.

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Behind the scenes in Ye Ed’s personal activity involving indie films, the topic of one of the very first local productions to be highlighted here on C-U Blogfidential has come back up and, with it, a sprig of fresh-to-the-taste context that is courtesy of our friend and the project’s co-editor and co-star, Paul A. Brooks. It’s time for six degrees of LATE AFTERNOON OF THE LIVING DEAD! The 2007 horror-comedy, filmed in various Illinois locations like Bloomington-Normal, Decatur, and Chicago by writer/director Jason Huls and his team, is available in a shortened and spiffed-up edition on YouTube if you need a refresher or a belated first look, and we’ll connect a few dots between it and what’s happening now. We recently talked about Huls’ newest film, THE FAWN, and it will be featured at the Normal Theater tomorrow night, Saturday, January 31, in a program sponsored by the boutique label Severin Films; FAWN plays before the 1984 feature EYES OF FIRE, which Severin restored as part of their massive “All the Haunts be Ours” revival of international folk horror cinema. Also, we confirmed that LATE AFTERNOON actress Ashley O’Neil went on to be a screenwriter and script editor in Hollywood with at least a dozen film credits, according to IMDb, which include the Steve Guttenberg sci-fi duo, LAVALANTUA and 2 LAVA 2 LANTUA, produced by University of Illinois alumnus Paul Hertzberg for CineTel Films and shown in back-to-back years at the UI Insect Fear Film Festival at Foellinger Auditorium. And, in the “no part is too small” arena, we’ve learned that area alum Britt Lower, who was awarded a prime time Emmy last year for her performance in the hit television series SEVERANCE, provided overdubbing for one of the lady leads in LATE AFTERNOON while she was an undergraduate at Northwestern University. How about that!

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Last week, we also touched on a few imminent happenings in the C-U that local film supporters and our community-at-large would be wise to attend … but, wait, there’s more! Sunday at Savoy 16 are the Champaign Movie Makers 48-hour films, starting at 12:30 p.m., to be followed by a de facto group viewing and talkback of MOSES THE BLACK at 3 p.m., to be followed on Tuesday night at the Orpheum Champaign by a CMM-curated local film block at 7 p.m. as we already shared. Not long after, Dance at Illinois will have their biennial Flatlands Dance Film Festival coming up on Friday, February 6, at the UI Spurlock Museum at 7 p.m.; this is the “short film competition” program. As well, Paul Young’s Film Fanatic Movie Nights returns for its sophomore outing with Francis Ford Coppola’s recut of his fantastical ONE FROM THE HEART, starring Teri Garr, Raul Julia, Frederic Forrest, Harry Dean Stanton, and Nastassja Kinski, at 6 p.m. in the heart of Urbana’s Gallery Art Bar the following night, Saturday, February 7. And finally, we guess it’s true that “Ebertfest” will get its “Last Dance” as the Virginia Theatre has begun selling festival passes as of today, Friday, January 30, the traditional week/end for them to be made available to filmgoers everywhere; hit this link to reserve yours for the April coda. Over the course of cross-checking all that we’ve packed into our Report, we noticed it was one year ago to a tee when we had previously noticed a pre-spring glut of goodness to choose from in our film culture. Maybe this is the new trend in the C-U, “Our Film February.” Yes?

Now, we say a brief adieu to Report-ing while your humble editor begins the extended slog of figuring out how to live the stable life in the house on the edge of an American small town while courting gainful employment and starting in earnest the exodus of excess material goods that are clogging up the home front we’ve come to know as Momkoke Manor. Still, expect to see a few editorial bonuses and whims making their way onto CUBlog as we continue with a dependable and stripped-down Calendar. Onward.

LOCAL FILMS & EVENTS | Support Your Media Storytellers

@ Orpheum Champaign, Champaign, IL
Champaign Movie Makers* presents “Local Movie Showcase” (2/2, 7 p.m., free)

@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL
Chambana Film Society* presents The Champaign Movie Makers* 2026 48-Hour Film Competition Screening (2/1, 12:30 p.m.), MOSES THE BLACK* w/filmmaker discussion (2/1, 3 p.m.)

NOW PLAYING | Champaign-Urbana Area

@ AMC Champaign 13, Champaign, IL
IRON LUNG, MELANIA (documentary), PARIS HILTON: INFINITE ICON – A VISUAL MEMOIR* (music documentary), SEND HELP, SHELTER, ANACONDA, AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH, THE HOUSEMAID, MARTY SUPREME*, MERCY, PRIMATE*, RETURN TO SILENT HILL, ZOOTOPIA 2 (animation) (1/30 on), THE LEGO MOVIE (animation) (1/30, 2/1, 1:45 & 4:30 p.m.; 1/31, 1:45 p.m.; 2/2-2/4, 4:30 p.m.), THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING* (re-release) (1/30, 2/2), THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS* (re-release) (1/31, 2/3), THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING* (re-release) (2/1, 2/4), MOSES THE BLACK (1/31, 2/4, 7 p.m.), AMC “Scream Unseen” (mystery movie) (2/2, 7 p.m.), BUFFALO KIDS (animation), DRACULA, SOLO MIO, THE STRANGERS: CHATPER 3 (2/5 on) *single screenings daily

@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL
IRON LUNG, MOSES THE BLACK, SEND HELP, SHELTER, 28 YEARS LATER: THE BONE TEMPLE, AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH, HAMNET, THE HOUSEMAID, MARTY SUPREME, MERCY, NO OTHER CHOICE (in Korean with English sub), PRIMATE, RETURN TO SILENT HILL, SONG SUNG BLUE, ZOOTOPIA 2 (animation) (1/23 on), Indian cinema: OM SHANTI SHANTI SHANTIHI* (in Telugu with English sub; 1/30, 2/1-2/2), BORDER 2 (in Hindi with English sub; 1/30-2/4), ANAGANAGA OKA RAJU* (in Telugu with English sub; 1/31, 2/4), and MANA SHANKARAVARAPRASAD GURY (in Telugu with English sub; 2/3), THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING (re-release) (1/30, 2/2), THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS* (re-release) (1/31, 2/3), THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING* (re-release) (2/1, 2/4), UFC 325: Alexander Volkanovski vs. Diego Lopes, more (mixed martial arts) (1/31, 8 p.m., simulcast), TITANIC (2/1, 3 & 7 p.m.; 2/4, 7 p.m.), STILL HOPE (2/5 on) *single screenings daily

@ Pine Lounge, 1st floor, Illini Union, UIUC, Urbana, IL
Illini Union Board presents “Spring 2025 Weekend Films” feat. BLACK PHONE 2 (1/30-1/31, 7 p.m.; free w/i-card)

Events featuring locally produced movies are marked with an asterisk (*). Additional “Now Playing” and “Coming Soon” listings appear after the jump!

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Read the rest of this entry »

Our movie and media Calendar appears every Friday/Saturday on C-U Blogfidential and caters to the downstate region anchored by Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, USA.

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PASSINGS | You Will Be Missed

12/27: Grant Morenz, 51 (actor, SCARY NORMAL, Hot Diggity Productions, Champaign, IL)

FIELD REPORT DU HQ | From Wherever It May Be Said

We’ve been hearing from not-so-far away that Champaign-Urbana weather is a big ol’ polar bear this weekend. Therefore, we hope that everybody does their best to be heads’ up if you have to go out. AMC Champaign 13 cancelled their slate for Friday and the Savoy 16 has done the same on Sunday as we finally put this together, so, please visit your favorite theaters’ websites or call their hotlines to be in the know on when they’re open for business. We won’t be updating this week’s Calendar after today unless we sneak in an anecdotal goodie for you. Once a week to compile is enough for ye olde Ye Ed.

That said, from the comfort of your shelter we can finish looking back at local film activity as reported in MICRO-FILM issue 7 from October of 2005, when it provided a smorgasbord of cinema writings for our dearest micro-readers to devour. “The Confidential Teletype” packed a litany of updates and what follows are the final tidbits from page 44 of that fateful journal. If you’ve enjoyed our reminisces in the last two Reports, you’ll enjoy this as well. Who and what else played a part in our film scene? Glad you asked…

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Carlin Trammel of Savoy has completed two short films under his Stormspeed Entertainment banner. DAVID VON FANGE IN TASTES LIKE CHICKEN adapts a comics story about a restaurateur/superhero whose capacity to “turn off” his emotions interfere with getting the girl, while MISSED ME (in tandem with Farmer City resident Josh Hawn of Ten44 Productions) finds a pair of camouflaged soldiers tangling with “some rather unconventional weaponry” …

Members of the Creative Dramatics Workshop in nearby Sidney branched out into video production with a full-length rendering of Sophocles’ Antigone. Adapted and directed by the theater group’s Robert Picklesimer, ANTIGONE follows closely the classic war-tragedy set in Thebes with an unusually young-skewing cast, including 18-year-old Claire Cowles in the title role. The film made its bow in April at the Savoy 16 Theaters …

At the same time, the seventh annual edition of Roger Ebert’s Overlooked Film Festival (MF 3) once again welcomed thousands of moviegoers to the Virginia Theatre in downtown Champaign, presenting several features and guests that should be familiar to MF readers: PRIMER (Shane Carruth), BAADASSSSS! (Mario Van Peebles), THE SECRET OF ROAN INISH (John Sayles), ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW (Miranda July), and a glorious Guy Maddin match-up, THE HEART OF THE WORLD and THE SADDEST MUSIC IN THE WORLD …

Correcting an error in last issue’s Teletype, John Chua (MARION’S TRIUMPH) actually earned a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature – not Cinema Studies – from the University of Illinois. Chua’s documentary also had its first public C-U screening in April … fin.

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…and, Great Scott, we’re back to the future. Trammel and family now live in Tallahassee, where he works at the University of Florida and wields his multimedia skills in their advancement department, while Hawn offers insurance products in Farmer City and apparently has kept open Ten44 as a sideline to “manage video projects such as Documentaries, Mission Videos, [and] Hunting Television Series” per LinkedIn. Since the death of Picklesimer in 2020, both the Workshop and its long-time home, the Homer Opera House in Homer, have struggled to keep going as online records of their activity have trickled to a halt. Chua has made several social-issue films since MARION’S TRIUMPH and trotted the globe for work in various capacities as a producer, writer, and academic instructor. “Ebertfest,” at least the version of it we’ve known since its inception in 1999, is allegedly returning to Champaign for “one last dance” in an abbreviated format, per Chaz Ebert, with an intent to keep it going in some fashion if a replacement source of funding is found, per Nate Kohn. All us average citizens can do at this point is to stay tuned.

If you want a concentrated dose of C-U film culture in the here and now, you won’t have long to wait. Postponed from this Sunday due to the weather and now scheduled for next Sunday, February 1, at 12:30 p.m., is a program of 48-hour challenge films made by teams of Champaign Movie Makers members. It will be followed at 3 p.m. by a screening of MOSES THE BLACK, the Fathom Events release that was almost completely filmed in east central Illinois back in the fall. Both events are presented by Chambana Film Society and will be held at the Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX in Savoy. There is also a third event of the fashionable “pop-up” variety, arranged by CMM organizer Andrew Stengele, which will take place at a former theatrical venue, the Orpheum Champaign, on Tuesday, February 3, starting at 7 p.m. It will be a collection of local films, old and new, projected in a storied space that hasn’t seen this kind of action in some time. Might it be a recurring thing? Attendance by you, you, and you will help CMM decide.

NOW PLAYING | Champaign-Urbana Area

@ AMC Champaign 13, Champaign, IL
CHATHA PACHA: THE KING OF ROWDIES* (in Malayalam with English sub), H IS FOR HAWK, MERCY, RETURN TO SILENT HILL*, 28 YEARS LATER: THE BONE TEMPLE, ANACONDA, AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH, GREENLAND 2: MIGRATION*, HAMNET*, THE HOUSEMAID, MARTY SUPREME, PRIMATE, THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SEARCH FOR SQUAREPANTS* (animation), ZOOTOPIA 2 (animation) (1/23 on), THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING* (re-release) (1/23-1/26, 1/29), THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS* (re-release) (1/23-1/25, 1/27), THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING* (re-release) (1/23-1/25, 1/28), SENTIMENTAL VALUE w/onscreen discussion by cast (in Norwegian with English sub) (1/25, 2 p.m.), AMC “Screen Unseen” (mystery movie) (1/26, 7 p.m.), PARIS HILTON: INFINITE ICON – A VISUAL MEMOIR (music documentary) (1/28, 7 p.m.; 1/29, 4 & 7:10 p.m.), IRON LUNG, SEND HELP, SHELTER (1/29 on) *single screenings daily

@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL
MERCY, RETURN TO SILENT HILL*, 28 YEARS LATER: THE BONE TEMPLE, AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH, CHARLIE THE WONDERDOG* (animation), DAVID (faith animation), GREENLAND 2: MIGRATION*, HAMNET*, THE HOUSEMAID, IS THIS THING ON?, MARTY SUPREME, NO OTHER CHOICE (in Korean with English sub), PRIMATE, SONG SUNG BLUE, THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SEARCH FOR SQUAREPANTS* (animation), ZOOTOPIA 2 (animation) (1/23 on), Indian cinema: BORDER 2* (in Hindi with English sub; 1/23-1/28), NARI NARI NADUMA MURAI (in Telugu with English sub; 1/23), CHATHA PACHA: THE KING OF ROWDIES* (in Malayalam with English sub; 1/23-1/24), THALAIVAR THAMBI THALAIMAIYIL* (in Tamil with English sub; 1/24, 1/26), ANAGANAGA OKA RAJU* (in Telugu with English sub; 1/25), and MANA SHANKARAVARAPRASAD GURY (in Telugu with English sub; 1/25-1/28), THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING* (re-release) (1/23), THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS* (re-release) (1/24), THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING* (re-release) (1/25), The Metropolitan Opera: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Klay (1/24, 1 p.m., simulcast; 1/28, 1 & 6:30 p.m., recorded), UFC 324: Justin Gaethje vs. Paddy Pimblett, more (mixed martial arts) (1/28, 8 p.m., simulcast), INTERSTELLAR (1/24, 1/28, 7 p.m.), SEND HELP (1/29 on) *single screenings daily

@ Illini Union, UIUC, Urbana, IL
Illini Union Board presents “Spring 2025 Weekend Films” feat. ROOFMAN, I-Room A, 1st floor (1/23-1/24, 7 p.m.; free w/i-card)

Events featuring locally produced movies are marked with an asterisk (*). Additional “Now Playing” and “Coming Soon” listings appear after the jump!

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Read the rest of this entry »

Our movie and media Calendar appears every Friday/Saturday on C-U Blogfidential and caters to the downstate region anchored by Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, USA.

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FIELD REPORT DU HQ | From Wherever It May Be Said

Today, we dive back into the mists of time and remind ourselves what the storytellers behind the cameras were making twenty years ago in Champaign, Urbana, and the cities beyond! This is according to “The Confidential Teletype” on page 44 of MICRO-FILM issue 7, which we published all the way back in October 2005 and assembled in the heart of the Sesquicentennial Neighborhood. It was a relatively busy time for the local movies and about to lead into a handful of more elaborate endeavors that would show our communities we had the capacity for fostering and accommodating something bigger, which is being borne out belatedly as you’ve been reading in our string of Reports that closed out 2025. Let’s continue…

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Laser-beam light has appeared at the end of the long, dark, nasty tunnel where originates the intense output of Hart D. Fisher (MF 2). The former Champaign underground comix publisher has seen his short film CHANCE MEETING hit DVD through Chanting Monks Studios in Florida as a Flowers on the Razorwire release, while his fabled C-U serial killer feature, THE GARBAGE MAN, will finally gut video stores everywhere this fall thanks to SRS Cinema in New York …

Other horror movies have recently emerged from Champaign-Urbana soil, courtesy of Ed Glaser and Mobled Queen Entertainment. His short subjects, DEAD BY DAWN 2 and NIGHT OF ANUBIS, feature local magician Andy Dallas in contemporary black-and-white salutes to the terror films of yore – Robert Wiene’s THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI in the former, vintage mummy and zombie programmers in the latter. Glaser plans to produce his inaugural feature-length film soon …

And yet another ghoul will eventually walk the prairie cornfields! Coming off a lengthy stint working for Hollywood company David Foster Productions (THE CORE), Homer native Ryan E. Heppe visited east central Illinois in August 2004 with partners Nicholas Bird and Amy Beth Heppe to shoot a teaser for STALKED, an Eighties-style scarecrow slasher that will serve as the first production for Knightime Pictures LLC. They’ll collect some B-roll locally this summer, with full-blown stalking to commence mid-2006 …

WILL-TV Channel 12 editor Eleanore Stasheff has been furiously assembling the latest entry in her cable-access fantasy programs, EIDOLON. Like her numerous prior multi-part adventures, EIDOLON mixes intrigue, romance, snappy one-liners, and confident heroines hoofing it from one cliffhanger to the next. Working with many long-time collaborators (including lead actresses Brittany Whalen and Morgan Thomas) from her days at Champaign’s Parkland College and Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, Stasheff intends for EIDOLON to bridge the gap between her no-budget roots and professional narrative work …

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…and see how this all played out. After a lengthy residence in California working in the adult video industry and developing a handful of horror/genre streaming channels, including the flagship original American Horrors, Fisher moved back to the Midwest and is now settled in Wisconsin. THE GARBAGE MAN can be found lurking in the depths of American Horrors itself and was ultimately a no-go at SRS, instead coming out on DVD through an outfit called Indie Pictures. Recently, the American Horrors brand has branched out with an eponymous film festival held annually in Lake Geneva while Fisher expands his online foothold, such as with his recent acquisition of the long-running Roku favorite, B-Movie TV.

Elsewhere, Glaser would level up next with two PRESS START videogame movies and a myriad of cult films and historical projects under a new name, Neon Harbor Entertainment, but has not been openly active in this space as of late. Similarly, Stasheff had filled the Nineties and Aughts before and after EIDOLON with her wizardly goodness under the Sine Fine Films banner, but the cascade of low-budget and high-tempo shorts, features, and miniseries has grown quiet except for the occasional reunion special. And, STALKED stalled after the proof-of-concept short was completed, while Heppe’s personal film output has trickled down as he plies other trades in the entertainment industry as a story analyst and producer at Voyage Media as well as a content creator, voiceover artist, and screenplay instructor.

We’ll peek at cinema history du C-U one more time next week, and feel free to Report your new talking points to friends and neighbors from all over. Knowing our foundation is a vital part of solidifying our scene. Cheers!

LOCAL FILMS & EVENTS | Support Your Media Storytellers

@ Esquire Lounge, Champaign, IL
Champaign Movie Makers* meeting (1/19, 7 p.m.)

@ Lincoln Square, Urbana, IL
Champaign Movie Makers* presents “48-Hour Film Competition” (1/16, 7 p.m.-1/18, 7 p.m.)

@ Rantoul Business Center, Flyover Film Studios, Rantoul, IL
“The 2026 Filmworkers Expo” (1/17, 12-5 p.m.)

NOW PLAYING | Champaign-Urbana Area

@ AMC Champaign 13, Champaign, IL
28 YEARS LATER: THE BONE TEMPLE, ALL YOU NEED IS KILL (animé) (in Japanese with English sub or English dub), THE CHORAL*, HAPPY PATEL: KHATARNAK JASOOS (in Hindi with English sub), NIGHT PATROL*, ANACONDA, AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH, GREENLAND 2: MIGRATION, THE HOUSEMAID, MARTY SUPREME, IS THIS THING ON?*, PRIMATE, THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SEARCH FOR SQUAREPANTS (animation), ZOOTOPIA 2 (animation) (1/16 on), MADAGASCAR 20th anniversary* (animation) (1/16-1/22), THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING* (re-release) (1/16-1/21), THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS* (re-release) (1/16-1/20, 1/22), THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING* (re-release) (1/16-1/19, 1/21-1/22), MERCY (1/22 on) *single screenings daily

@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL
28 YEARS LATER: THE BONE TEMPLE, CHARLIE THE WONDERDOG (animation), NIGHT PATROL, NO OTHER CHOICE (in Korean with English sub), SHEEPDOG*, AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH, DAVID (faith animation), GREENLAND 2: MIGRATION, HAMNET*, THE HOUSEMAID, I WAS A STRANGER*, IS THIS THING ON?, MARTY SUPREME, PRIMATE, SONG SUNG BLUE, THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SEARCH FOR SQUAREPANTS (animation), ZOOTOPIA 2 (animation) (1/16 on), Indian cinema: NARI NARI NADUMA MURAI (in Telugu with English sub; 1/16-1/21), ANAGANAGA OKA RAJU* (in Telugu with English sub; 1/16-1/21), and MANA SHANKARAVARAPRASAD GURY (in Telugu with English sub; 1/16-1/21), THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING* (re-release) (1/16; 1/19-1/22, 12 p.m.), THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS* (re-release) (1/17; 1/19-1/22, 4 p.m.), THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING* (re-release) (1/18; 1/19-1/22, 8:15 p.m.), MEAN GIRLS (2004) (1/18, 3 & 7 p.m.; 1/21, 7 p.m.), MERCY (1/22 on) *single screenings daily

@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL
The News-Gazette Film Series presents CITIZEN KANE (1/17, 1 & 7 p.m.)

Events featuring locally produced movies are marked with an asterisk (*). Additional “Now Playing” and “Coming Soon” listings appear after the jump!

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Read the rest of this entry »

Our movie and media Calendar appears every Friday/Saturday on C-U Blogfidential and caters to the downstate region anchored by Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, USA.

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FIELD REPORT DU HQ | From Wherever It May Be Said

Despite our stated intent from last week that we’re powering down the Report for the short term, that doesn’t mean we won’t pipe up if something strikes our fancy. Therefore, if Ye Ed says we should share old copy from a generation ago that makes sense for CUBlog today, let’s do it! We did miss the boat on marking the 20th anniversary of the last issue of MICRO-FILM, which we released to the world in October 2005 after many labor-intensive hours spent at the former Secret MICRO-FILM Headquarters near downtown Champaign, so we’re invoking it here for the next three weeks in that “remember when” sort of way. It will be less about MF 7 and more about the state of our film scene at the time.

While we were briefly tempted to draft a mock Calendar entry that would have read like a Calendar posted that month – an impossibility, since CUBlog went live in February 2006 and, yes, we’re absolutely seeing that anniversary hovering on the horizon – we’re just going to break it down here. The precursor to the Report and its online mutations were the comparable passages in MF and its various offshoots that presented “news ticker” style updates about what was happening with the movies of Champaign, Urbana, and the cities beyond. That paused for a while between the publication of MF 7 and when we resumed sharing “all the news fit to post” on our current platform. Search here on CUBlog and ye shall find.

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The ”C-U Confidential” segment of MF 7 was handled differently from the previous issues. Instead of a series of compact articles about our film culture, we had an out-and-about diary by Mr. JaPan that brought the variety. And, instead of a concluding page with several anecdotal factoids, we had a page full of run-together tidbits that mentioned a lot of who, what, when, etc., in short order. It’s this material we revive for you now, dearest historians. From page 44, “The Confidential Teletype” informed us that…

Former Tolono and Urbana resident Mark Roberts, now a writer and producer of the hit CBS-TV sitcom TWO AND A HALF MEN, returned home this summer to direct the world premiere of his play Welcome to Tolono. The darkly comedic tale of small-town eccentrics gathered in a church basement for AA meetings featured MF contributor Aaron Polk of Urbana and Backyard Cinema co-editor Mike Trippiedi (MF 1) of Champaign in major roles. Word has it that Roberts intends to film Tolono in the near future …

Robin Peters (MF 5, 6) of Monticello marches forth with additional Dreamscape Cinema productions: DISCONNECT, a time-bending murder mystery shot in Summer 2004 that stars Steffany Huckaby, Eddie Jones, Holmes Osborne, Michael Muhney, and Amanda Troop, and ANGST, a just-wrapped comedy with Muhney playing a young actor masquerading as an old man in a retirement home. Peters produced and directed both features in Champaign County …

Recent University of Illinois graduate and Peters associate Chris Folkens followed up his student ghost story TRIAD (MF 6) with the Hi-Def action-thriller TOXIN, which made its debut at New York City’s Tribeca Cinemas in early April. Folkens now works for the Leo Burnett advertising agency in Chicago …

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…and now comes the portion where we see where all this has led. Most of the folks mentioned above are quite active in the arts today and have been mentioned within the last year on CUBlog. Roberts did go on to make WELCOME TO TOLONO “The Movie” and has retired from the network television drag, pouring his creative energies into plays and songwriting as well as printing The Bad Mule Rag, producing a series of award-winning animated shorts, and advocating for animal rights. Polk has been a perennial guest on the locally-recorded Mashley at the Movies podcast and just hinted at an upcoming “1,001 movies to see before I die” essay project. And, Trippiedi is concentrating on his novel writing and recently restored his own first feature, DOGS IN QUICKSAND, for a Blu-ray re-release by Saturn’s Core Audio & Video.

Peters has gone professionally as Robin Christian since then, producing and selling the rights to a handful of subsequent movies like ANGST, retitled as ACT YOUR AGE and distributed in the US by the defunct Vanguard Cinema, and his most recent to be completed, C.O.R.N. II: MIND HARVEST, which can be streamed on services like Tubi. And Folkens, who interned for Peters while living in the C-U, has built a career in Los Angeles as a spot producer for ABC television and indie producer of short subjects with altruistic aims; his debut feature, CATALYST, was released worldwide last winter by the UK-based studio 4Digital Media. Again, search all of these deets on this forum and you will know them to be true.

We’ll peek at more cinema history du C-U next week, and feel free to Report your new talking points to friends and neighbors from all over. Knowing our foundation is a vital part of solidifying our scene. Cheers!

LOCAL FILMS & EVENTS | Support Your Media Storytellers

@ Champaign Public Library Douglass Branch, Champaign, IL
40 North and Champaign Movie Makers present Pens to Lens* youth screenwriting workshop (1/10, 1 p.m., ages K-12, free)

@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL
Chambana Film Society* presents “The Savoy Arthouse” feat. AIN’T NO BACK TO A MERRY-GO-ROUND (documentary) (1/11, 3 p.m.)

@ Rantoul Business Center, Rantoul, IL
Champaign County Film Office presents “So You Want to Be a Film Location?” seminar (1/12, 5 p.m.)

NOW PLAYING | Champaign-Urbana Area

@ AMC Champaign 13, Champaign, IL
FATHER MOTHER SISTER BROTHER, GREENLAND 2: MIGRATION, I WAS A STRANGER, IS THIS THING ON?, PRIMATE, ANACONDA, AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH, DAVID* (faith animation), FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S 2*, THE HOUSEMAID, MARTY SUPREME, SONG SUNG BLUE*, THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SEARCH FOR SQUAREPANTS (animation), WE BURY THE DEAD*, WICKED: FOR GOOD*, ZOOTOPIA 2 (animation) (1/9 on), “Gundam Premiere Night” feat. MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM: IRON-BLOODED ORPHANS feature + short, MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM WING: ENDLESS WALTZ (animé) (1/12-1/13, 7 p.m., English dub; 1/15, 7 p.m., in Japanese with English sub), 28 YEARS LATER: THE BONE TEMPLE, ALL YOU NEED IS KILL (animé) (in Japanese with English sub or English dub) (1/15 on) *single screenings daily

@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL
GREENLAND 2: MIGRATION, I WAS A STRANGER, IS THIS THING ON?, PRIMATE, ANACONDA, AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH, DAVID (faith animation), FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S 2*, HAMNET, THE HOUSEMAID, MARTY SUPREME, SONG SUNG BLUE, THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SEARCH FOR SQUAREPANTS (animation), WICKED: FOR GOOD, ZOOTOPIA 2 (animation) (1/9 on), Indian cinema: PARASAKTHI (in Tamil with English sub; 1/9-1/12), THE RAJASAAB (in Telugu with English sub; 1/9-1/10), MANA SHANKARAVARAPRASAD GURY (in Telugu with English sub; 1/11-1/14), and ANAGANAGA OKA RAJU (in Telugu with English sub; 1/13), LABYRINTH 40th anniversary (1/9-1/11, 7 p.m.), The Metropolitan Opera: I Puritani (1/10, 12 p.m., simulcast; 1/14, 1 & 6:30 p.m., simulcast), THE OUTSIDERS (1/11, 3 & 7 p.m.; 1/14, 7 p.m.), “Gundam Premiere Night” feat. MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM: IRON-BLOODED ORPHANS feature + short, MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM WING: ENDLESS WALTZ (animé) (1/12-1/13, 7 p.m., English dub; 1/15, 7 p.m., in Japanese with English sub), 28 YEARS LATER: THE BONE TEMPLE (1/15 on) *single screenings daily

Events featuring locally produced movies are marked with an asterisk (*). Additional “Now Playing” and “Coming Soon” listings appear after the jump!

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Read the rest of this entry »

Our movie and media Calendar appears every Friday/Saturday on C-U Blogfidential and caters to the downstate region anchored by Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, USA.

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FIELD REPORT DU HQ | From Wherever It May Be Said

‘Tis the season! Therefore, ‘tis the low-ebb portion of our school year activity here at C-U Blogfidential, although this round is different as we finally begin a gradual metamorphosis into a different phase of how we chronicle the C-Universe. For the moment, we’re cutting back on our Report protocol through March at the least, offering one-and-done entries when something really stokes our curiosity, while the Images department will go into hibernation after today unless we have such a sight to show you because it is simply that astounding. What all are we up to at MFHQ Deux? Only one sure way to know – read about it.

What we’d like to point out for your enticement today is an upcoming series that will be held a little bit outside of our usual geography. Ye Ed has been noticing ads in his Facebook news feed for a hefty retrospective that will begin next Friday, January 9, in the screening auditorium at the Peoria Riverfront Museum in downtown Peoria. Alfred Hitchcock’s famous “single-shot” experiment in tension, ROPE, will kick off the spring program, “Art of Film” hosted by the Film Society of the Giant Screen Theater, at 6:30 p.m. that evening to be followed by – collective gasp at the sheer magnitude of what we’re about to list – MULHOLLAND DRIVE (Jan. 10), WOMAN IN THE DUNES (Jan. 11), JEANNE DIELMAN, 23 QUAI DU COMMERCE, 1080 BRUXELLES (Jan. 11), THE SERVANT (Jan. 16 & 18), TO DIE FOR (Jan. 23 & 25), THE BITTER TEARS OF PETRA VON KANT (Jan. 30 & Feb. 1), PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE (Feb. 6 & 8), IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE (Feb 13 & 15), SUZHOU RIVER (Feb. 20 & 21), TROPICAL MALADY (Feb. 27 & Mar. 1), BEAU TRAVAIL (Mar. 6 & 8), and TASTE OF CHERRY (Mar. 13 & 15). This is big city-level fare, folks. Why is no venue in Champaign-Urbana able to sustain a strength in schedule like this? Certainly, the museum has filled in other dates with famous fare to attract their community-at-large and help pay the bills – PADDINGTON IN PERU, the original Indiana Jones trilogy, the improbable smash hit LILO & STITCH remake – but it sure makes us feel a little sheepish. Baa-aa-aa-aah humbug.

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Some of these titles have played the C-U in the past, of course, whether in first run, revival, or both. We’re just marveling at the absolute strength in numbers of well-regarded films made by world-class filmmakers. Not that we have no unique options closer to home. The Chambana Film Society, which operates on a different wavelength with content unique from what the Peoria Film Society is programming and our own community is the better for it, resumes in 2026 on Sunday, January 11, with the documentary AIN’T NO BACK TO A MERRY-GO-ROUND about a Civil Rights Movement sit-in with a unique spin on fostering better relations. The next and final downstate “Ebertfest” will do what “Ebertfest” does, present thought-provoking and life-affirming films from the past and present. Contemporary “art house” cinema receives a boost in Springfield when the 34th annual Molly Schlich International/Independent Film Series opens on Sunday, January 18, with a French comedy, JANE AUSTEN WRECKED MY LIFE. Hopefully, the Virginia Theatre in Champaign and Fischer Theatre in Danville both continue to increase their showing of repertory classics; we see the Virginia will play CITIZEN KANE on January 17 and WHAT’S UP, DOC? on February 7 as the latest entries in the News-Gazette Film Series. The Normal Theater in Normal also goes retro this weekend with the evergreen, emerald-green WIZARD OF OZ. Take ‘em in when we get ‘em, folks.

The real answer in the present tense, we suppose, is one needs to be willing to hit the road sometimes to find one’s cinema nirvana if that involves an auditorium, a giant screen, and a willing audience. It all adds up to a positive in the long run and, if you’ve been reading CUBlog for any of the last twenty years, then you know the fare is out there somewhere. If not, today is always a good day to start figuring out how to make it happen by the efforts of yourselves and those in your clubhouse. We should know. Cheers.

NOW PLAYING | Champaign-Urbana Area

@ AMC Champaign 13, Champaign, IL
THE DUTCHMAN, THE PLAGUE*, WE BURY THE DEAD, ANACONDA, AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH, DAVID (faith animation), FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S 2*, THE HOUSEMAID, MARTY SUPREME, SONG SUNG BLUE, THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SEARCH FOR SQUAREPANTS (animation), WICKED: FOR GOOD, ZOOTOPIA 2 (animation) (1/2 on), AMC “Scream Unseen” (mystery movie) (1/5, 7 p.m.), GREENLAND 2: MIGRATION, I WAS A STRANGER, PRIMATE (1/8 on) *single screenings daily

@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL
WE BURY THE DEAD, ANACONDA, AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH, DAVID (faith animation), FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S 2, HAMNET, THE HOUSEMAID, MARTY SUPREME, SONG SUNG BLUE, THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SEARCH FOR SQUAREPANTS (animation), WICKED: FOR GOOD, ZOOTOPIA 2 (animation) (1/2 on), KIDS BOP LIVE: THE CONCERT MOVIE (1/2-1/5), INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM (1/3, 7 p.m.; 1/ 4, 3 & 7 p.m.; 1/7, 7 p.m.), DHURANDHAR (in Hindi with English sub; 1/ 4-1/7), LABYRINTH 40th anniversary (1/8, 7 p.m.), GREENLAND 2: MIGRATION, JANA NAYAGAN (in Tamil with English sub), THE RAJASAAB (in Telugu with English sub), PRIMATE (1/8 on)

Events featuring locally produced movies are marked with an asterisk (*). Additional “Now Playing” and “Coming Soon” listings appear after the jump!

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Read the rest of this entry »

Our movie and media Calendar appears every Friday/Saturday on C-U Blogfidential and caters to the downstate region anchored by Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, USA.

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MILESTONES | Happy Birthday to You!

12/30: Jason Pankoke (editor/publisher, C-U Blogfidential + The MICRO-FILM Review, Mendota, IL)

FIELD REPORT DU HQ | From Wherever It May Be Said

Just like the tinsel draped over the branches of your Xmas tree, catching the light and reflecting all sorts of colors in a unified whole, we present today’s Report in the spirit of shining our own light on the various dimensions of the movies of Champaign, Urbana, and the cities beyond. First and foremost, the growing number of working professionals in our area presumably rejoiced after the announcement a week ago that Illinois governor J. B. Pritzker had signed into law SB 1911, which improves several tenants of the Illinois Film Production Tax Credit Act in the hopes of continuing the upswing of film, television, and commercial business within the state; those who have money and skin in “the biz” can read over the amended bullet points here and crawl through the actual bill here. Of course, one can’t consider all this without also contemplating the fortunes of Flyover Film Studios in Rantoul, which absolutely needs to provide good service to out-of-the-area and out-of-state companies in order to thrive. This can only help them attract more clients, barring an industry-wide depression, and indirectly funnel spending to many other businesses in Champaign County, a win-win that will take time and hard work to manifest.

Projects with local roots keep springing up. Bloody Disgusting revealed a teaser trailer on Monday for THE FAIRFIELD COUNTY FOUR, the found footage werewolf thriller that was directed for Horror Dadz Productions by Joshua Brucker of Watseka; shot on location in Connecticut this past June with a cast of up-and-comers in indie horror and the television hosting legend Joe Bob Briggs; Brucker and his fellow Horror Dadz are seeking distribution for FOUR as they prep for their next collaboration, NIGHT TERROR. And then, Shea Kelly of A Thousand Yard Stare Productions in Decatur posted a virtual Xmas present yesterday – the third season finale of FILMWAR!, in which online and indie film talents compete for an hour to score points, land retro prizes, and lay claim to titles as they navigate Kelly’s trivia games, which range from “anybody’s guess” to “if you know, you know” in difficulty. Follow along with an episode and see how well you do! (We’re also puzzled as to how Kelly escaped his predicament at the end of Episode 19. Conspiracy? Aliens?!?) Episode 20 follows hot on the heels of Kelly’s compelling short, A MAN OF CHARACTER, which won a second-place award at the conclusion of the Big Picture Peoria Film Festival last month and can now be enjoyed on YouTube; set dynamics should not be this potentially volatile.

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We can’t forget the influence that academia has on our culture. WCIA-TV reported last weekend that Kelly Goodwin, who served as the news director of WEIU-TV on the campus of Eastern Illinois University in Charleston for a quarter century, is stepping down from her role and retiring. Taking up the position at her alma mater after working as an anchor and producer elsewhere, Goodwin has taught the ins and outs of broadcast journalism to hundreds of students, many of whom went on to relevant and award-winning careers, and was recently inducted into the Silver Circle of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences due to her lengthy career in the field. We also have to acknowledge that academia can have its limits, with apologies to our friends in places of higher knowledge; budget cuts forced upon universities across the United States by the current administration in Washington, D.C., tipped the budgetary scale at the College of Media at Illinois, which could not afford to move forward with a twenty-sixth Roger Ebert’s Film Festival. And yet, earlier this week, “Ebertfest” host and RogerEbert.com publisher Chaz Ebert confirmed with WCIA that, thanks to a vote of confidence from the fans and supporters that she and director Nate Kohn have received since the September 19 announcement, the show will go on for one final time at the Virginia Theatre in Champaign with a smaller program of movies on April 17 and 18 and a Steak ‘n’ Shake farewell on April 19, independent of the UIUC machine. The “thumbs’ up” have spoken!

To close this gift wrap-up for 2025 with a weird glint in our eye, we offer you THE TRAVIS WAYNE HURT CHRISTMAS SPECIAL THE 13TH, once a low-budget, locally-made staple that aired seasonally on Urbana Public Television and now a low-budget, locally-made staple that is shared with the community in public, like it was last weekend at the Channing-Murray Foundation, before making its way to YouTube. Backyard wrestling and fuzzy high-decibel indie rock are common threads in this installment, which has a unique homegrown charm on par with its predecessors and may be an acquired taste if you are not a regular in particular scenes du C-U. Erin Gillis and Travis Wayne Hurt host a podcast segment with their guest, Adani Sanchez, Blye & Shelby provide a “Santa Flow,” an outdoors interlude is collaged by MadHatchet, and “A Very Hunchville Xmas” erupts in song, dance, and a snowy three-way ladder challenge for the belt. “Ding, ding,” rings our jingle bells, and the fun begins when you press play. Pass the Faygo and bring the Hurt!

IMAGERY DU C-U | Picturing Our Scene on the Screen

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In today’s “Images” department, we finally bring you exclusive details and visuals related to yet another short subject filmed in the area, although this one seemed to come from out of left (corn)field! Oakwood native Crystal Lee Hughes, a SAG-AFRA screen performer who lives and works in Los Angeles, will be premiering first looks at a pair of projects during a special program this coming Monday, December 29, at the Fischer Theatre in downtown Danville. The first is called CHILDREN OF THE CORNFIELD and is a proof-of-concept for an eventual full-length version, written by Mitch Yapko from a story by the duo. Second is a preview for a mini-series called HELLTHCARE (stylized as “HELLthcare” to get the point across) about the rampant pitfalls and inequalities faced by Americans when dealing with our health care system and interviews with a few of the physicians and activists who are attempting to affect positive change. Doors and a red-carpet photo op are at 6 p.m., the showing of both films is at 7 p.m., and a reception, raffle, and silent auction to raise funds for the CORNFIELD feature begin at 7:30 p.m. The Fischer will accept donations at the door to contribute to their own financial necessities.

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For CORNFIELD, a crew descended upon Vermilion County the weekend of September 12-14 to shoot on location for this “hometown horror comedy,” co-produced and directed by Hughes, that “delivers eerie Midwest vibes and small-town suspense, with a nostalgic nod to the landscape and people that inspired it,” per an official press release. A large congregation of Hughes’ friends and relatives filled out the cast while the crew included cinematographer and editor Nick Talarico, sound mixer Blake Emerson, local casting director Owen Tiner, first assistant director Salena Jones, gaffer Sofie Verweyen, set photographer Christopher L. Hughes, whose work illustrates this article, and co-producer Yapko. Kickapoo State Park, a local Sport Clips salon, the Fischer itself, and the crops stretching around the Hughes family homestead served as locations. Their teamwork has already been noticed as the short received several awards last month during the LA Live Film Festival at the Regal Cinemas location on Olympic Boulevard in Los Angeles, including “Best Director,” “Best Writer,” and “Best Actor.”

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The events that unfold in CORNFIELD come from the opening act of the feature screenplay in which Zella, played by Hughes as an adult and Molly Wagoner as a teen, returns to the Midwest and feels something amiss with all the things that haven’t changed, yet have: the people, the locations, the ambience, and maybe most alarmingly, the land itself. A sense of cynicism and alienation comes over her, despite the fact she grew up in this environment, and leads to her reading between the lines of corn and witnessing the deviousness afoot. According to an artist’s statement at The Gotham Film & Media Institute, where folks can support the feature by making a tax-deductible contribution, Hughes describes their storytelling approach as “heightened but intimate, unnerving but funny, stylized but deeply human.”

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A preview for HELLTHCARE, not necessarily what will be presented at the Fischer, can be watched at Hughes’ YouTube channel as well as several previous shorts for which the filmmaker wore a stack of hats as producer, director, writer, and actress. They include SOLUS, an expression of a woman’s mental health struggles in a single day of her life, SPACE CASTLE, a wry sci-fi vignette with power dynamics at play, and PHARMACOPEIA, a dark comedy about a would-be actress who tries to sell pharmaceuticals in the meantime. You can read more about her credits and experience at Actors Access and keep up with her endeavors at both Instagram and Facebook. Although the initial plan was for her team to return to the Oakwood area at this time to produce the expanded CHILDREN OF THE CORNFIELD, Hughes has confirmed with CUBlog the new goal is to line up personnel and resources for a spring 2026 filming schedule. You may contact crystalhughes03 [at] gmail [dot] com to inquire how you can help out and click below to enlarge the flier and scan the QR codes to learn more about CORNFIELD and HELLTHCARE.

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CONFIDENTIAL ALMANAC | Dates in Film Culture History

25 Years Ago … Thursday, November 2, 2000: With the sights of the sex-curious block “Bitter Swallow” still in mind and the electropop sounds of Salaryman ringing in their ears, both from the night before, a crowd gathers one last time for the “Best of Fest” screening and awards ceremony at the New Art Theatre in downtown Champaign, Illinois, to close the fourth annual Freaky Film (and Music) Festival. Created in 1997 by Grace Giorgio and Eric Fisher, the independent showcase has grown this year to hosting events in several locations over a seven-day schedule and ultimately programming more than seventy features and shorts from around the world to be shown. Titles that have made waves in the non-traditional festival circuit and continue to do so in Champaign include timely documentaries like 30 FRAMES A SECOND: THE W.T.O. IN SEATTLE and BUTTERFLY, personal journeys like RESCULPTING VENUS, offbeat comedies like ROCK OPERA and TERROR FIRMER, reflexive takes on the filmmaking process like THE PENNY MARSHALL PROJECT, underground live wires like DEEP AFRICA and HOT BROADS, and undeniable sensations like REJECTED. An opening meet-and-greet, a Halloween costume party, and concurrent bookings with the likes of Wesley Willis, Evil Beaver, The Waco Brothers, and DJ Lyle the Electrician have also figured into this expanded Freaky Films, which would turn out to be its swan song as an attempt by Fisher to reestablish the program in the Pacific Northwest would not pan out. Many of the open-minded businesses that threw key support behind this homegrown banquet of alternative cinema – Boltini, Mike ‘n Molly’s The Octopus, Boneyard Pottery, The Highdive, the New Art, and national sponsor Insound – have since become defunct as well. C-U Blogfidential editor Jason Pankoke contributed to the cause as he did every year, this time as a juror and a liaison who coordinated Freaky coverage in The Octopus. As reported on 6/7/19, 11/3/20 at CUBlog.

LOCAL FILMS & EVENTS | Support Your Media Storytellers

@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL
Chambana Film Society* presents “The Savoy Arthouse” feat. “Short Docs” program (12/28, 3 p.m.)

NOW PLAYING | Champaign-Urbana Area

@ AMC Champaign 13, Champaign, IL
ANACONDA, GEZHI TOWN* (in Mandarin with English sub), MARTY SUPREME, SONG SUNG BLUE, AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH, DAVID (faith animation), FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S 2, HAMNET*, THE HOUSEMAID, THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SEARCH FOR SQUAREPANTS (animation), WICKED: FOR GOOD, ZOOTOPIA 2 (animation) (12/26 on), STRANGER THINGS 5: THE FINALE (concluding Netflix episode) (12/31-1/1) *single screenings daily

@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL
ANACONDA, CHAMPION (in Telugu with English sub), MARTY SUPREME, SONG SUNG BLUE, AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH, DAVID (faith animation), FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S 2, HAMNET, THE HOUSEMAID, THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SEARCH FOR SQUAREPANTS (animation), WICKED: FOR GOOD, ZOOTOPIA 2 (animation) (12/26 on), SHAMBHALA (in Telugu with English sub) (12/28, 10 a.m.)

Events featuring locally produced movies are marked with an asterisk (*). Additional “Now Playing” and “Coming Soon” listings appear after the jump!

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Read the rest of this entry »

Our movie and media Calendar appears every Friday/Saturday on C-U Blogfidential and caters to the downstate region anchored by Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, USA.

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MILESTONES | Happy Birthday to You!

12/21: Max Libman (founder/host, CU International Film Festival, Urbana, IL)
12/21: Linda McElroy (volunteer, Route 66 International Film Festival, Springfield, IL)
12/24: Owen Anderson (actor/stunt coordinator, WEREWOLF CEMETERY, Brainsmart Productions, Portland, OR)
12/25: Shea Kelly (writer/director, A MAN OF CHARACTER, A Thousand Yard Stare Productions, Decatur, IL)
12/27: Bill Turner (actor/set guru, WEREWOLF CEMETERY, Brainsmart Productions, Portland, OR)

FIELD REPORT DU HQ | From Wherever It May Be Said

This week’s Report brings you a set of three wise updates about when and how you can see indies created by local makers. First, Kimberly Conner from Predestined Arts & Entertainment finished up a five-city tour of nightly premieres for her latest feature, LIPSTICK, after which she announced it was available to stream; filmed in Los Angeles, apparently a long-standing goal for the filmmaker, the crime thriller starring Camille Winbush (THE BERNIE MAC SHOW) can be viewed on Amazon Prime with presumably more options to come. Conner is also hosting a seminar called “How to Make a Movie in Fifty Bite Size Steps” that will be offered on Saturday, January 3, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., and you can register for the two-hour Zoom session by visiting this PayPal link. THE L.A.F. KIDS, an orphanage children-versus-mobsters caper that was filmed across central Illinois by the folks at Northend Empire LLC, is now available through Prime as well as on YouTube; director Nate L. Morris’ “lost-and-found kids” adventure was seemingly lost for a full year after its public debut at the Fischer Theatre in Danville, but it’s now clear the L.A.F. were merely AWOL until a they found a new home. To close, seemingly moments after Fathom Events and Simeon Faith dropped a forty-second teaser for their gangland drama MOSES THE BLACK, filmed in Chicago and the Rantoul-Champaign region, they came right back with a pulsing three-minute trailer for the release, which will hit theaters nationwide for a minimum one-week run beginning on Friday, January 30. The story juxtaposes an attempt to go straight by Malik, played by Omar Epps, with the life of St. Moses the Black, an Egyptian monk living in the fourth century A.D. who had given up a life of thievery along the River Nile.

IMAGERY DU C-U | Picturing Our Scene on the Screen

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Continuing on our run of “shorts reports,” we turn to check in with our friends at Acrostar Productions. They are deep in post-production for PERFECT SOUL, the commune vs. supernatural yarn they filmed over 2025, and also deep in pre-production on THE LEGEND OF TINKER HELL, which will star Beth Metcalf in the title role as the thorn in an average family’s side, but that has not stopped the company from exercising those creative muscles on set. In the space of the last six weeks, they have premiered on their YouTube channel not one, not two, but three new projects that all hinge on dark twists of fate.

Starting with the most prominent, “Leap of Faith” is a giant-sized episode of their series SPLINTERED LOVE and also serves as its finale; Metcalf’s Cupidity, a buxom sprite with a curt Elvira tongue, narrates as always and foreshadows a love going wrong between a couple, played by Joanna Ferbrache and Steve Morris, who meet at a local dive bar and a young man in a liquor store, played by Leonard Peterson III, who later figures into the scheme. Apart from closing that Acro-chapter, the team has also turned a pair of founder Steve Hermann’s stories into stand-alone pieces. The first, THE LAST STOP, sees a runaway named Kasey (Julia Nurenberg) browse an antique store and share a conversation with the warmhearted owner, Mr. Hansen (Michael Steen), who promises comfort but not of a kind she yearns for. And in ROOM 176, a self-assured trick named Lala (Jaylee Hein) and a perennial john (Hermann) get into a discussion about following different paths in their lives that throws them both for a devastating loop. That’s all we’re at liberty to disclose so as to avoid spoilers. Go check them out at the respective links.

Hermann directed THE LAST STOP and Ann Myrna directed ROOM 176 and the concluding SPLINTERED LOVE, which features an appearance by Chicago-based actress and producer Katharin “Ladie K” Mraz (YOU’RE OUT!). As per the Acrostar acumen, all of the above were filmed in central Illinois, SPLINTERED LOVE and ROOM 176 in Gibson City and THE LAST STOP in Farmer City. And as usual, we’ll do our best to keep up with everything on their plate including the features and the imminent return of their early web series, BLOOD SISTERS, for which they just filmed a teaser.

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CONFIDENTIAL ALMANAC | Dates in Film Culture History

15 Years Ago … Friday, August 13, 2010: After several years’ worth of production dating back to 2005 and the premieres of three previous installments, WEREWOLF CEMETERY Episode IV receives a hero’s welcome and caps off an extremely hairy undertaking by the friends behind BrainSmart Productions. Ultimately filmed at dozens of locations in Champaign and Vermilion counties and starring a who’s-who of amiable neighbors drafted from the local service industries, University of Illinois college scene, and townie hangouts like Mike ‘n Molly’s, a close-knit drinking establishment that is tucked away on Market Street in downtown Champaign, CEMETERY sees the brewing fight between the rural gravediggers whose numbers are decimated, newly risen furbags led by the power-hungry Thane, and the befuddled denizens of Amnesia Falls coming to a head. Brought to life through blood, sweat, beers, and duct tape by Jason Butler, Mark Peaslee, Bob Henne, and other moonlighting technicians with a colorful cast led by Steve Ucherek, Ann Fitzgerald, Bill Turner, Lacie Ucherek, Scott Kimble, Dr. Erik Martin, Owen M. Anderson, Henne, and Butler, the most elaborate go-round to date wows a late-night crowd at Mike n’ Molly’s. C-U Blogfidential editor Jason Pankoke made his BrainSmart debut in this project, appearing several times throughout the two-hour duration in various disguises, and took set photographs on a handful of occasions. Episode IV is reprised on Sunday, August 15, with a bonus attraction – ONE ROACH FOR SEAMUS, a monochrome short finished by its creator, Karl Bauer, nearly twenty years after he and high school friends had first set up a camcorder and pressed “record.” Other than to burn the occasional copies for fundraising groups in Champaign-Urbana from his adopted home of Portland, Oregon, CEMETERY director Butler has never released the series in full on any medium and only dangles a few entrails on YouTube in the form of trailers and bloopers. As reported on 8/13/10, 5/26/16 at CUBlog.

LOCAL FILMS & EVENTS | Support Your Media Storytellers

@ Channing-Murray Foundation, Urbana, IL
THE TRAVIS WAYNE HURT CHRISTMAS SPECIAL THE 13TH (12/21, doors 7:30 p.m., specials 8 p.m.)

@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL
Chambana Film Society* presents “The Savoy Arthouse” feat. LOCKE w/guest Sanford Hess (12/21, 3 p.m.)

NOW PLAYING | Champaign-Urbana Area

@ AMC Champaign 13, Champaign, IL
AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH, DAVID (faith animation), HAMNET, THE HOUSEMAID, THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SEARCH FOR SQUAREPANTS (animation), FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S 2, SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT*, WICKED: FOR GOOD, ZOOTOPIA 2 (animation) (12/19 on), ELLA MCCAY* (12/19-12/23), AMC “Screen Unseen” (mystery movie) (12/22, 7 p.m.), ANACONDA, MARTY SUPREME, SONG SUNG BLUE (12/24 on) *single screenings daily

@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL
AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH, DAVID (faith animation), HAMNET, THE HOUSEMAID, THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SEARCH FOR SQUAREPANTS (animation), ELLA MCCAY*, ETERNITY*, FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S 2, JUJUTSU KAISEN: EXECUTION* (animé) (in Japanese with English sub or English dub), SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT*, WICKED: FOR GOOD, ZOOTOPIA 2 (animation) (12/19 on), Indian cinema: BHA BHA BA* (in Malayalam with English sub; 12/19) and DHURANDHAR (in Hindi with English sub; 12/19-12/23), HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS 25th anniversary (re-release) (12/19-12/23, 10:15 a.m.), The Royal Ballet: The Nutcracker (12/21, 3 p.m.; 12/22, 7 p.m.; recorded), IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (12/21, 11:45 a.m., 3, 7 & 10 p.m.; 12/24, 12:15, 3 & 7 p.m.), ANACONDA, MARTY SUPREME, SONG SUNG BLUE (12/24 on) *single screenings daily

Events featuring locally produced movies are marked with an asterisk (*). Additional “Now Playing” and “Coming Soon” listings appear after the jump!

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Read the rest of this entry »

Our movie and media Calendar appears every Friday/Saturday on C-U Blogfidential and caters to the downstate region anchored by Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, USA.

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FIELD REPORT DU HQ | From Wherever It May Be Said

Want some more interesting news, C-U? That’s why we Report directly to you! First up, the crew at Camp Nostalgic Studios has just completed the latest seasons of their YouTube shows, totaling five episodes each of SATURDAY MORNING, in which co-hosts Dave Rediger and Mercedes DeSilva have grappled with the absence of departed host Alex Duquette in between local-color segments and offbeat hijinks, and LATE NIGHT URGE, in which stand-up comedienne Ariel Julie lets us in on the most intimate aspects of living single in the big city of Chicago. All the 2025 shows and assorted specials can be viewed right now and the storytellers are on break until they purportedly “shake things up” in 2026. What will that entail?

Also quite productive is the stage and television veteran, Mark Roberts, who continues to publish original writings, songs, and films under the Bad Mule, Inc., banner; most recently, he compiled the third issue of The Bad Mule Rag, a print and online compendium of illustrated stories in rhyme, and a companion live album recorded at Chicago’s Chopin Theater with performances by Lindsey Noel Whiting and himself. Bad Mule has also been serving as an incubator for original short subjects based on the rascally rhymes and you will find more than thirty of them, covering an astonishing range of animation and puppetry styles while being created by talents from near and far, on their YouTube channel; recent favorites in the award-winning cavalcade, which are produced by Lisa Cisneros and Tolono native Roberts, include GOOFBALL AND GWEN, directed by Maddie Helland, and EXHAUSTED AND SORE, directed by CJ Buckner.

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A further Champaign County-to-Chicago connection will be had when the non-profit Chicago Filmmakers presents the concluding monthly installment of “Picture ReStart,” a presentation of 16-millimeter shorts from the archived holdings of the Picture Start catalog, originally housed in and rented out via the Champaign offices of the late University of Illinois alumnus Ron Epple. Theme for this month’s show, which will take place on Saturday, December 20, 6 p.m., at the group’s Firehouse Cinema on Hollywood Avenue in the Windy City, is “Bringing It All Back Home: Seven Films Asking Intimate Questions of Self & Society,” which aims to collectively tackle “deep questions about why we are the way we are” as seen in this preview on Vimeo; artists represented in the show, made up of long-unseen prints that were selected and prepared by series curator Ben Creech, include Bill Turner, Ruth Peyser, Byron Grush, Kathleen Laughlin, Dirk de Bruyn, the prolific documentarian Tony Buba, and the legendary director Gus Van Sant.

To top off a Report filled with shorts, we’d like to share the last of the locally-made pieces that were introduced concurrently and coincidentally during the weekend of October 16-19 in the C-U. It is HarsH Pro’s music video for “All I’m Sayin” by Sweetmelk, a deceptively simple blast of raw emotion that captures vocalist and guitarist Kenna Mae and drummer Ori Sergel performing under the moonlight as well as a bold light, implicitly reflecting on personal desire. Producer Matt Harsh has also been busy with his trademark projection installations, such as a holiday display that is scheduled to be thrown on the buildings of Main Street, Race Street, and Crane Alley in downtown Urbana the night of Saturday, December 20, in collaboration with Urbana Arts and Culture, Gallery Art Bar, and Immersion Festival.

IMAGERY DU C-U | Picturing Our Scene on the Screen

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Speaking of Gallery Art Bar, we certainly need to bring up a screening initiative that is being led by the retired Parkland College instructor and founder of the Electric Pictures design firm, Paul Young. In concert with several other perennials in the Champaign-Urbana scene with a vested interest in such a thing – Geoff Merritt of Parasol Records, Kim Robeson of Robeson’s Inc., Chuck Koplinski of Reel Talk with Chuck & Pam, Electric business partner and life partner Bonnie Burgund – Young is starting the “Film Fanatic Movie Nights” as a rallying point for a new appreciation group, stylized as the Film-Fanatic.Club. Per their website where one can keep tabs on events and sign up to become a member or patron, the goal is “[t]o curate themed movie nights, director spotlights, and special screenings that emphasize the shared cinematic experience with films that come alive on the big screen and inspire lively post-screening conversations over drinks. Each screening is treated as an event, complete with introductions, discussions, bonus short subjects, and extras.”

In other words, to throw the C-U a sophisticated movie party on the regular. Yes, please! To that lofty end, Young has chosen a doozy of an underappreciated modern film to launch the Movie Nights – THE FALL, an opulent fantasia shot over several years and around the world by Tarsem Singh (THE CELL) about a laid-up stuntman, played by Lee Pace, who befriends in the hospital a young girl, played by Catinca Untaru, and spins tales of high adventure to help keep both of their spirits alive.

Released to little fanfare almost twenty years ago and hard to see and appreciate since, THE FALL has recently undergone a 4K restoration shepherded by Singh and was picked up for representation in North America by the high-end streaming platform MUBI, which has not resulted in either a substantial theatrical re-release or a physical release; on an average day in 2025, those who would like to experience THE FALL can find several avenues to stream it or could seek out a UHD/Blu-ray import from an Australian label, Umbrella Entertainment, which luckily is region free. MUBI has been scheduling one-off appearances of THE FALL at prestigious film festivals in our part of the world and, as we now know, offering it for rental. This is why the Movie Club’s booking is special, for we might not otherwise see it publicly here in the C-U.

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There is the distinct impression that Young has been building towards this for some time. As a chef who hosts cooking classes and full-course tastings through the Urbana Park District, it makes sense to have Movie Nights at a venue like Gallery where he’ll have the freedom to incorporate treats and drink specials that relate to what’s up on the screen. And, as a film buff whose diverse taste could not help but shine through in the pages of The Octopus (née The Optimist), the alternative weekly he founded and published in Champaign-Urbana for several years beginning in 1995, he is sure to embrace a wide range of selections for sharing with an audience and keeping it engaging. Unique parings here can be endless.

Gallery Art Bar, from its very name to its prime location in the heart of downtown Urbana, seems like an inspired home base for the club even if select shows are staged elsewhere. We hope this debut presentation of THE FALL, which will be co-hosted by our friend Nat Dykeman of the Chambana Film Society, is successful and the start of a reliable showcase that can easily commingle with Chambana and the CU International Film Festival while replenishing the cinema void to be left once Roger Ebert’s Film Festival bows out for good. Go enjoy and lend your voice to this communal venture, dearest viewers.

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CONFIDENTIAL ALMANAC | Dates in Film Culture History

110 years ago … December 1915: The Macmillan Company of New York publishes what cinema historians will eventually consider the first English-language book to seriously appreciate the aesthetics of film, The Art of the Moving Picture, written by the Springfield, Illinois-raised poet and essayist Vachel Lindsay. Rarely appearing in bibliographies of his work is a follow-up entitled The Progress and Poetry of the Movies, released well after the untimely passing of Lindsay (1879-1931) and hard to find today. Conversely, both the 1915 and 1922 editions of Moving Picture can easily be accessed as electronic or print, including a 2000 reissue from Random House that is guest edited by filmmaker Martin Scorsese and features an introduction by the late Stanley Kaufmann, film reviewer at The New Republic for more than a half century. [R] Project Gutenberg eBook

LOCAL FILMS & EVENTS | Support Your Media Storytellers

@ Esquire Lounge, Champaign, IL
Champaign Movie Makers* meeting (12/15, 7 p.m.)

@ Gallery Art Bar, Urbana, IL
Film Fanatic Movie Nights* presents THE FALL (12/18, 6:30 & 9:30 p.m.)

@ Martens Center, Champaign Park District, Champaign, IL
Pens to Lens* Student Screenwriting Workshop (12/16, 6 p.m. registration required)

@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL
Chambana Film Society* presents “The Savoy Arthouse” feat. SONG SUNG BLUE (2008) (documentary) (12/14, 3 p.m.)

NOW PLAYING | Champaign-Urbana Area

@ AMC Champaign 13, Champaign, IL
DUST BUNNY, ELLA McCAY, HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS* 25th anniversary (re-release), NOT WITHOUT HOPE, SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT, DHURANDHAR* (in Hindi with English sub), ETERNITY, FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S 2, JUJUTSU KAISEN: EXECUTION (animé) (in Japanese with English sub or English dub), KILL BILL: THE WHOLE BLOODY AFFAIR* (re-release), NOW YOU SEE ME: NOW YOU DON’T,WICKED: FOR GOOD, ZOOTOPIA 2 (animation) (12/12 on), DAVID sneak preview (12/14, 2 p.m.), AMC “Screen Unseen” (mystery movie) (12/15, 7 p.m.), AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH, DAVID (faith animation), HAMNET, THE HOUSEMAID, THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SEARCH FOR SQUAREPANTS (animation) (12/18 on) *single screenings daily

@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL
ELLA McCAY, HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS 25th anniversary (re-release), SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT, ETERNITY, FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S 2, JUJUTSU KAISEN: EXECUTION (animé) (in Japanese with English sub or English dub), NOW YOU SEE ME: NOW YOU DON’T, NUREMBERG, RENTAL FAMILY, THE RUNNING MAN*, WICKED: FOR GOOD, ZOOTOPIA 2 (animation) (12/12 on), Indian cinema: KIS KISKO PAYAAR KAROON 2* (in Hindi with English sub; 12/12-12/16), MOWGLI (in Telugu with English sub; 12/12-12/16), PADAYAPPA* (in Tamil with English sub; 12/12-12/16), AKHANDA 2: THAANDAVAM* (in Telugu with English sub; 12/12-12/16), and DHURANDHAR (in Hindi with English sub; 12/12-12/16), The Metropolitan Opera: Andrea Chénier (12/13, 12 p.m., simulcast; 12/17, 12 & 5:30 p.m., recorded), DICK VAN DYKE: 100TH CELEBRATION (documentary) (12/13-12/14, 4 & 7 p.m.), THE SHINING (12/13, 4 & 9:30 p.m., 12/14, 6:30 & 9:45 p.m.; IMAX), ROLLING STONES: AT THE MAX (concert film) (12/13, 7:15 p.m., 12/14, 4:15 p.m.; IMAX), CHRISTINA AGUILERA: CHRISTMAS IN PARIS (concert special) (12/14, 7 p.m.), DAVID sneak preview (12/14, 2 p.m.), THE CASE FOR MIRACLES (religious docudrama) (12/15-12/18, 7:30 p.m.), AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH, DAVID (faith animation), THE HOUSEMAID, THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SEARCH FOR SQUAREPANTS (animation) (12/18 on) *single screenings daily

Events featuring locally produced movies are marked with an asterisk (*). Additional “Now Playing” and “Coming Soon” listings appear after the jump!

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Read the rest of this entry »

Our movie and media Calendar appears every Friday/Saturday on C-U Blogfidential and caters to the downstate region anchored by Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, USA.

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MILESTONES | Happy Birthday to You!

12/6: Andy Due (producer/performer, Rubber Chicken Films/RL3 Productions, Charleston, IL)
12/8: Britten Traughber (photographer, Britten Traughber Photography, Tucson, AZ)
12/10: Sidney Taiko (editor/publisher, Storm Cellar, San Diego, CA)

FIELD REPORT DU HQ | From Wherever It May Be Said

As promised, CUBlog has been marching through all the relevant movie-centric topics of Champaign, Urbana, and the cities beyond that are fit to post, so this week we might as well give in to Ye Ed’s instincts, inspired by last week’s oddball “Images” investigation, and file a Report that is all about the thrilling and chilling going on in our scene. So much of the original output engineered by our creators and producers has fallen under that catch-all category, in fact, that we could publish a horror mag entirely dedicated to it (…don’t tempt us…) but, for the moment, it’s best if we keep the scary score right here!

To start, our friends Chase & Shep (Chase Todd and Aaron Sheppard) plan to celebrate their fifth anniversary of 217 grooviness this Sunday, December 7, with a livestream that will launch on Facebook starting at 7 p.m. Join them to revel in all things C&S including their music and comedy/horror shorts, as well as Todd and Phil Hazen’s more recent films and podcasts, which includes a surprise out of left field that made its internet debut on Friday, October 16, at Found TV, a haven for fans of found-footage entertainment we have cited a couple of times previously in our coverage. THE WITCH HOUSE is a short made by Ontario filmmaker and animator Ron Chevarie (OSMOSIS JONES, SPACE JAM), who plays a relic hunter setting out to locate “El Libro de Los Muertos,” the cursed book from “Camp Chasenshep” that has wreaked havoc in several C&S movie joints to date. You can watch THE WITCH HOUSE right here with a free or paid account, while Chevarie’s other first-person excursions into the supernatural and paranormal, produced under his Haunted Lodge Productions label with his wife Jan, include a feature called THE WHO INCIDENT, also at Found TV, and a new hour-long excursion, ALIEN BTS, which went live at the “Stash – Sci-Fi Cinema” channel on YouTube last week on Thursday, November 27, as well as on Found. Apparently, several guests from the found footage/phenomena indie film scene make appearances in ALIEN BTS, so be sure to watch it all the way through with eyes wide open. Don’t blink!

And then, if you’re like us and believe that every day has the potential to bring a little Halloween cheer even though it’s now December with a healthy covering of snow on the ground, you won’t mind that we’re finally getting around to sharing our next ghoulish ditty. Episode 29 of THE ANDY DUE SHOW went live with its deadpan undead humor the same day as did THE WITCH HOUSE, October 16, and finds our friend in humorous non sequitur and malapropism, Andy Due of Rubber Chicken Films, up to his trademark wit with a love letter to the ghoulden days of horror. Slashers of the Eighties, Frankenstein’s monster, Vincent Price, and more receive a loving send-up and his lab assistants include the witchy Zoe Due, the vampy Kaity Bequette, the electrifying Austin Beaty, and the head-turning Gela and Dave Rediger from Camp Nostalgic Studios. Fright of frights, a solo upload of the Frankenstein sequence set to the classic novelty single “The Monster Mash” performed by Bobby “Boris” Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers – the in-episode version features an original take, recorded by Due, of the 1962 hit – has amassed more than twenty-seven thousand views! You can watch the full episode and much more on YouTube.

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Now, we’ll stitch together a few short notes. Southern Illinois resident Jed Brian, producer of the indie slasher UNLISTED OWNER, shared on Facebook two weeks ago his “one million views” plaque from YouTube, which he earned due to his writing and acting work in a myriad of horror film shorts posted to the channel of southern California filmmaker Alex Magaña, ACMofficial. And Decatur area resident Jessie Seitz, the make-up effects artist and director, shared on Facebook that her long-gestating documentary on women in her creature-crafting field, MONSTER GIRLS, will have its world premiere tonight, December 5, as part of the “Late Shift at the Grindhouse” program at the FilmScene theater in the Chauncey building of downtown Iowa City, Iowa. And Springfield area resident Ash Hamilton, editor of Horror-fix.com and the filmmaker behind HOLES IN THE SKY and FINAL DAYS, has begun production on his next found-footage feature called MANGLED: THE SHELBYVILLE TORTURE TAPES, a true crime docudrama that posits a notorious serial killer is still at large. And Monticello resident Robert Christian, through his Champaign-based company Dreamscape Cinema, has finally released the middle chapter of his “evil taxidermist” trilogy, C.O.R.N. II: MIND HARVEST; featuring genre vet Jessica Morris and the returning Robert Donovan, his follow-up is being represented by Playa Media Group and can now be viewed on Tubi with its predecessor. Christian attended the American Film Market in the Century City neighborhood of Los Angeles last month to hobnob and solicit support and sales for future projects.

To close on an exciting yet bummer note, we were going to hype the improbable home video release by American Genre Film Archive of THE MOVIE ORGY, once thought untenable due to it being made up of several hours’ worth of unlicensed clips. But, never say never? The Blu-ray edition was revealed this past Monday, December 1, on the Vinegar Syndrome website and the legendary mash-up, created by future Hollywood filmmakers Joe Dante and Jon Davison, has already sold out. Toured to college campuses through the early Seventies and rarely seen since, THE MOVIE ORGY had one of its very first public play dates at the University of Illinois in May of 1971. You can read more about it in a prior Report and, hopefully, the folks at AGFA and VinSyn will consider a second run to give more folks a chance to get it.

IMAGERY DU C-U | Picturing Our Scene on the Screen

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Relative to our Report in the arena of stranger things, we’ve been meaning to share a few thoughts on a home video release that your humble editor had no clue about until he caught sight of it recently at the Deep Discount website. LOVE, BLOOD, & AZTEC DEMONS is an anthology of the only remaining fragments from the unique genre features made by the Mexican-born director, Juan F. Moctezuma II, and the connoisseur of this obscure talent just happens to be our long-time friend, Alaric S. Rocha. He has put a lot of effort over the last decade-and-a-half into hunting down what he can and assembled his findings in the full-length documentary, WHERE IS JUAN MOCTEZUMA?, completed at long last by his company, Blue Bassoon Pictures. It received a world premiere presentation on Sunday, August 24, as part of the FrightFest London festival with himself and producer Rana-Joy Glickman in attendance, while everyone at CUBlog has been doing their best to avoid spoilers until we can see the findings for ourselves.

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Until then, we have the LOVE, BLOOD precursor issued as a bare-bones DVD-R by Leomark Studios in September of last year. Ye Ed ordered it, of course, because he really wanted to get a sense of Rocha’s exhaustive research. (For the DVD adverse, it is also available to stream on several ad-supported services.) Our neighbors in Champaign-Urbana who joined us for the New Art Film Festival during its run at the Art Theater may have seen the preliminary restorations of Moctezuma’s work that we chose to feed your curiosity – namely, the segments of UNA MUJER SIN PRECIO (A PRICELESS WOMAN) from 1961 and LAS FIERAS (THE BEASTS) from 1969 that were included in the sixth NAFF in 2015. Rocha appears onscreen as our guide and lends context to these clips as well as other existent material from the filmography – TIEMPO DE MORIR (TIME TO DIE) from 1959, DEMONOID from 1971, and the sole American effort, 1000 PATHS OF DEATH from 1977. We’re given insight as to why the film elements are in tatters and how the main thrust of this maligned artist’s efforts was really directed at wooing the love of his life, actress Lisa de la Luna, and spurning naysayers, including the luchador star El Escorpión. It’s a wild tale that is fleshed out in the documentary proper, from what little we can tell.

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Taking in the slim volume of evidence presented here by Rocha, it’s clear there is something charming and a touch romantic baked into the hokey exploitation trappings of what was accomplished by Moctezuma, who moved north after DEMONOID and parlayed his experience into roles on the sets of comparable B-level fare in the United States prior to filming 1000 PATHS. With limited means back in Mexico, he employed science fiction conceits in stage-bound sagas to explore lost loves, be it time travel in TIEMPO DE MORIR or robotic reincarnation in UNA MUJER, and more supernatural shocks in grainy hand-held melodramas, either to reflect on political strife in LAS FIERAS or the trespass of contemporary ignorance on ancient cultures in DEMONOID. Moctezuma seemed to be swinging for the fences with 1000 PATHS, interjecting an “El Topo” or “Man with No Name” type wanderer into a lush, yet frozen, tundra haunted by marauders and half-living zombies; what Western audiences were to make of such an unorthodox riff on the “future wasteland” adventure, a Hollywood staple in that moment with the likes of THE ULTIMATE WARRIOR, DAMNATION ALLEY, and A BOY AND HIS DOG, is baffling to consider.

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It is probably moot to compare the wide range in Moctezuma’s precious few features and the previous films of Rocha himself, who had also explored storytelling and genre in several modest efforts before peering into this rabbit hole. A producer, director, writer, and visualist in his own right, Rocha hails from Mount Carroll and Decatur, Illinois, studied music theory and composition at Lawrence University in Wisconsin, attended film school at DePaul University in Chicago, and worked for a spell in Champaign at the former Prairie Production Group. From there, he’s been a filmmaking and film history instructor at DePaul, the Los Angeles Film School, Tecnológico Monterrey in Mexico, and now Ithaca College in New York. His shorts, several of them made or photographed in our area, include a violent dark comedy (MERRY CHRISTMAS!), a dreamlike chain gang drama shot with black-and-white 8mm stock (WINTER), a sexy noir involving tango dancers (DEADLY EMBRACE), a romantic comedy hinging on a sticky situation (PICKING A WINNER), a moody fantasy involving a spirit (OREAD), and a tense Pandora’s box unlocked by a gifted musician (THE TONE OF EMMA ZAHN’S VIOLA). Are there parallels in ambition here? Possibly. Is it coincidence, irony, or fate that Rocha’s first feature film is about a fellow creator whose own feature films are veritable specters? Decide for yourselves, dearest armchair investigators.

As we await our opportunity to learn what answers might ultimately satisfy the question, WHERE IS JUAN MOCTEZUMA?, we simply hope that Team Rocha has done justice in preserving the legacy of Juan F. Moctezuma II* for modern-day cineastes, scholars, and exploitation-savvy audiences. The best bets on getting started with this topic are to watch LOVE, BLOOD, & AZTEC DEMONS and check out the JUAN MOCTEZUMA trailer. You can also look through his profile at Internet Movie Database as well as this older fan website that is loaded with juicy hot takes on his career. If more comes to light, we’ll be sure to share it with the class on CUBlog. Bully to Blue Bassoon Pictures for even piecing together this much.

LOVE, BLOOD, & AZTEC DEMONS: THE LOST FILMS OF JUAN F. MOCTEZUMA II is written, produced, and directed by Alairc S. Rocha. Development producer is Stephanie Salvy. It features Rocha and stars, via archive materials, Juan Roberto, Lisandra Tena, and Miguel Núñez (TIEMPO DE MORIR), Alec Torres, Carlos Rogelio Diaz, Ben David Garza, Núñez, Tena, and El Escorpión (UNA MUJER SIN PRECIO), Gabriela Mayorga and Dagoberto Zolio Soto (LAS FIERAS), Antonio Monroi, Jorge Karlóz, Elisa Dei, Adrian Rodriguez, Mayorga, and Tena (DEMONOID), Javier Lopez, Alexandria McKinley, Peyton Cherry, and Tanner Huff (1000 PATHS OF DEATH). 2024, color/black & white, 74 minutes, English and Spanish with subtitles.

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*If you noticed the asterisk and hunted down this footnote, then we’ll preface it by saying that we pride ourselves at CUBlog in doing our best to get the details right and use good judgment in characterizing what we write about. It is rare that we play along covertly with how any film group or studio wishes to promote their own work, but we’ve made a brief exception here with WHERE IS JUAN MOCTEZUMA?

This is primarily to honor Rocha’s commitment to the bit in embellishing upon a Moctezuma hagiography that [SPOILER] is of his own creation, What the filmmaker and his collaborators, many of them students from his teaching assignments, have established on a lean budget and over more than ten years is admirable: clever and era-specific details in the film excerpts, hilarious faux anecdotes on the circa 2007 fan site, slightly suspect IMDb credits added to the profiles of legitimate productions, a mock-up page in the 1976 LOGAN’S RUN issue of Cinefantastique magazine with Moctezuma coverage, and much more. Overall, it’s an elaborate construct that is also an appreciation for the rich history of Mexican cinema and folklore, which Rocha is now openly admitting in interviews, and we tip our hat to the world they’ve built. An extra bow goes to Lisandra Tena (FEAR THE WALKING DEAD), who appears as the reluctant love interest “Lisa de la Luna” in various guises throughout the project, for sticking it out as well. [END SPOILER]

CONFIDENTIAL ALMANAC | Dates in Film Culture History

55 Years Ago … November 1970: Location filming commences in the Champaign and Vermilion counties of east central Illinois on BAD CHARLESTON CHARLIE, an independent action-comedy feature derived from the exploits of Prohibition-era gangster and dubious local legend Charlie Birger (1881-1928). Bad Charleston Charlie Associates and Studio 9 Productions are partnering on this motion picture, having set up a central office in Champaign and received investment funds from local businesses, while the main architect of the operation is producer, co-writer, and star Ross Hagen, who recently appeared in the television show DAKTARI and the theatrical Elvis Presley vehicle SPEEDWAY. Industry professionals that Hagen is welcoming from Los Angeles include director Ivan Nagy, cinematographer Michael Neyman, assistant directors Eric Lidberg and A.J. Lorea, and performers Kelly Thordsen, Hoke Howell, Dal Jenkins, Carmen Zapata, and John Carradine. Community members and University of Illinois students are also playing roles on both sides of the camera, according to articles in the November 7 and 11 editions of the Daily Illini, in scenes being photographed at Kickapoo State Park near Danville, the tiny town of Fairmount located between Danville and Champaign, and coal mining country in southern Illinois to depict Birger’s exploits before his turn to crime. Interior segments will be completed on sound stages once the visitors return to California. Word is that CHARLESTON takes a lighthearted approach to the Birger saga, making him out as a bumbling Al Capone idolizer instead of a Robin Hood type with a mean streak as he is described in scholarship; the screen story retains his real-life row with the Ku Klux Klan while it downplays his scuffles with the law and omits his clashes against the rival Shelton brothers gang that involved airplane bombings and assassinations. It is unclear what distributor will release CHARLESTON in the near future or what is next for Studio 9, which local participants Martin D. Wright and Charlie Lo Bue formed with the help of Hagen and Lidberg based on the latter’s experience as partners in a Hollywood entertainment company, Triforum, Inc. [R]

LOCAL FILMS & EVENTS | Support Your Media Storytellers

@ Flyover Film Studios, Rantoul, IL
“Swappin’ Around the Christmas Tree” event (12/6, 12-6 p.m.) Information

@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL
Chambana Film Society* presents “The Savoy Arthouse” feat. HUNDREDS OF BEAVERS (12/7, 3 p.m.)

NOW PLAYING | Champaign-Urbana Area

@ AMC Champaign 13, Champaign, IL
100 NIGHTS OF HERO*, DHURANDHAR (in Hindi with English sub), FACKHAM HALL*, FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S 2, JUJUTSU KAISEN: EXECUTION (animé) (in Japanese with English sub or English dub), KILL BILL: THE WHOLE BLOODY AFFAIR (re-release), SENTIMENTAL VALUE (in Norwegian and English), ETERNITY, NOW YOU SEE ME: NOW YOU DON’T,WICKED: FOR GOOD, ZOOTOPIA 2 (animation) (12/5 on), ELLA MCCAY (12/11 on) *single screenings daily

@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL
DHURANDHAR (in Hindi with English sub), FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S 2, JUJUTSU KAISEN: EXECUTION (animé) (in Japanese with English sub or English dub), MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG (filmed stage musical), ETERNITY, NOW YOU SEE ME: NOW YOU DON’T, NUREMBERG, RENTAL FAMILY, THE RUNNING MAN, WICKED: FOR GOOD, ZOOTOPIA 2 (animation) (12/5 on), The Metropolitan Opera: The Magic Flute (12/6, 1 p.m., recorded), UFC 323: Merab Dvalishvili vs. Petr Yan, more (mixed martial arts) (12/6, 9 p.m., simulcast), ELF (12/6, 4 & 6:30 p.m.; 12/7, 3 & 7 p.m.; 12/10, 7 p.m.), “Andre Rieu: Merry Christmas” (concert film) (12/7, 3 p.m.; 12/10, 7 p.m.), WEDDING CRASHERS (12/11, 4 & 7 p.m.)

@ Pine Lounge, 1st floor, Illini Union, UIUC, Urbana, IL
Illini Union Board presents CAUGHT STEALING (12/5-12/6, 7 p.m., free w/i-card)

@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL
The News-Gazette Film Series presents IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (12/6, 1 & 7 p.m.), “Holiday in Whoville” annual event feat. HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS (1966) (12/7, 12 p.m. doors, cartoon at 1, 2, 3, and 4 p.m.)

Events featuring locally produced movies are marked with an asterisk (*). Additional “Now Playing” and “Coming Soon” listings appear after the jump!

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Our movie and media Calendar appears every Friday/Saturday on C-U Blogfidential and caters to the downstate region anchored by Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, USA.

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MILESTONES | Happy Birthday to You!

11/22: Chase Todd (producer/actor, CHASE AND SHEP SUE KEVIN SMITH, Earth-217 Studios, Villa Grove/Savoy, IL)
11/28: Robert Patrick Stern (cinematographer, GOLDEN MEADOW, PWM Films, Chicago, IL)
11/28: Ryan Mitchelle (editor, A ROYAL CHRISTMAS TAIL, Hybrid LLC, Woodland Hills, CA)
12/3: Bryan Wendorf (programmer/artistic director, Chicago Underground Film Festival, Chicago, IL)
12/3: Greg Woods (publisher, The Eclectic Screening Room, Toronto, Canada)

FIELD REPORT DU HQ | From Wherever It May Be Said

We trust that you were able to enjoy the holiday with the right people and, now, it’s time for the rest of the weekend. Some of us have to go back to work. Some of us have a shit-ton to do that doesn’t involve leisure. Some of us just want to sneak to a movie house for a spell between all the other things…

Instead of going through and analyzing the Calendar listings – it’s Disney and WICKED and a Chambana Film Society show on Sunday afternoon and the annual Normal Theater seasonal marathon and newer Christmas perennials, we just figured out, instead of a Robert Redford tribute today at the Fischer Theatre – we’ll be catching up on the news impacting our area venues. First, a former AMC Showcase location in Mattoon that closed down earlier this year has been revived by the VIP Cinemas chain as reported last month by WAND-TV; you can head over today if you live in the area as they are up and running with the current first-run crowdpleasers. That said, VIP customers should watch their local schedules for once-a-day showings of fare that is put out by smaller distributors, such as the heist-and-gangsters action flick WILDCAT with Kate Beckinsale, Charles Dance, and Alice Krige that is opening today at Mattoon.

Also in October, the volunteers who are working on a restoration and fundraising plan to reopen the Heart Theatre in downtown Effingham put in a little extra love to create a charming Heart float for the city’s annual Halloween parade; you can see the result, complete with Beauty and the Beast, on Facebook.

Now with the Harvest Moon Twin Drive-in back open in Gibson City for their annual “Hot Chocolate & Holiday Movies” schedule, it’s a good time to bring up a recent article about the precarious position of their industry. Run by Smile Politely in early October as the Harvest Moon’s regular season was winding down and written by Max Pociask, it is not the usual feel-good piece on the miracle of an operating drive-in within a reasonable driving distance from Champaign-Urbana. This one lauds the overall communal experience in terms of spending a night at the Harvest Moon while punching the gut a bit with a reality check – at risk is the health of many an American small town and business, including the remaining hardtops, due to the consolidation of agricultural production by corporations and the continual shafting of the needs of rural farmers whose livelihood affects everyone and everything around them.

On a more positive note, the Golden Ticket Cinemas chain has arrived in Illinois and set up shop in a former multiplex building on the east side of Bloomington, opening their “Ale House” concept to the public on Friday, October 17. An article by WGLT lists the amenities that would be available to customers including bottomless popcorn and a “self-pour beer wall;” movie fare is the expected as you can see below in the Calendar, although they do manage to get Netflix releases such as KNIVES OUT 3 and JAY KELLY unlike our other exhibitors, so the personal luxury (and upcharge?) is the main distinction here.

Back to the Fischer for a moment, we’re glad to see the movies make a comeback in their scheduling even if the Redford fête did not pan out. Recently, they’ve hosted the teen-produced film CROSSMARK, made plans to celebrate the one hundredth birthday of Dick Van Dyke with a program next weekend, and agreed to another indie screening at the end of 2025 that we’ll talk about on CUBlog in a couple of weeks. Don’t just attend our venues for kicks, dearest viewers, make good use of them like the Fischer. Cheers.

IMAGERY DU C-U | Picturing Our Scene on the Screen

Had your fill yet? Apparently, neither have we at MFHQ Deux. Talking turkey about weird movies with our dinner guest, Confidential agent Don of the D/L, we landed on the topic of a new Dracula love triangle feature from France that was directed by Luc Besson (THE FIFTH ELEMENT) and also the new Romania-lensed farce based on the legend of Vlad the Impaler from director Radu Jude. Then, Ye Ed remembered that a Killer Tomatoes sequel was set in France. (Indeed, we’re still not sure how it transpired in that head of his.) So, he found a clip online to prove its existence to Don, which turned out to be the opening scene in KILLER TOMATOES EAT FRANCE! from the vintage of 1992, and said clip happens to cut off after this aerial shot of our villains, including the great John Astin, getting away in…

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Are. You. Kidding. And yet, does it not make perfect sense in the nonsensical scheme of a Killer Tomato movie? Miraculously, EAT FRANCE was the fourth (but still the last) release in an improbable franchise (although a brand-new fifth entry is sprouting as we speak) and, sure enough, “Garcia’s Pizza in a Pan” is listed in a thank-you block during the end credits crawl. We’d love to know how this came about, even if it was just the producers of the movie buying the rights to stock footage that Garcia’s owners Ralph Senn and Joe Ream previously had shot for them to promote their business. It’s too bad the chain has been consolidated to a single store in west Champaign off of Mattis Avenue, but it’s apparently the scale that Senn and Ream want to work with after more than fifty years of being “The Flying Tomato Brothers.”

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Here is an article with vintage photographs from 2021 when the News-Gazette interviewed the partners and University of Illinois alumni about their long history as restaurateurs, and a more recent YouTube vignette with Senn where he describes how they make their trademark pizza slices. Many of us will always have memories of stopping at a Garcia’s, in particular the labyrinthine wonder that resided in the shadow of Watterson Towers near the Illinois State University campus in Normal and the similar location that used to be on Green Street in Campustown, as well as looking up while out and about during a weekend in the C-U to see the Garcia’s balloon quietly pass overhead. It was always a treat and we knew exactly who it was advertising. Hopefully, they will hold the Killer Tomatoes on our next order…

p.s. The Garcia’s balloon appears for a few brief shots in the movie, while a jovial Astin and his rubber ghoulies are snacking on a pizza pie that is clearly not from our beloved Brothers. We found an online rip and skimmed through it to be sure; seems that KILLER TOMATOES EAT FRANCE! and its predecessor, KILLER TOMATOES STRIKE BACK!, have not made an official jump to streaming even if you can enjoy a bushel of clips on the official “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes” channel. Dang it, a Gutbuster and a movie does sound good on this Tomato Red Friday … but which movie should we pick? Decisions, decisions!

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LOCAL FILMS & EVENTS | Support Your Media Storytellers

@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL
Chambana Film Society* presents “The Savoy Arthouse” feat. THE LADDER w/filmmaker Q&A (11/30, 3 p.m.)

NOW PLAYING | Champaign-Urbana Area

@ AMC Champaign 13, Champaign, IL
ETERNITY, TERE ISHK MEIN* (in Hindi with English sub), ZOOTOPIA 2 (animation), NOW YOU SEE ME: NOW YOU DON’T, PREDATOR: BADLANDS, RENTAL FAMILY, THE RUNNING MAN, SISU: ROAD TO REVENGE, WICKED: FOR GOOD (11/28 on), ), AMC “Screen Unseen” (mystery movie) (12/1, 7 p.m.), FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S 2, JUJUTSU KAISEN: EXECUTION (animé) (12/4 on) *single screenings daily

@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL
ETERNITY, ZOOTOPIA 2 (animation), NOW YOU SEE ME: NOW YOU DON’T, NUREMBERG, PREDATOR: BADLANDS, REGRETTING YOU, RENTAL FAMILY, THE RUNNING MAN, SISU: ROAD TO REVENGE, WICKED: FOR GOOD (11/28 on), Indian cinema: REVOLVER RITA (in Tamil with English sub; 11/28, 2 p.m.), TERE ISHK MEIN (in Hindi with English sub; 11/28-11/29), and ANDHRA KING TALUKA (in Telugu with English sub; 11/28-12/3), “WWE Survivor Series: WarGames” (11/29, 6 p.m., simulcast), ANOTHER SWEET CHRISTMAS (faith film) (11/30, 4 p.m.; 12/1, 7 p.m.), THE HOLIDAY (11/30, 3 & 7 p.m.; 12/3, 7 p.m.), The Metropolitan Opera: Arabella (12/3, 12 & 5:30 p.m., recorded), WEDDING CRASHERS (12/4, 4 & 7 p.m.), AKHANDA 2: THAANDAVAM (in Telugu with English sub), FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S 2 (12/4 on)

@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL
Mix 94.5 and Rewind 92.5 present ELF (11/29, 1 & 7:30 p.m.)

Events featuring locally produced movies are marked with an asterisk (*). Additional “Now Playing” and “Coming Soon” listings appear after the jump!

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