C-U Blogfidential

This has been a very long year. Whether it’s been better or worse than the year before is debatable. Let’s put the soapboxes aside and remember those who are no longer here for 2022.

Where have all the good times gone? That is one of several major understatements for today. Do your civic duty, C-Uvians, and then consider whether our film culture can rebuild after the drought.

Ye Ed is rooting for the film culture of Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, to rebound from the turbulence of recent years. Not everything will survive, such as the theaters he recently photographed.

In a restructuring effort by new ownership, the Goodrich Quality Theaters chain has decided to let go of the Savoy 16 IMAX in Savoy, IL. It could reopen if another tenant-operator fills the void.

Nationwide consensus is that small businesses and organizations will get raked over the coals before the pandemic is over. We look at how a first-run, mixed-use, and former movie theater are doing.

The unused Lincoln Square Theatre in downtown Decatur, Illinois, is showing signs of disrepair on its exterior. Residents and officials may be at a tipping point in deciding the fate of the venue.

A pair of documentaries with downstate Illinois ties, WHITE HEAT/BLACK ASHES and WHERE ARE YOU, JAY BENNETT?, are close to completion. If interested and able, why not nudge them along?

The scenes from a film culture that we have been watching mostly from afar fill us with mild disenchantment instead of wonder. And then we were ordered to self-shelter and keep personal spaces to ourselves. Joy.

People are paramount over the places and things in MICRO-FILM Country. Agreed? Then, you won’t mind if we address how you can help ease the financial bind of a friend and mother due to a major health crisis.

Espresso Royale on Daniel Street in Champaign, IL, will be closed and torn down, but we’ll always have our memories and film evidence of the coffee spot. What film evidence, you say? It’s minor, but, it exists!

University of Illinois alumni Richard Greenberg and Thomas Rickman, who built Hollywood careers as a main titles designer and screenplay writer, respectively, passed away during the summer months of 2018.

Both C-U Confidential and editor Jason Pankoke made rare public appearances at the inaugural Indie Art Convention & Film Festival in Savoy on July 14, 2018. Unfortunately, very few others took in the show.

Out on the streets, constructive reading can be hard to come by. Luckily, Champaign-Urbana, we have a solution for you this holiday weekend! We also pay respects to our editor’s late uncle, a Navy veteran.

It is rare for us to offer a rational lampoon on the politics of our day, but, here it is! We go top-heavy with humor as WILLIAM SHATNER LENT ME HIS HAIRPIECE jogs past memories and jib-jabs a presidential transition of power.

From the “Images of the Week” Dept.: Two titans of cinematography, gone. Three footnotes in Champaign-Urbana film history, remembered. Four rare archival photos, presented in full FLESH AND BLOOD.