Calendar: May 4-10, 2018
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!
5/4: Andrew J. Rausch (author, Fifty Filmmakers)
5/5: Chris Lukeman (co-director, THE DOUBLE MACHINE, Pens to Lens 2017)
DEADLINES, ETC. | Participate in Cinema Activity
@ The Art Theater, Champaign, IL
Shocktober Film Festival call for entries | Full Information
Early: 3/1; Regular: 6/30; Late: 7/16; Extended: 8/1
@ Capital City Bar & Grill, Springfield, IL
Route 66 Film Festival call for entries | Full Information
Early: 4/1; Regular: 6/30; Late: 7/31; Extended: 8/15
@ Independent Media Center, Urbana, IL
ChamPain Indie Horror Festival call for entries | Full Information
Early: 3/16; Regular: 6/4; Late: 7/6; Extended: 8/3
@ Savoy Recreation Center, Savoy, IL
Dark History & Horror Convention call for entries | Full Information
Early: 3/31; Regular: 5/31; Late: 6/30; Extended: 7/31
@ Savoy Recreation Center, Savoy, IL
Indie Art Convention & Film Festival call for entries | Full Information
Early: 2/28; Regular: 3/31; Late: 4/14; Extended: 4/30
CONFIDENTIAL ALMANAC | Dates in Film Culture History
15 Years Ago … Friday, May 2, 2003: TRIAD, the first University of Illinois student film of scope to emerge in the Illini Film & Video era, receives its premiere this evening at the Armory Building’s lecture space, Armory 101. Conceived by LAS candidate and musician Chris Folkens from a screenplay by Katharine Broihan, Ray Perry, and himself, the narrative featurette concerns a trio of undergraduate friends played by Evan Dollard, Hayley Maree Jannesen, and Adam Pasen who unwittingly learn more than they desire about a ghostly curse involving three academic buildings at their school. Slickly imagined in the style of visual Hollywood filmmakers like Michael Mann and Michael Bay on a shoestring budget, TRIAD is also scheduled for a reprise tomorrow, Saturday, May 3, during the end-of-semester IFV festival. Folkens is even planning to release prepackaged DVD editions and stock them on the shelves of Campustown merchants like T.I.S. College Bookstore and That’s Rentertainment. Before graduation and a move to Chicago to join the famed Leo Burnett advertising agency, the director-producer would follow TRIAD with the more assured bioweapon thriller TOXIN, also created in Champaign-Urbana. Both he and Dollard made subsequent inroads into the entertainment industry, the former as a promotional video producer for the ABC-TV network in Los Angeles and the latter as a winning contestant on the AMERICAN GLADIATORS revival and frequent competitor on AMERICAN NINJA WARRIOR.
25 Years Ago … Thursday, May 6, 1993: The production crew behind WITH HONORS, an upcoming collegiate drama starring Brendan Fraser, Moira Kelly, Josh Hamilton, and Patrick Dempsey, utilizes the University of Illinois Main Quad to capture a climactic moment. It is one of several location shoots across the United States that will meld together on-screen to depict the settings for the story, Harvard University and Cambridge, Massachusetts. Numerous locals fill the need for extras, sitting about the young actors in the guises of fellow students, faculty, and family members, for a graduation ceremony scene staged at the south end of the Quad with a dressed Foellinger Auditorium as an architectural backdrop. Present for the faux festivities is the celebrated writer Gore Vidal, who plays a Harvard professor and faculty advisor to Fraser’s character Monty Kessler, while the popular comedic actor Joe Pesci, appearing as a wiseacre street person with a dreamer’s soul who becomes an unofficial mentor to Monty, is nowhere to be found. Activity is scheduled to wrap by this evening although, according to News-Gazette coverage at the time, several members of the WITH HONORS team will have spent most of the week in the immediate area before their visit is through. Warner Bros. would open the Spring Creek Productions film a year later almost to the day on Friday, April 29, 1994, at slightly more than 1,000 theaters nationwide. Quad footage can be seen briefly in the accompanying music video for the movie’s hit theme song, “I’ll Remember,” performed by Madonna; WITH HONORS director Alex Keshishian previously worked on the pop star’s concert tour documentary, MADONNA: TRUTH OR DARE, as well as several of her other videos.
LOCAL FILMS, ETC. | Support Your Media Storytellers
@ Champaign County Historical Museum, Champaign, IL
CCHM Speaker Series – Perry Morris: “Vaudeville and the New Orpheum Theatre” (5/10, 7 p.m., free w/ticket)
@ Lincoln Square Mall, Urbana, IL
Open casting call for DEATH ON THE STREETS independent feature film, north hallway (5/6, call (210) 355-2439 to set audition time) | Information | Synopsis
@ Sipyard, Urbana, IL
CUDO Happy Hour: Pens to Lens 2018 poster design meeting (5/9, 5:30 p.m.)
NOW PLAYING | Champaign-Urbana Area
@ The Art Theater, Champaign, IL
LEAN ON PETE (5/4 on), THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE PART 2 (5/4-5/5, 5/9-5/10, 10 p.m.), AMADEUS: THE DIRECTOR’S CUT (5/8, 7:15 p.m.)
@ AMC Champaign 13, Champaign, IL
A OR B, BAD SAMARITAN, TULLY, AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR, BLACK PANTHER, BLOCKERS, I FEEL PRETTY, A QUIET PLACE, RAMPAGE, SUPER TROOPERS 2, TRUTH OR DARE (5/4 on)
@ English Building, UIUC, Urbana, IL
Illini Film & Video meeting, Room 160 (5/7, 7 p.m.)
@ Family Video, Champaign-Urbana, IL
PETER RABBIT, 12 STRONG, WINCHESTER, IN THE FADE, THELMA, ALL I WISH, TREMORS: A COLD DAY IN HELL, SHAMELESS (s8), ATLANTA (s1), more! (5/1 on)
@ Goodrich Savoy 16, Savoy, IL
BAD SAMARITAN, OVERBOARD, TULLY, AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR, BLOCKERS, I FEEL PRETTY, A QUIET PLACE, RAMPAGE, READY PLAYER ONE, SUPER TROOPERS 2, TRUTH OR DARE (5/4 on), MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL (5/6, 5/9), THE BOXCAR CHILREN: SURPRISE ISLAND (5/8, 4 p.m.), Puffs: Filmed Live Off Broadway (5/9, 7 p.m., recorded), DIGIMON ADVENTURE TRI: COEXISTENCE (5/10, 7:30 p.m.)
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL
THE HELP (5/8, 5/10, 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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NOW PLAYING | The Cities Beyond
@ AMC Classic Village Mall 6, Danville, IL
AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR, I FEEL PRETTY, A QUIET PLACE, RAMPAGE, TRUTH OR DARE (5/4 on)
@ The Avon Theater, Decatur, IL
AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR, A QUIET PLACE (5/4 on), LIFE OF THE PARTY (5/10 on)
@ The Harvest Moon Twin Drive-in, Gibson City, IL
AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR (Screen 1), I FEEL PRETTY (Screen 2) (5/4-5/6)
@ The Lincoln Grand 8, Lincoln, IL
BAD SAMARITAN, OVERBOARD, AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR, I FEEL PRETTY, A QUIET PLACE, SUPER TROOPERS 2 (5/4 on), LIFE OF THE PARTY (5/10 on)
@ The Little Lorraine, Hoopeston, IL
GREASE (5/3-5/5), “Afternoon of Magic” all-ages program (5/6, 3 p.m., @ Lorraine Theatre)
@ The Normal Theater, Normal, IL
THE DEATH OF STALIN (5/4-5/6, 5/10), NIGHT OF THE CREEPS (5/4), Clef Hangers 10th anniversary concert (5/5), THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR (5/6), THE GREAT SILENCE (5/8)
@ The Onarga Theatre, Onarga, IL
AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR (5/4-5/6, 5/9)
@ The Princess Theatre, Leroy, IL
SHERLOCK GNOMES (5/4-5/6)
@ Route 66 Twin Drive-in, Springfield, IL
AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR, STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI (Screen 1), RAMPAGE, GAME NIGHT (Screen 2) (5/4-5/5)
COMING SOON | Area-wide Events
6/6-6/10
25th annual Chicago Underground Film Festival, Chicago, IL
7/14
Indie Art Convention & Film Festival
@ Savoy Recreation Center, Savoy, IL
10/3
2018 Shocktober Film Festival
@ The Art Theater, Champaign, IL
10/28
2nd annual ChamPain Indie Horror Festival
@ Independent Media Center, Urbana, IL
11/2-11/3
17th annual Route 66 Film Festival
@ Capital City Bar & Grill, Springfield, IL
11/9-11/10
4th Dark History & Horror Convention
@ Savoy Recreation Center, Savoy, IL
COMMUNITY & CAMPUS SERIES | Champaign-Urbana area
The News-Gazette Film Series
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL, 1 & 7 p.m.
5/12: MY DARLING CLEMENTINE; 6/23: TBA
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Compiled by Jason Pankoke.
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“Calendar du C-U”
© 2018 Jason Pankoke/C-U Blogfidential