C-U Biz-en-scène: 05.12.2011
“C-U Biz-en-scène” appears every Thursday/Friday on C-U Blogfidential to give our readers a succinct snapshot of the cinema activity in and near Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, USA. Please support the artists and their work, attend screenings and events, and otherwise become active in our esoteric little world!
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MFHQ & YOU:
Please Check Your “Friday the 13th” Jokes at the Door
We’ve also banned the concept of “bad luck” from the bowels of the Secret MICRO-FILM Headquarters. Those in the know happen to, um, know why. (If you keep up with your C-U Blogfidential reading, you already know why.) Otherwise, the general public should simply know this:
- Bob Zimmerman of Villa Grove is looking for a cameraperson with digital/DSLR gear to help him shoot footage for his current projects, including a Champaign-Urbana rock music documentary. Please contact him at zimvg [at] mchsi [dot] com for additional information;
- Johnny Robinson announced yesterday that the next Champaign Movie Makers meeting will be taking place one week later than usual on Tuesday, May 24, but at the usual time and place, 7 p.m. at Class Act Interactive, 114 S. Neil St. in downtown Champaign;
- Mike Boedicker of REVOLTING fame has launched a new movie viewing series at the Danville Public Library where he is the head of their audiovisual department. Unfortunately, we’re late in listing the first title, THE LAST PICTURE SHOW, which played this past Monday, May 9, but we’ve added the remaining schedule of “The New Classics: Great Books to Great Films from the Past 50 Years” below in our calendar. All films begin at 6:30 p.m. and the program continues with FIELD OF DREAMS on Monday, June 13, and THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK on Monday, July 11;
- Finally, we offer congratulations to all the University of Illinois students graduating this weekend! We wish you all well in the real world. We’ll also raise a toast to everyone else finishing off their 2010-11 course work by Sunday; have a great break and we’ll be waiting for you in the fall! The most titanic secret for those studious types who will be “trapped” in town between now and August is that many of the core undergraduate and graduate student filmmakers will also be living la vida Chambana this summer which can only mean one thing – there will be filmmaking. Have your milkshakes at the ready and keep your peepers trained right here for the scoops!
“It’s a strange world and people make careers out of strange things. That’s all my advice for now. Mostly stolen from other people.” ~ Former C-U movie maker and forever good guy Jason Butler, delivering the best advice your humble editor could hope to hear this week.
MEDIA LINKS
Once again, the ghost of Slim Pickens limits what we have in store for you, dearest readers, yet you will not go empty-handed into that good night. For instance, if you simply have to relive last month’s Roger Ebert’s Film Festival, you probably cannot throw a virtual stone on the Internet without hitting a recap although we’d suggest this passionate variation written by Sharon Gissy for Facets Multimedia in Chicago. Delivering another long-distance dedication to culture in the C-U, the Rock, Paper, Shotgun gaming Weblog reports on a short documentary by Columbia College Chicago student Luke Pierson about competitive StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty players at UIUC; thanks to our man Chris Lukeman for the tip! Those interested in corporate media application might read the Central Illinois Business magazine profile on local firm Nuvixa’s CEO Sanjay Patel and the upgrade to their StagePresence virtual conferencing software. Finally, the gang at buzz magazine have done a great job loading up on the local film stories this spring and simply haven’t stopped; here is Tracy Woodley’s piece from last week’s issue about Dark Maze Studios and PRESS START 2 CONTINUE, while Stephanie Ruiz’s overview of the “Cinema to the MACS (Media and Cinema Studies)” student film festival and Nick Martin’s discussion with about-to-graduate Ryan Marzolph about his speculative science fiction short, FALLING UP, debut today. Rock on, buzz!
PLAYING THIS WEEK
@ The Art Theater, Champaign, IL: JANE EYRE (5/13 on), SUPER (5/13-5/15, 5/19), The Girl of the Golden West (5/14-5/15, 12 p.m., opera)
@ Centrum Café, Springfield, IL: Central Illinois Film Commission meeting (5/19, 7 p.m., free)
@ The Avon Theater, Decatur, IL: THOR, SOMETHING BORROWED, WATER FOR ELEPHANTS (5/13 on)
@ The Normal Theater, Normal, IL: ANOTHER YEAR (5/12-5/15)
@ The Lorraine Theatre, Hoopeston, IL: THOR, FAST FIVE (5/13 on)
@ Gemini Cinemas, Villa Grove, IL: THOR, SOUL SURFER (5/13 on)
@ The Onarga Theatre, Onarga, IL: THOR (5/13-5/15, 5/18)
@ Princess Theatre, LeRoy, IL: SOURCE CODE (5/13-5/15)
@ Harvest Moon Drive-In, Gibson City, IL: THOR, FAST FIVE (5/13-5/15)
@ Route 66 Drive-In, Springfield, IL: HOODWINKED TOO! HOOD VS. EVIL, SCREAM 4, RIO, WATER FOR ELEPHANTS (5/13-5/14)
@ That’s Rentertainment, Champaign, IL: THE ILLUSIONIST, BLUE VALENTINE, CROPSEY, I SAW THE DEVIL, NO STRINGS ATTACHED, COUGARS, INC., SOMETHING WILD (Criterion), more! (5/10 on)
@ Centerbrook Drive-In, Martinsville, IN: THOR, INSIDIOUS (5/13-5/15)
@ Hi-Pointe Theatre, etc., St. Louis, MO: “Vincentennial” (Vincent Price celebration, 5/19-5/28)
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Locally produced movies and events featuring locally produced movies are marked with an asterisk (*). Go see ‘em!
COMING SOON
UPDATE! 5/24: Champaign Movie Makers meeting
@ Class Act Interactive, Champaign, IL, 7 p.m.
5/27: THE UNINVITED (1944) w/Troy Taylor
@ The Avon Theater, Decatur, IL, 10 p.m., free
6/2-6/9: Chicago Underground Film Festival, Chicago, IL
6/23-6/26: Onion City Experimental Film and Video Festival, Chicago, IL
7/19-7/24: Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival, Palatine, IL
9/16-9/18: Route 66 International Film Festival
@ Hoogland Center for the Arts, Springfield, IL
10/6-10/20: Chicago International Film Festival, Chicago, IL
10/28-10/30: Freeky Creek Short Film Festival
@ Sleepy Creek Vineyards, Fairmount, IL
11/10-11/12: Embarras Valley Film Festival
@ EIU campus/Will Rogers Theater/etc., Charleston, IL
11/10-11/20: St. Louis International Film Festival, St. Louis, MO
COMMUNITY FILM SERIES
NEW! The New Classics: Great Books to Great Films from the Past 50 Years
@ Danville Public Library, Danville, IL, 6:30 p.m.
6/13: FIELD OF DREAMS; 7/11: THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK; 8/8: INTO THE WILD; 9/12: TRUE GRIT (2010); 10/10: THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS; 11/14: ORDINARY PEOPLE; 12/12: FAIL SAFE (1964); 1/9/12: NEVER CRY WOLF; 2/13/12: AWAKENINGS; 3/12/12: ADAPTATION; 4/9/12: UP IN THE AIR
The News-Gazette Film Series 2011
@ The Virginia Theater, Champaign, IL, 1 & 7 p.m.
5/14: REAR WINDOW; 6/4: MOULIN ROUGE!; 7/23: BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S; 8/6: ARSENIC AND OLD LACE; 9/10: ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT; 10/8: THE EXORCIST; 11/5: THE GODFATHER; 12/3: THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS
WILL-TV/Independent Lens “Community Cinema” series
@ The Art Theater, Champaign, IL, Time TBA
6/11: TWO SPIRITS
UNIVERSITY FILM SERIES
Global Lens 2011: International Films
@ Latzer Hall, University YMCA, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, 5:30 p.m.
5/19: THE INVISIBLE EYE, Argentina; 6/16: THE LIGHT THIEF, Kyrgyzstan; 7/21: SOUL OF SAND, India; 8/18: STREET DAYS, Georgia; 9/15: THE TENANTS, Brazil; 10/20: A USEFUL LIFE, Uruguay; 11/17: WHITE MEADOWS, Iran
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That’s it for the “business of our scene” this week!
If you have relevant news, opportunities, dates, or promotions that you would like included in CUBiz, please forward the who, what, where, when, and how much to cuconfidential [at] gmail [dot] com.
Compiled by Jason Pankoke
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“C-U Biz-en-scène” no.42 © 2011 Jason Pankoke/C-U Blogfidential.