C-U Blogfidential

Illini Film & Video, the student film-making club at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, will next meet at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, September 14, 2009, in Room 104 of the English Building.

Multi-instrumentalist and studio engineer Jay Bennett of Urbana has passed away at age 45.

Did you really think that THE GARBAGE MAN was forever buried underneath the sands of time? Think again, punk.

Urbana native Roger Ebert sings the praises of Urbana native Nina Paley’s film SITA SINGS THE BLUES, which might just play in a certain Champaign film festival in April.

Articles in Bloomington (IL) daily The Pantagraph about the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences nominating Illinois Wesleyan University alumnus Richard Jenkins for an Academy Award as Best Actor in THE VISITOR and recent Illinois State University graduate Ben Marten earning a role on the A&E television series, THE BEAST.

IndieWIRE.com reports that Samuel Goldwyn Films has purchased the U.S. distribution rights to BROTHERS AT WAR, a feature length documentary by University of Notre Dame graduate and Decatur native Jake Rademacher.

Hart D. Fisher plans on stomping the grounds of Champaign-Urbana once again, trailed by a fellow filmmaker hired to document the early Boneyard Press/GARBAGE MAN days and all the murder and mayhem they entailed.

The fourth annual Embarras Valley Film Festival, produced by Eastern Illinois University and highlighting the work of actress Joan Allen, will take place November 4-8, 2008, in downstate Charleston.

PROCEED AND BE BOLD!, a new documentary by former Illini Film & Video stalwart Laura Zinger and Brown Finch Films, will be shown Saturday, October 25, 2008, at 7 p.m. in the Armory Building on the University of Illinois campus.

Boardman’s Art Theatre in Champaign, IL, is playing the Sundance Film Festival winner TROUBLE THE WATER from October 6, 2008, through October 9, 2008, with directors Carl Deal, Jr., and Tia Lessin in attendance.

Coming Soon: Sixth annual AEMS Asian Film Festival @ Boardman’s Art Theatre, Champaign, IL (10/3-5/08), THE VISITOR @ Normal Theater, Normal, IL (10/4-5/08), IPRH Film Series @ 62 Krannert Art Museum, UIUC, Urbana, IL (10/9-11/13/08), THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW @ Avon Theater, Decatur, IL (10/24-25/08), and Fourth annual Tournees French Film Festival @ Boardman’s Art Theatre, Champaign, IL (10/31-11/6/08).

University of Illinois alumnus and veteran documentary filmmaker Frederick Marx will speak about and present clips from his work at the Channing-Murray Foundation in Urbana, IL, on Sunday, September 7, 2008.

Several articles report on the passing of this former Champaign-Urbana student and photographer, who was involved in the rise of Ron Epple’s Expanded Cinema.