Coming Soon: November 2006

Every now and then, C-U Blogfidential will highlight limited-run screenings in the area which often receive little to no press in traditional news outlets. The following events are “coming soon” in November; please support this diverse film programming in our community by attending and spreading the word. Multiplexes and television sets are no substitute for a true cinema experience!

There’s not much of interest on the immediate horizon, so let’s make this outing a brief one…

While they apparently won’t be unleashing their films, it’s always enlightening when Negativland comes to town and brings the culture-jamming noise. For the past quarter-century, this group of multi-media artists has partaken in what is alternately known as “mash-ups” and “plunderphonics,” appropriating audio and video from all different sources and remixing them into fresh, interesting, and often topical creations. In their visit to OPENSOURCE Art, 12 E. Washington St., Champaign, IL, they will be staging a “theater-of-the-mind” experience called “It’s All In Your Head FM,” which basically is their Over the Edge radio show with a live audience. After you witness the performance tonight, Friday, November 3, 7 p.m., $15 suggested cover, consult the DVD of Craig Baldwin‘s documentary SONIC OUTLAWS (1995) to learn about early Negativland pranks, including their own peculiar “U2 incident.”

Boardman’s Art Theatre, 126 W. Church Street, Champaign, IL, continues their Indian cinema series with DON (2006), a slicked-up remake of the 1978 Bollywood charmer starring Amitabh Bachchan as an elusive gangster cut down while on the lam and a doppelganger street entertainer convinced by a local police inspector to take the criminal’s place. Showtimes are 11 a.m. this Saturday, November 4, and Sunday, November 5; admission will be $9.

Finally, the School of Music at the University of Illinois, 1114 W. Nevada St., Urbana, IL, presents an all-day lecture and screening event titled “I Am the Enemy You Loved: Stalin and Shostakovich” on Monday, November 6. The speaker, Tony Palmer, has produced dozens of documentaries and docudramas about classical and contemporary musicians, and will present TESTIMONY (1988, 7:30 p.m., Music Building), featuring Ben Kingsley as the aforementioned Dmitri Shostakovich, and ALL MY LOVING (1968, 11 p.m., Music Building), covering the Sixties rock counterculture. Palmer’s speeches will detail the relationship between Shostakovich and Joseph Stalin (12 p.m., Smith Hall) and compositions in the films of Stanley Kubrick (4:30 p.m., Spurlock Museum). Admission is free to the public.

– Jason Pankoke

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