Calendar: March 6-12, 2026
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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THE BLOGFIDENTIAL TELETYPE | Film News You Can Use, C-U
What we’re seeing on our beat this week … Forgive us, we dropped the beat. Much is afoot at MFHQ Deux, so we’ve had to follow what’s in the cards. Our toes will tap the concrete again next week. Onward … and that’s what we can reveal for today. Always remember – this is not just movies, it’s our lives.
CONFIDENTIAL ALMANAC | Dates in Film Culture History
27 Years Ago … Wednesday, March 3, 1999: Operating out of a studio-office situated near downtown Champaign, Illinois, Opteryx Press puts its spin on independent film discourse to paper for the first time with the release of MICRO-FILM: The Warning Shot. The letter-size, 12-page ‘zine is a copy shop creation with a teal cover that serves as a low-budget teaser for the upcoming MICRO-FILM, “The Magazine of Personal Cinema in Action.” Novice self-publisher Jason Pankoke draws the content from his recent interactions with participants in the American “film festival circuit” as well as science-fiction and horror fandom; interview subjects include Scary Monsters Magazine publisher Dennis Druktenis from the Chicago suburb of Highwood, Oregon-based stop-motion animator Suzanne Twining, and filmmaker and photographer Brien Burroughs of San Francisco. Short subjects created by the latter two were introduced to a Champaign-Urbana audience during the first Freaky Film Festival in 1997. “Many of the films in MICRO-FILM will be raw and unpolished,” writes Pankoke in a “Save the Mirth” editorial. “Some will be experimental and abstract. Most will be far from perfect, at least according to the standards of mainstream critics and cinema historians. However, all belong to the century-old history of motion picture making, and this history deserves to be fleshed out by recording what is going on in the grassroots, the backyards, and the underground. In this case, size doesn’t matter. Your films do.” A second “stepping stone” issue to be called MICRO-FILM 101 is promoted in The Warning Shot but never comes to fruition. As reported on 3/7/09 at CUBlog. [R]
LOCAL FILMS & EVENTS | Support Your Media Storytellers
@ Antioch Theatre, Antioch, IL
16th annual Lake County Film Festival* opening night feat. NUISANCE BEAR (documentary) (3/12, 7 p.m.)
@ Flyover Film Studios, Rantoul, IL
“Spring Break (SB1) Camera Department Intensive” instructed by Robert Patrick Stern (3/9-3/13)
@ Spurlock Museum of World Cultures, UIUC, Urbana, IL
UI Center for Advanced Study “MillerComm 2026” screening: FLAME (documentary) w/discussion (3/10, 5 p.m.), UI Department of French & Italian, etc., present “Francophone Film Festival” feat. LE CONSENTEMENT (in French with English sub) (3/11, 6:30 p.m.)
NOW PLAYING | Champaign-Urbana Area
@ AMC Champaign 13, Champaign, IL
THE BRIDE!, DEMON SLAYER: INFINITY CASTLE (animé re-release) (in Japanese with English sub or English dub), DOLLY*, HOPPERS (animation), PROTECTOR, CRIME 101*, EPiC: ELVIS PRESLEY IN CONCERT* (music documentary), GOAT (animation), I CAN ONLY IMAGINE 2 (faith film), PEGASUS 3* (in Mandarin with English and Chinese sub), SCREAM 7, WUTHERING HEIGHTS (3/6 on), Fan Faves: I CAN ONLY IMAGINE* (faith film) (3/6-3/8, 3/10) and I STILL BELIEVE* (faith film) (3/6-3/8, 3/11), AMC “Screen Unseen” (mystery movie) (3/9, 7 p.m.), REMINDERS OF HIM, UNDERTONE (3/12 on) *single screenings daily
@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL
THE BRIDE!, HOPPERS (animation), MRITHYUNJAY* (in Telugu with English sub), PROTECTOR, CRIME 101, EPiC: ELVIS PRESLEY IN CONCERT (music documentary), GOAT (animation), I CAN ONLY IMAGINE 2 (faith film), SEND HELP, SCREAM 7, WUTHERING HEIGHTS, ZOOTOPIA 2 (animation) (3/6 on), UFC 326: Max Holloway vs. Charles Oliviera, more (mixed martial arts) (3/7, 8 p.m., simulcast), The Royal Ballet: Romeo and Juliet (3/8, 3 p.m., 3/9, 7 p.m.; 2015 recorded performance); LA LA LAND (3/8, 3 & 7 p.m.; 3/11, 7 p.m.), REMINDERS OF HIM (3/12 on) *single screenings daily
@ Pine Lounge, 1st floor, Illini Union, UIUC, Urbana, IL
Illini Union Board presents “Spring 2025 Weekend Films” feat. THE RUNNING MAN (3/6-3/7, 7 p.m.; free w/i-card)
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL
Illinois Public Media and the UI Japan House present KOKUHO (in Japanese with English sub) (3/11, 6 p.m. discussion, 7 p.m. film)
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
LAST SHOWS! @ AMC Classic 12, Springfield, IL
Springfield Art Association presents Molly Schlich Independent | International Film Series feat. THE BALLAD OF WALLIS ISLAND (3/8, 1 & 4 p.m.; 3/10, 7 p.m.)
@ The Fischer Theatre, Danville, IL
The City of Danville in association with Community Roots presents DR. SEUSS’ THE LORAX (animation) (3/11, 6 p.m., free-will donation)
@ The Lorraine Theatre, Hoopeston, IL
HOPPERS (animation) (3/6-3/8, 3/12 on)
@ The Normal Theater, Normal, IL
SENTIMENTAL VALUE (3/6-3/8), THE SECRET AGENT (3/7-3/8), 2026 Oscar-Nominated Short Films: Live Action (3/9, 3/12), Animation (3/10), and Documentary (3/11)
@ The Princess Theatre, Leroy, IL
WUTHERING HEIGHTS (3/6-3/8)
NOW PLAYING | Midwest
LAST LISTING! For detailed and curated listings of Chicago-area film presentations and related events, please visit the fine folks at Cine-File and subscribe to their definitive “Cine-List” weekly blast. And for northern Illinois industry news, be sure to read Reel Chicago, Screen Magazine, and the Chicago Reader.
COMING SOON | Area-wide Events
3/12-3/23
16th annual Lake County Film Festival
@ College of Lake County/Gorton Center/Antioch Theatre, Grayslake, IL
3/16-3/19
“Spring Break (SB2) Camera Department Intensive”
@ Flyover Film Studios, Rantoul, IL
3/19
Film Fanatic Movie Nights* presents THE MAN WHO WASN’T THERE
@ Analog Wine Library, Urbana, IL, 7 p.m.
3/19-3/21
48th Big Muddy Film Festival*
@ The Varsity Center, Carbondale, IL
3/20-4/12
20th Asian Pop-Up Cinema festival
@ AMC Newcity 14, Chicago, IL
NEW! 3/24-3/29
64th annual Ann Arbor Film Festival
@ Michigan Theater, Ann Arbor, MI
4/3-4/10
28th annual Wisconsin Film Festival, Madison, WI
4/9-4/12
36th Onion City Experimental Film Festival, Chicago, IL
4/17-4/19
26th Roger Ebert’s Film Festival: “The Last Dance”*
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL
4/23-4/26
2026 Foxtail Film Festival*
@ The Normal Theater, Normal, IL
5/1
2026 Illinois Student Film Festival*
@ UI Spurlock Museum of World Cultures, Urbana, IL, 7 p.m.
9/7-9/17
44th Reeling: The Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film Festival
@ Landmark’s Century Centre Cinema + Chicago Filmmakers, Chicago, IL
COMMUNITY & CAMPUS SERIES | Champaign-Urbana area
Illini Union Board presents “Spring 2025 Weekend Films”
@ Pine Lounge, 1st floor, Illini Union, UIUC, Urbana, IL, 7 p.m. Fri. & Sat, free w/i-card
3/13-3/14: THE HOUSEMAID; 3/27-3/28: WICKED: FOR GOOD; 4/3-4/4: ANACONDA; 4/10-4/11: MERCY; 4/17-4/18: 28 YEARS LATER: THE BONE TEMPLE
Roger Ebert Center for Film Studies events
@ Spurlock Museum of World Cultures, UIUC, Urbana, IL, 7 p.m. (unless noted otherwise)
3/30: THE WIZ screening
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Compiled by Jason Pankoke.
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“Calendar du C-U”
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