Calendar: Mar.27-Apr. 2, 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 … Looks like we’re picking odds and ends off the concrete in order to fulfill the Teletype! Let’s begin with the big one-two of detailed reveals that have been made over the last week. Nat Dykeman of Chambana Film Society has posted the entire schedule, including six bonus shows, for the second annual Savoy Lumierè; everything will take place at the Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX in Savoy with the core conglomeration of programs scheduled to be shown April 29 to May 5, and you can view the programs and purchase tickets and passes through this website. Also, Chaz Ebert and company have now shared all the main selections and special events of the last Champaign edition of Roger Ebert’s Film Festival, while individual tickets (and, therefore, a concrete schedule) will not be available until next Wednesday, April 1, through the Virginia Theatre box office. A recent News-Gazette article goes over the basics including the local premiere of the locally-filmed indie black comedy, CHILI FINGER, and possibly the first-ever showing of a new Roger Ebert documentary that we didn’t see coming, THE LAST MOVIE CRITIC, shepherded by Luke Boyce and Michael Moreci of REVEALER and REVIVAL fame. Keep a sharp eye on the “Ebertfest” website for all that will be “The Last Dance”…
One of the Savoy Lumierè’s early screenings, set for Friday, April 24, is a local reprise of BRIM, the stylish historic drama about Black health, legacy, and repression that was filmed in the Champaign-Urbana area by the creative team of Keenan Dailey and Trudy Namara from Visage Entertainment. We received an email update about what is happening currently with the studio, now based in Atlanta, GA, and it includes a select theatrical release this summer for BRIM, the festival play of a dramatic short titled BLINK, the upcoming production of a documentary called TIGHTROPE that “follows a group of adults living with social anxiety as they try to reclaim confidence and connection through an improv class designed to help them feel human again,” and completion of a piece in conjunction with Experience CU about the Champaign County African-American Heritage Trail. Samples of their work are on Vimeo …
More and more, students attending the University of Illinois have academic, social, and paid opportunities to explore media-making, and now the College of Media has launched a program to guide teenagers living in the area on becoming literate and responsible with the tools available to them. Based at the Illinois Public Media studio on Goodwin Avenue in Urbana, the Content Creation Lab will host its first series of workshops starting on Saturday, April 4, and participants will be engaged in “podcasting, audio storytelling, video, and digital media projects.” Parents should check out this web page for information on the program’s goals and how to register their children in the sessions, which are of no cost to them …
And lest we forget, our friend Andy Due reminded all of us who need a good laugh and a gaggle of chuckles that his efforts to keep classic comedy alive through Rubber Chicken Films reached the ten-year milestone in February. To celebrate, he released Episode 30 of THE ANDY DUE SHOW on Wednesday, February 25, and it’s an Eighties Spring Break all over again with his tubular friends including Zoe Due, Hannah Leal, Toine Perry, Abigail Pichay, and Dave Rediger of Camp Nostalgia Studios. Surf on over to his YouTube channel to have a fun and explore his skits and parodies. Congratulations, dear chap! … 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
10 Years Ago … Friday, March 11, 2016: Hometown Hero Productions of Ottawa, nestled at the crux of the Illinois and Fox rivers within the Illinois Valley region that includes Starved Rock State Park, premieres their second feature-length film GRACE’S ROOM at Roxy Cinemas in the city’s bustling downtown. Co-written with Virginia Campbell and directed by Tyler Amm with a deliberate goal to feature various Ottawa personalities, locations, and attractions, such as the annual Ottawa Riverfest that serves as a backdrop for its climax, this manic horror-comedy follows an all-night misadventure suffered by Billie (Rachel Alig), a listless twentysomething who holds down odd jobs while drafting screenplays on the side, and her friends as she housesits for relatives who are visiting the Wisconsin Dells. Billie decides to invade the bedroom of her insufferable cousin, Grace (Grace Reinhardt), in search of an idea book and multi-color pen that she believes the teen stole from her. What they open instead is a can of demon-worshipping worms and inadvertently tip off a bunch of ne’er-do-wells embedded in the community of their presence. GRACE’S ROOM also stars Amber Herfurth, Sean Walsh, Nick Chandler, and Patrick Garrigan as Billie’s crew and Alex Dittmer and Heather Call as their main adversaries. The one-week run at the Roxy also includes showings of a behind-the-scenes featurette, created by Janette Marie, and the group’s previous feature, RIVER CITY PANIC. Both GRACE and a following film, BUTCHER THE BAKERS, would eventually be distributed to streaming platforms by Dark Cuts Entertainment of Santa Monica, CA.
LOCAL FILMS & EVENTS | Support Your Media Storytellers
@ Spurlock Museum of World Cultures, UIUC, Urbana, IL
Roger Ebert Center for Film Studies presents THE WIZ screening (3/30, 7 p.m.) and Ebert Symposium 2026: “Onscreen Fantasies/IRL Illusions: Fandom, Parasocial Relationships, and the Media” (3/31, 2 p.m. roundtable discussion, 4 p.m. keynote address by Dr. Alfred L. Martin, Jr., University of Miami)
NOW PLAYING | Champaign-Urbana Area
@ AMC Champaign 13, Champaign, IL
THE AI DOC: OR HOW I BECAME AN APOCALOPTIMIST (documentary), BUNNY!! (in Vietnamese with English sub), FORBIDDEN FRUITS, A MAGNIFICENT LIFE (animation), THEY WILL KILL YOU, DHURANDHAR THE REVENGE (in Hindi with English sub), GOAT (animation), HOPPERS (animation), PROJECT HAIL MARY, READY OR NOT 2: HERE I COME, REMINDERS OF HIM, SCREAM 7*, UNDERTONE* (3/27 on), THE MUMMY RETURNS 25th anniversary* (re-release) (3/27-3/29), Fan Faves: JESUS REVOLUTION (3/27-3/29, 3/31-4/1) and DAVID* (animation) (3/27-3/30, 4/1), AMC “Scream Unseen” (mystery movie) (3/30, 7 p.m.), THE SUPER MARIO GALAXY MOVIE (animation) (4/1 on), THE DRAMA, A GREAT AWAKENING (faith film) (4/2 on) *single screenings daily
@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL
THE AI DOC: OR HOW I BECAME AN APOCALOPTIMIST (documentary), FORBIDDEN FRUITS, THE MUMMY RETURNS 25th anniversary* (re-release), THEY WILL KILL YOU, DHURANDHAR THE REVENGE (in Hindi with English sub), EPiC: ELVIS PRESLEY IN CONCERT* (music documentary), GOAT (animation), HOPPERS (animation), I CAN ONLY IMAGINE 2* (faith film), PROJECT HAIL MARY, READY OR NOT 2: HERE I COME, REMINDERS OF HIM, SEND HELP*, SCREAM 7, UNDERTONE (3/27 on), STAND BY ME (3/28, 5 p.m.; 3/30-3/31, 4:30 p.m.; 4/2, 4:45 p.m.), BEN-HUR (1959) (3/29, 2 & 7 p.m.; 4/1-4/2, 7 p.m.), THE SUPER MARIO GALAXY MOVIE (animation) (4/1 on) *single screenings daily
@ Pine Lounge, 1st floor, Illini Union, UIUC, Urbana, IL
Illini Union Board presents “Spring 2025 Weekend Films” feat. WICKED: FOR GOOD (3/27-3/28, 7 p.m.; free w/i-card)
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
BACK OPEN! @ The Harvest Moon Twin Drive-in, Gibson City, IL
HOPPERS (animation) (Screen 1), SCREAM 7 (Screen 2) (3/28-3/29), THE SUPER MARIO GALAXY MOVIE (animation) (Screen 1), HOPPERS (animation) (Screen 1) (4/1-4/2)
@ The Lorraine Theatre, Hoopeston, IL
PROJECT HAIL MARY (3/27-3/29), I CAN ONLY IMAGINE 2 (faith film) (3/31), THE SUPER MARIO GALAXY MOVIE (animation) (4/1 on)
@ The Normal Theater, Normal, IL
THE GODFATHER (3/27-3/29), THE GODFATHER PART II (3/28-3/29), “Troubling the Troubled Teen Industry” community discussion moderated by Dr. Joshua H. Stout, Criminal Justice Sciences, ISU (3/30, 6 p.m.) followed by documentary screening, THE KIDS ARE NOT ALRIGHT (3/30, 7 p.m.), THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE PART 2 (3/31), NORMAL pre-release screening w/filmmakers Bob Odenkirk and Derek Kolstad (4/1, 6:30 p.m.), MR. NOBODY AGAINST PUTIN (documentary) (4/2 on)
@ The Princess Theatre, Leroy, IL
HOPPERS (animation) (3/27-3/29)
NOW PLAYING | Midwest
@ AMC Newcity 14, Chicago, IL
Sophia’s Choice presents 20th Asian Pop-Up Cinema festival (through 4/12) Information
@ Michigan Theater, Ann Arbor, MI
64th annual Ann Arbor Film Festival (through 3/29) Information
COMING SOON | Area-wide Events
4/3-4/10
28th annual Wisconsin Film Festival, Madison, WI
4/9-4/12
36th Onion City Experimental Film Festival, Chicago, IL
4/11
“Festival of the Arts” presents IWU student film showcase
@ Ames Library, Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, IL, 3:45 p.m.
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
NEW! 4/29
Images in Motion Film Festival*
@ Kirkland Fine Arts Center, Millikin University, Decatur, IL, 6 p.m.
NEW! 4/29-5/5
Chambana Film Society presents
the Savoy Lumierè 2026*
@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, 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
UPDATE! Chambana Film Society presents “Savoy Lumierè 2026 pre- and post-screenings”
@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL
4/7: HUNDREDS OF BEAVERS (7 p.m.), 4/10: RELATIVE w/filmmakers (7 p.m.), 4/24: BRIM* w/filmmakers (7 p.m.), 5/8: “Identities: Jewish American” short film program (7 p.m.), 5/15: “Identities: The Soul of Black Folk” short film program w/discussion (7 p.m.), 5/22: TIGHT & NERDY (documentary) w/burlesque performance (7 p.m.)
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
4/3-4/4: ANACONDA; 4/10-4/11: MERCY; 4/17-4/18: 28 YEARS LATER: THE BONE TEMPLE
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Compiled by Jason Pankoke.
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“Calendar du C-U”
© 2026 Jason Pankoke/C-U Blogfidential
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