C-U Blogfidential

Coming Soon: Champaign Movie Makers meeting @ Shatterglass Studios, Urbana, IL (9/9/08), Beyond Normal Films “Choice” series @ Normal Theater, Normal, IL (9/9-28/08), IPRH Film Series @ 62 Krannert Art Museum, UIUC, Urbana, IL (9/11-11/13/08), and “Politics at the Movies” class @ Avon Theatre, Decatur, IL (9/11-10/30/08).

Article in Champaign daily The News-Gazette about a new documentary called MEMORIAL STADIUM: TRUE ILLINI SPIRIT that will premiere on local PBS station WILL-TV Channel 12 this Tuesday, September 9, 2008, at 7 p.m.

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.

The next meeting of Illini Film & Video will be on Thursday, August 28, 2008, at 7:30 p.m. in the basement lounge of the UIUC English Building on the Main Quad.

Producers of a cable television reality show will be shooting segments in Champaign-Urbana the weekend of September 19, 2008, and could possibly use your help.

The streets of Champaign-Urbana will become better informed places with the debut of MICRO-FILM’s “newszine,” the CineMicroGraph, on Thursday, August 28, 2008.

Urbana independent film studio Essence Films will premiere their dramatic short PRELUDE at the Onarga Theater in Onarga, IL, on Thursday, August 7, 2008, at 7 p.m.

Opportunities to explore various crafts within the filmmaking trade include Tom Logan’s acting seminar on August 1-3, 2008, at the Prairie Capitol Convention Center in Springfield, IL, Cheryl Croasmun’s production/development seminar on August 6, 2008, at Kicks Family Entertainment Center in Springfield, IL, and Alaric S. Rocha’s film production workshop on August 15-17, 2008, in Champaign, IL, location TBD.

Articles in the Chicago Tribune covering the formal departure of Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper from the long-running movie review program AT THE MOVIES, to be replaced this fall by Ben Lyons of E! Entertainment Television and Ben Mankiewicz of Turner Classic Movies.

Your editor grumbles at length about the opportunity missed by the Illinois Film Office at their inaugural “IFO Night at the Movies” in Savoy on June 30, 2008, to educate and connect with downstate media makers.

Dreamscape Cinema of Champaign has announced a crew call to fill positions on its upcoming thriller, PANTHER ISLAND.

Article in Champaign daily The News-Gazette about the opening of the brand-new Stardust Drive-In near the intersection of Route 130 and 14th Street in Charleston, IL.

Episode 2 of SAMSARA, an offbeat short-film series juxtaposing young adult anxieites and teeming cosmic forces, has been posted for Internet streaming by co-creator Roshan Murthy.

Article in Bloomington (IL) daily The Pantagraph about a multimedia group installation titled “Test Pattern Sound Check” going live at University Galleries, Center for the Visual Arts, on the campus of Illinois State University in Normal.

The Illinois Film Office launches its “IFO Night at the Movies” statewide outreach series with a free showing of Universal Pictures’ WANTED at the Savoy 16 on Monday, June 30, 2008, in Savoy, IL.