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Our movie and media Calendar appears every Friday\/Saturday on <\/em>C-U Blogfidential<\/span><\/strong> and caters to the downstate region anchored by Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, USA.<\/em><\/p>\n ~~~~~<\/p>\n MILESTONES | Happy Birthday to You!<\/strong><\/p>\n 7\/15: Jill Van Voorst (owner, LIX, Savoy, IL) \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n FIELD REPORT DU HQ | From Wherever It May Be Said<\/strong><\/p>\n Apparently, this week\u2019s Calendar<\/strong> is all about \u201cdates with death,\u201d and I don\u2019t mean it as a rip on what\u2019s playing this week despite last week\u2019s soapbox about the egregiously limited choices in the C-U<\/a><\/span>. To start, the organizers of the Popcorn Frights Film Festival<\/strong> in Florida<\/strong> announced on Monday, July 11<\/strong><\/a><\/span>, their first wave of selections for 2022 and it includes FINAL SUMMER<\/strong>, the retro slasher picture<\/a><\/span> filmed last year in the east central Illinois<\/strong> woodlands by Champaign<\/strong>-based writer\/director John Isberg<\/strong> and his crew. This constitutes the film\u2019s world premiere and it will shock audiences on Saturday, August 13<\/strong>, at 11 p.m. EST<\/strong>, making it the second feature-length film by local producers to be unveiled in the last four months after the twin debut of Shatterglass Studios\u2019 REVEALER<\/strong> at showings in Brazil<\/strong> and Kansas City, Missouri<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Elsewhere, Jim Dey<\/strong> of the News-Gazette<\/span><\/strong> made the connections between a real-life 1993 abduction and murder case in Vermillion County<\/strong> and the new Apple TV+<\/strong> miniseries<\/a><\/span> BLACK BIRD<\/strong>, a six-part affair that premiered with two episodes on Friday, July 1<\/strong>, and centers on a law enforcement scheme to send a felon, Jimmy Keene (Taron Egerton<\/strong>), into a maximum-security wing and elicit a murder confession from a dangerous inmate, Larry Hall (Paul Walter Hauser<\/strong>), in exchange for his own early release. Greg Kinnear, Sepideh Moafi<\/strong>, and the late Ray Liotta<\/strong> also star in this offering developed by crime story veteran Dennis Lehane<\/strong>, author of Shutter Island<\/span><\/strong> and Gone Baby Gone<\/span><\/strong>, and those with an Apple ID can visit this website to watch the first installment for free<\/a><\/span>. You\u2019ll have to decide if you\u2019re up for reenactments of the last days in the life of Georgetown<\/strong> teenager Jessica Roach<\/strong>, played in this series by Laney Stiebing<\/strong>.<\/p>\n And then, promotion has increased lately for an upcoming gathering<\/a><\/span> at which the twain shall meet \u2013 meaning, tales of fictional murderers in all media and writings and presentations based on and derived from factual killings. The sixth Dark History and Horror Convention<\/strong> is set to take place on Friday, August 19<\/strong>, and Saturday, August 20<\/strong>, at the I Hotel and Conference Center<\/strong> in south Champaign, and is a long-gestating effort by organizer and founder Brian L. Ward<\/strong> that finally seems to be operating at full stride. National and area personalities who create in the true crime and horror culture spaces will populate the conference, filled to the coffin brim with special events, several dozen vendors, and an indie-leaning Screaming Mad Film Festival<\/strong> that is included in the admission price. Partake if it\u2019s to your taste<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n CONFIDENTIAL ALMANAC | Dates in Film Culture History<\/strong><\/p>\n 25 Years Ago<\/strong> \u2026 Tuesday, July 15, 1997:<\/em> As part of its tenth season on PBS<\/strong><\/a><\/span>, the nonfiction showcase POV<\/strong> airs a documentary produced by University of Illinois<\/strong> faculty member Jay Rosenstein<\/strong><\/a><\/span>, IN WHOSE HONOR?<\/strong> At its heart is Charlene Teters<\/strong>, a Native American belonging to the Spokane tribe who became alarmed by the presence of sports mascot \u201cChief Illiniwek<\/strong>\u201d on the UI campus while attending for graduate studies in the late Eighties. Her subsequent efforts to alert the general public on the misuse of Indians as commercialized symbols, in particular for activities embraced largely by white audiences who otherwise ignore their racist and classist overtones, created a firestorm of opinion and emotion in Champaign-Urbana<\/strong>. HONOR<\/strong> presents the issue in a balanced and rational manner while illustrating a stubborn lack of empathy from \u201cChief\u201d defenders who see the fictional warrior as a positive influence on the student body and iconic symbol embraced by alumni. More than one million viewers tune in to this episode of POV<\/strong>, according to Rosenstein<\/a><\/span>, and HONOR<\/strong> has persisted as a catalyst in the discussion of cultural appropriation in America during conferences and film festivals, via community organizations, and within the classroom<\/a><\/span> ever since. Following Teters\u2019 lead and Rosenstein\u2019s convictions, Indian activists and allies would accelerate their protests across the United States<\/strong> of similar imagery connected to sports teams. Original distributor New Day Films<\/strong> of Blooming Grove, NY<\/strong>, a specialist in social issue media, still offers HONOR<\/strong><\/a><\/span> to rent or purchase for educational use. [R]<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n NOW PLAYING | Champaign-Urbana Area<\/strong><\/p>\n @ AMC Champaign 13, Champaign, IL<\/strong> @ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL<\/strong> @ Main Quad, Illini Union, UIUC, Urbana, IL<\/strong>
\n7\/17: Derek Huey (cinematographer, TIN ROOF, Subfolders Studios, Martinsville, IN)
\n7\/19: Don May, Jr. (president, Synapse Films, Inc., Novi, MI)
\n7\/21: Shawnee E. Tefteller (owner, Shawnee Studios: Model & Talent Management\/Casting, Mt. Olive, IL)<\/p>\n
\nPAWS OF FURY: THE LEGEND OF HANK, WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING, THE BLACK PHONE, ELVIS, JURASSIC WORLD: DOMINION, LIGHTYEAR, MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU, THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER, TOP GUN: MAVERICK (7\/15 on), NOPE (7\/21 on)<\/p>\n
\nMRS. HARRIS GOES TO PARIS, PAWS OF FURY: THE LEGEND OF HANK, WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING, THE BLACK PHONE, ELVIS, JURASSIC WORLD: DOMINION, LIGHTYEAR, MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU, THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER, TOP GUN: MAVERICK (7\/15 on), Turner Classic Movies presents CABARET 50th anniversary (7\/17, 7\/20, 3 & 7 p.m.), POLY STYRENE: I AM A CLICH\u00c9 (rock documentary; 7\/17, 7\/20, 3, 7 & 10:05 p.m.), ABOMINABLE, DESPICABLE ME (7\/19-7\/21, 10 a.m., free), National Theatre Live: Prima Facie<\/span> starring Jodie Comer (7\/21, 7 p.m., simulcast), NOPE (7\/21 on)<\/p>\n
\nIllini Union Board presents \u201cSummer Films on the Quad\u201d feat. FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE SECRETS OF DUMBLEDORE (7\/21, 9 p.m., free)<\/p>\n