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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 PASSINGS | You Will Be Missed<\/strong><\/p>\n 3\/11: Michael Wiese, 75 (publisher, Michael Wiese Productions, Studio City, CA)<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n FIELD REPORT DU HQ | From Wherever It May Be Said<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s \u201cformer local resident achievement week\u201d here in the Report<\/strong>. Numerous media outlets are marking the debut appearance of Paxton<\/strong> native and Sacramento, CA<\/strong>, transplant Gina Miles<\/strong><\/span><\/a> this past Monday, March 20<\/strong>, on the NBC-TV<\/strong> competition show THE VOICE<\/strong>, where she sang the Katy Perry<\/strong> song \u201cThe One that Got Away<\/strong>\u201d and impressed judges<\/a><\/span> with her potential. On the big screen, East Peoria<\/strong> native Zach Scheerer<\/strong> will play a featured role<\/a><\/span> in the fall Lionsgate<\/strong> release, THE RE-EDUCATION OF MOLLY SINGER<\/strong>, which stars Britt Robertson<\/strong> of THE ROOKIE<\/strong> as a lawyer who goes undercover at her alma mater<\/em>. And, the New York Times<\/span><\/strong> recently interviewed Chicago<\/strong>\u2019s Jessica Steinrock<\/strong><\/a><\/span>, the CEO of a firm that trains and accredits professionals who work with performers on set and the stage to navigate racier material, Intimacy Directors & Coordinators<\/strong>; she graduated with both a masters and Ph.D. in theater from the University of Illinois<\/strong> in Urbana<\/strong>. Finally, following an article in Variety<\/strong><\/a><\/span> about how Illinois<\/strong> is growing on-site television and film commerce through tax credits and other incentives, it was announced that 2022 was the state\u2019s most lucrative year ever for production-based revenue<\/a><\/span>. This may be a sign that local residents can achieve their entertainment dreams while remaining residents in the Land of Lincoln. Possibly<\/em>. Could be!<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n CONFIDENTIAL ALMANAC | Dates in Film Culture History<\/strong><\/p>\n 50 Years Ago<\/strong> \u2026 Wednesday, March 28, 1973:<\/em> Movie-loving students at the University of Illinois<\/strong> set up a booth at the Illini Union<\/strong> to sell copies of their brand-new journal, MacGuffin<\/span><\/strong>, according to the Daily Illini<\/strong> on this same date. Originated by two juniors enrolled in Liberal Arts & Sciences<\/strong>, Barry Sabath<\/strong> and Todd Harrison<\/strong>, the 24-page debut edition is an impressive effort by undergraduate writers to fashion their own forum for critical thinking about the cinema. Film directors whose work is analyzed in the issue include Federico Fellini, Ingmar Bergman, Sam Peckinpah<\/strong>, and D.W. Griffith<\/strong>, while faculty helping them reach this milestone include professors Robert Carringer<\/strong>, as an advisor, and Edwin Jahiel<\/strong>, who compiled the \u201cFilm Focus\u201d campus calendar appearing in the back of the issue. Staff would publish five additional numbers<\/span><\/a> by the spring of 1975 before dissolving MacGuffin<\/span> due to monetary woes; some continued with careers in media after graduating from UIUC including Sabath, an instructor at the American Film Institute<\/strong> and previously a Hollywood<\/strong> producer, and Chip Shields<\/strong>, a former school teacher and recent biographer (as Charles J. Shields) of literary giants Harper Lee<\/strong> and Kurt Vonnegut<\/strong>. The title MacGuffin<\/span> comes from a term famously described in elusive language by Alfred Hitchcock<\/strong>. Essentially, it is a storytelling device that sets a narrative in motion even if it has no true meaning or bearing on the outcome of the narrative. [R]<\/strong><\/p>\n 50 Years Ago<\/strong> \u2026 Wednesday, March 28, 1973:<\/em> \u201c102 minutes of thud-filled excitement\u201d fills the Auditorium<\/strong> on the University of Illinois<\/strong> Main Quad<\/strong> at both 8<\/strong> and 10 p.m.<\/strong> as the student group Cinemaguild<\/strong> premieres their first feature-length production, SHOT<\/strong>. Written and directed by Mitch Brown<\/strong> and produced by Nate Kohn<\/strong>, both graduate students at UIUC, the film is an arch riff on tough police procedurals of the day such as THE FRENCH CONNECTION<\/strong>. Theater majors Richard Watt<\/strong> and Charles Russell<\/strong> star as Midwestern officers playing fast and loose with etiquette as they tail a wild-eyed and goateed drug dealer played by Frank Himes<\/strong>, their adventures ranging from Campustown<\/strong> and downtown Champaign<\/strong> to the Urbana<\/strong> fairgrounds and outlying areas. With a cast and crew filled out by students except for the occasional adult actor or helicopter pilot, SHOT<\/strong> is scheduled for several more shows in the hopes that Cinemaguild can break even on their reported $15,000 investment. Tongue-in-cheek advertising in the Daily Illini<\/span><\/strong> has stoked interest in the premiere, such as an impressive two-page spread<\/span><\/a> already touting the \u201cBest Picture of 1973\u201d after last night\u2019s Oscar<\/strong> win for 1972 by THE GODFATHER<\/strong>. DI<\/span> reporters have provided as much coverage as those ads for the film, which began production before Thanksgiving<\/strong> according to an article run on January 4<\/strong>, and would soon foreshadow the slide into limbo of both Cinemaguild and SHOT<\/strong> itself, which received a token VHS release nearly 15 years later through Sony<\/strong> in the United States<\/strong> and on various other labels worldwide<\/span><\/a>. [R]<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n NOW PLAYING | Champaign-Urbana Area<\/strong><\/p>\n @ AMC Champaign 13, Champaign, IL<\/strong> @ Illini Union, UIUC, Urbana, IL<\/strong> @ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL<\/strong>
\nJOHN WICK: CHAPTER 4, 65, ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA, COCAINE BEAR, CREED III, EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE, FULL RIVER RED (in Mandarin), JESUS REVOLUTION, SCREAM VI, SHAZAM! FURY OF THE GODS (3\/24 on), Studio Ghibli Fest: MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO 35th anniversary (3\/26, 4 & 7 p.m., 3\/27, 3\/29, 7 p.m., English dub; 3\/28, 7 p.m., in Japanese w\/English sub), DASARA (in Telugu or Hindi) (3\/29 on), BHOLAA (in Hindi), DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: HONOR AMONG THIEVES (3\/30 on)<\/p>\n
\nIllini Union Board presents \u201cSpring 2023 Weekend Films\u201d feat. I WANNA DANCE WITH SOMEBODY; (3\/24-3\/25, 7 p.m., free w\/i-card)<\/p>\n
\nJOHN WICK: CHAPTER 4, 65, ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA, AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER* (3-D), CHAMPIONS*, COCAINE BEAR, CREED III, JESUS REVOLUTION, PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH, SCREAM VI, SHAZAM! FURY OF THE GODS (3\/24 on), A SNOWY DAY IN OAKLAND (3\/24-3\/26, 3\/28, 12 p.m.), Studio Ghibli Fest: MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO 35th anniversary (3\/25, 3\/26, 3\/28, 3 p.m., in Japanese w\/English sub; 3\/27, 3\/29, 7 p.m., English dub), THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (3\/26, 3 & 7 p.m.; 3\/29, 7 p.m.), SANTIAGO: THE CAMINO WITHIN (religious documentary) (3\/28, 7 p.m.), DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: HONOR AMONG THIEVES, HIS ONLY SON (faith film) (3\/30 on) *single shows daily<\/p>\n