<\/p>\n
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 4\/28: John Isberg (writer\/director, FINAL SUMMER, Front 76 Films, Urbana, IL) \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n FIELD REPORT DU HQ | From Wherever It May Be Said<\/strong><\/p>\n Well, shut us down!<\/em> Posting twice a week instead of once for a whopping two weeks in a row can tire out our bandwidth as well as your humble editor, apparently, so that\u2019s our explanation if you don\u2019t get to see this Calendar<\/strong> on CUBlog<\/span><\/strong> until Monday, May 1<\/strong>. Hopefully, you\u2019ve read the details in our previous post<\/a><\/span> about the student-centric film events on tap \u2013 Foxtail Film Festival<\/strong> (4\/27-4\/29), UIUC Film Festival<\/strong> (4\/28), and MACS Student Showcase<\/strong> (5\/6) \u2013 as well as followed their respective links to proper sources for full details and schedules. We\u2019ll use Facebook<\/strong> to remind our dearest social media surfers about them and utilize this Report<\/strong> to account for the analogous events that aren\u2019t returning to the area this spring.<\/p>\n Based on very recent Google<\/strong> searches, we have not been able to find departmental announcements, events listings, or local press about a handful of shows. Last year<\/a><\/span>, we wrote about both the Images in Motion Film Festival<\/strong> and Dance Film Festival<\/strong>, featuring works made by undergraduates enrolled at Millikin University<\/strong> in Decatur<\/strong>, and it seems neither have been planned for this year although a separate program, Millikin First Films<\/strong>, will take place at their Kirkland Fine Arts Center<\/strong> tomorrow, Saturday, April 29<\/strong>, at 6 p.m.<\/strong> to share freshman-level class assignments. We also have failed to find any evidence the Guerilla Film Festival<\/strong>, a presentation of pieces created by students from Illinois Wesleyan University<\/strong> in Bloomington<\/strong>, is returning for its third year. As for Illini Film & Video<\/strong> and other media RSOs at the University of Illinois<\/strong> doing their own end-of-semester screenings on campus, your guesses are as good as ours if they\u2019re afoot. Hopefully, the young makers-in-the-making will take advantage of the summer break to refresh their storytelling ambitions and return to school in the fall with bold ideas and verve!<\/p>\n Finally, for the currently enrolled who love their colleges or alumni who feel the nostalgia whenever their alma mater<\/em> is invoked, we share with you links to the three episodes so far of THE COLLEGE TOUR<\/strong> hosted and co-produced by Alex Boylan<\/strong> (THE AMAZING RACE<\/strong>) that have featured academic institutions from downstate: Illinois Wesleyan University (episode 7.2<\/a><\/span>), Illinois State University<\/strong> (episode 6.1<\/a><\/span>), and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (episode 1.5<\/a><\/span>). (We\u2019ll laugh, we\u2019ll cry, we\u2019ll quietly hum school spirit and fight songs all day long after watching them.) Ye Ed did<\/em> run into a cringe spot, alas. \u201cEye-wooo<\/em>,\u201d Alex? Who said? I\u2019ve never<\/em> called Wesleyan by acronym in that way. \u201cI-W-U\u201d always<\/em>, fellow Titans. It rates as nails-to-chalkboard worthy just like, oh, \u201cUptown Normal<\/strong>.\u201d Augh<\/em>. That said, THE COLLEGE TOUR<\/strong> is a slickly-produced series with striking videography and positive vibes, so we should salute Boylan and his team for how they\u2019re highlighting the value of an education at state and smaller liberal colleges. IWU posted an article about how their episode came together, which you can read here<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n CONFIDENTIAL ALMANAC | Dates in Film Culture History<\/strong><\/p>\n 20 Years Ago<\/strong> \u2026 Friday, May 2, 2003:<\/em> TRIAD<\/strong>, the first University of Illinois<\/strong> student film of scope to emerge in the Illini Film & Video<\/strong> era, receives its premiere this evening at the Armory Building<\/strong>\u2019s lecture space, Armory 101<\/strong><\/a><\/span>. Conceived by LAS<\/strong> candidate and musician Chris Folkens<\/strong> from a screenplay by Katharine Broihan<\/strong>, Ray Perry<\/strong>, and himself, the narrative featurette concerns a trio of undergraduate friends played by Evan Dollard<\/strong>, Hayley Maree Jannesen<\/strong>, and Adam Pasen<\/strong> who unwittingly learn more than they desire about a ghostly curse involving three academic buildings at their school. Slickly imagined in the style of visual Hollywood<\/strong> filmmakers like Michael Mann<\/strong> and Michael Bay<\/strong> on a shoestring budget, TRIAD<\/strong> is also scheduled for a reprise tomorrow, Saturday, May 3<\/strong>, during the end-of-semester IFV festival. Folkens is even planning to release prepackaged DVD editions and stock them on the shelves of Campustown<\/strong> merchants like T.I.S. College Bookstore<\/strong> and That\u2019s Rentertainment<\/strong>. Before graduation and a move to Chicago<\/strong> to join the famed Leo Burnett<\/strong> advertising agency, the director-producer would follow TRIAD<\/strong> with the more assured bioweapon thriller TOXIN<\/strong>, also created in Champaign-Urbana<\/strong>. Both he and Dollard made subsequent inroads into the entertainment industry, the former as a promotional video producer for the ABC-TV<\/strong> network in Los Angeles<\/strong> and the latter as a winning contestant on the AMERICAN GLADIATORS<\/strong> revival and frequent competitor on AMERICAN NINJA WARRIOR<\/strong>. [R]<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n LOCAL FILMS & EVENTS | Support Your Media Storytellers<\/strong><\/p>\n @ Spurlock Museum of World Cultures, UIUC, Urbana, IL<\/strong> \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>
\n4\/29: Sophie McMahan Berkley (artist, Sophie McMahan, Urbana, IL)
\n5\/4: Andrew J. Rausch (contributor, The Stephen King Catalog: 2023 Annual<\/span>, Overlook Connection Press, Hiram, GA)<\/p>\n
\nCollege of Media at Illinois presents UIUC Film Festival* (student films) (4\/28, 7 p.m., free)<\/p>\n
\nARE YOU THERE, GOD? IT\u2019S ME, MARGARET., BEAU IS AFRAID, BIG GEORGE FOREMAN: THE MIRACULOUS STORY, BORN TO FLY (in Mandarin w\/English sub), POLITE SOCIETY, PONNIYIN SELVAN: PART 2 (in Tamil), SISU, AIR, CHEVALIER*, THE COVENANT, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: HONOR AMONG THIEVES, EVIL DEAD RISE, JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 4, THE SUPER MARIO BROS. MOVIE (animation), SUZUME* (anim\u00e9; in Japanese w\/English sub or English dub) (4\/28 on), Studio Ghibli Fest: Spirited Away: Live on Stage<\/span> (anim\u00e9 adaptation; in Japanese w\/English sub) (Feat. Mone Kamishiraishi: 5\/2, 7 p.m., recorded), GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3, LOVE AGAIN (5\/4 on) *single shows daily<\/p>\n
\nIllini Union Board presents \u201cSpring 2023 Weekend Films\u201d feat. COCAINE BEAR (4\/28-4\/29, 7 p.m., free w\/i-card)<\/p>\n
\nARE YOU THERE, GOD? IT\u2019S ME, MARGARET., BIG GEORGE FOREMAN: THE MIRACULOUS STORY, AIR, BEAU IS AFRAID, THE COVENANT, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: HONOR AMONG THIEVES, EVIL DEAD RISE, JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 4, RENFIELD, THE SUPER MARIO BROS. MOVIE (animation), SUZUME (anim\u00e9; in Japanese w\/English sub or English dub) (4\/28 on), The Metropolitan Opera: Champion<\/span> (4\/29, 11:55 a.m., simulcast; 5\/3, 1 & 6:30 p.m., recorded), RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (4\/30, 4 & 7 p.m.; 5\/3, 7 p.m.), A FATHER\u2019S HEART (religious documentary) (5\/1, 7 p.m.), GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 (5\/4 on)<\/p>\n