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Recently we’ve told you a little bit about the Chicago Cinema Forum, a new group that’s trying to bring rare and underseen movies to Chicago. To honor Ingmar Bergman after his passing, they quickly put together a mini-retrospective that touched all the bases; and last weekend they presented Roberto Rossellini’s all-but-unseen masterpiece India, Motherland. What was to have been the final screening of the latter, in fact, was sold out (!) so a third show was added; not only that, at the second show there were some rather inebriated audience members who loudly expressed their displeasure when the movie didn’t start on time. Drunken, enthusiastic audience members at an obscure art film from 1959? That’s some kind of step in the right direction.
One of the principal members of the CCF is Darnell Witt, who maintains his own website, CINE-FILE. Witt moved to Chicago a few years ago and started up the website because he says he saw a need for a Chicago cinephile resource. Rather than attempting a comprehensive weekly listing it instead summarizes the cream-of-the-crop of Chicago film events, always with some well-written commentary that sketches in some context or juicy trivia. You can sign up for notification by email whenever there’s an update.
Speaking of essential film sites our all-time fave remains GreenCine Daily, which provides an endlessly thoughtful and comprehensive compilation of interesting movie news and links. It’s updated several times a day, so it’s one of those sites we can get lost in for hours at a time. Our only real complaint is that in past years anyway the Chicago International Film Festival coverage has been pretty spotty. But the sad fact is that despite being North America's oldest competitive film festival, CIFF is still viewed as being second-tier.
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Do you know if anyone is planning to bring Mother, India back for a real run, say the Music Box or Facets? I missed the Chopin screening.
who decides, 'yeah, i heard about this super obscure rossellini film from the '50s, it's a real in-depth study of india.. let's go see it, but first i wanna get wasted.'
Ferdy,
There just aren't any prints for a theatrical run. The CCF screened a DVD of the only known complete print, so until some serious restoration is done (which ain't gonna happen anytime soon I'd wager) I'm afraid it'll be damn near impossible to see.
Then, is the DVD available?
You might be able to find a bootleg DVD out there somewhere but as far as I know there isn't one that's commercially available. The DVD we saw was practically the equivalent of a bootleg: so faded and washed out that at times it almost seemed like an alien transmission from outer space. That the movie is still amazing under these conditions is proof of its greatness. It's like those wire recordings of Charlie Parker. Technical shortcomings aside, the greatness comes through.
CIFF *is* second-tier.
Just looking at other North American festivals, Toronto and NY do a much better job at presenting a wider scope of what is happening in the world of cinema. Since they dropped the "Critics Choice" programs a few years ago (remember that great Ozu screening with benshi?), CIFF became exclusively focused on narrative films made within the last year or so aimed at the domestic arthouse circuit. That's pretty limited.
also: though more bare-bones than CINE-FILE, this site has been listing "alternative" cinema events for years, with a lot of useful links to online reviews: http://www.restructures.net/chicago/film.htm
There has been a personnel shake-up at CIFF, which led to such a mediocre festival last year with very few guests. I miss the Critics' Choice programs, too. They were exceptional, but I wonder if that wasn't done because Ebert was sick.
CIFF had been on the upswing in recent years, with three great ones in a row before 2006. It has always been thus, many ups and downs. If Da Mare is so dedicated to making this a world-class city, and the tabloid newspapers are so into stargazing, why doesn't the city and the newspaper foundations start throwing some money and expertise at CIFF?
Rob, thanks for the info about the DVD. I'll contact Gabe about it.
"But the sad fact is that despite being North America's oldest competitive film festival, CIFF is still viewed as being second-tier."
You know what's also old and competitive? Dick Cheney. So what?