Jonah Ansell, who made a stop-motion film announcing his engagement last September, released the trailer to his animated short film "Cadaver," starring Oak Park fashion blogger Tavi Gevinson, who also sings a poignant cover of the Neil Young classic "Heart of Gold" for the film. more ›

Local filmmaker, Sergio Salgado, created a web series called P&S (Practice and Space) that looks at individuals committed to a certain craft, filmed in their workspaces. The first installment centers on Rob Levitt's The Butcher & Larder. more ›

A certain summer blockbuster has rekindled awareness of one of the original consumer movie formats. Super 8 was introduced by Kodak in the mid-60's, allowing moms, dads, and geeky kids everywhere to make movies easily and cheaply. All you had to do was unwrap the cartridge, pop it into your camera, close the lid, and start shooting. When you'd used up the cartridge you just dropped it off at your local supermarket's photo counter and soon (7-10 business days later) pick up the developed reel, ready for projection. more ›

The Siskel Film Center makes a great case for spending some time indoors the next few months. more ›

The precise year a movie was "made" is in many ways becoming less and less relevant. First off, theatrical distribution can be glacial. Just look at Francois Ozon's Angel. It was completed in 2007 but wasn't shown in Chicago until this year (when it had a grand total of two screenings at the Siskel.) It won't get a proper US release until 2010. A New York Times article points out that many of next year's "new" films were actually completed last year. more ›

A whole lot more than just the Oscars comin' up. For instance: more ›

CIFF is barely a memory and CUFF just wrapped up yesterday. Have we room for another film festival in Chicago? Of course! And this one isn't an acronym for a change. The 27th incarnation of Reeling, the second-oldest LGBT film festival in the world, runs November 6-16 and features approximately 70 movies. Opening the festival is Breakfast with Scot, starring Tom Cavanagh and Ben Shenkman. Documentaries, experimental films, feature-length narratives and shorts are all part of the lineup. New this year is "Rock Reeling," two evenings of music videos giving recognition to the indie queer music frontier. more ›

Filmmaker Taylor Greeson was twelve years old in 1993. That summer, three things occurred: he was ordained with the priesthood in the Mormon church, he lost his virginity to an older man and his older brother Charlie was murdered. Using montages of family photographs and pastoral footage of Montana, where he lived at the time, Greerson revisits that summer in Meadowlark. He uses a cool, seemingly-detached perspective that drains any traces of sensationalism from the events. His unflappability extends even to sequences where he interviews his brother's killer in prison. It's a horse of a different color compared to daytime TV. more ›

Golly, when it comes to Christmas presents why the heck would any parent waste hundreds of dollars on a mound of crappy, potentially-toxic plastic toys for their kid? Most of 'em'll end up in next summer's garage sale anyway. There are so many cooler options out there: do some browsing at this weekend's Renegade Craft Fair and you'll be sure to find a few, or go all out and sign up your kid for... more ›

Let's face it: we're spoiled when it comes to movies. Not only do the best (and worst) theatrical releases play here, but we also have scads of film festivals to choose from year-round. No sooner are CIFF and the Korean Film Festival over than Reeling is upon us. Since 1981, Reeling, Chicago's gay and lesbian film festival, has been unspooling a vitally diverse cross-section of queer filmmaking. This year's schedule includes nearly 70 programs,... more ›

Let's start with a tough question: Who is Chicago's greatest filmmaker? When it comes to experimental film some might advocate for James Fotopoulos, whose output is both prodigious and relentlessly probing. When it comes to documentaries, Steve James is more than formidable. And on the narrative end of things although neither Andrew Davis nor John Landis quite make the grade, they've both had their moments. We would argue that the title should go to Tom... more ›

If we were to describe this movie update post using song titles … In an email last week, long-time Chicago Filmmakers program director Patrick Friel announced he will be stepping down on August 10 to pursue other interests. He had been with Chicago Filmmakers for over eleven years. A replacement has not been announced yet. Also in his email was news that there will be opportunities to become involved with the programming of their weekly... more ›

• The local film DIMENSION is screening tomorrow at the prestigious Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose. In the film, three lonely residents of a Chicago neighborhood are divinely granted a wish. But it comes with a condition: they can only change exactly three inches about themselves. The movie was shot in Chicago during the summer of 2005, and it's one of only fourteen movies in competition in the festival's Maverick Narrative Category. Let's hope a Chicago screening is on the horizon.
• On Saturday, the really cool Intuit Center concludes their ELUSIVE Evidence series of film screenings about extraterrestrials with John Carpenter's cult classic They Live. And 80's WWF wrestler "Rowdy" Roddy Piper plays a drifter who stumbles upon a weird set of sunglasses; when he dons them he's able to see the truth: evil aliens have disguised themselves as businessmen and politicians, keeping the earth's population docile through the use of subliminal messages. This flick has always been a favorite of ours, fondly remembered from countless Saturday afternoon showings on a local low-powered UHF channel. The Intuit Gallery is at 756 N. Milwaukee Ave.; the show begins at 2 p.m., and admission is free (donation suggested).
• Saturday night at Chicago Filmmakers you can see what Dick's Staff Shot. (Get your minds out of the gutter!) "The Nixon White House Staff Super-8 Films" consists of ultrarare "home movies" from the Nixon Administration! The footage was shot by Tricky Dick's staffers between 1969 and 1974 and later confiscated from John Erlichman's office by the FBI. Included are scenes from a performance of the musical 1776; Nixon visiting a Washington Redskins football practice; and appearances by Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash, Indira Ghandi, Bob Hope, and Pat Boone. Admission is $8; more info at the Chicago Filmmakers site.

We love our hometown film organizations. Places like the Siskel, Facets and Chicago Filmmakers help insure that the local film scene stays vibrant and relevant. We have always been very proud of Reeling, the Chicago Lesbian & Gay International Film Festival, which just wrapped its 25th incarnation on Sunday. That’s why the news that the offices of Reeling were burglarized Sunday evening particularly pisses us off. According to Brenda Webb at Reeling, “the thief also... more ›

Or as we like to call it, just another Saturday night at the Chicagoist offices. Head on over to Chicago Filmmakers this Saturday at 8:00 and catch Columbia College's Best of Doc, an evening of documentary short films by CC students. The school's Rabinger Center for the Documentary is an overlooked treasure among college film programs. Unlike L.A., which is centered on the manufacture of fantasies, we've always thought of Chicago as a quintessentially documentary... more ›

Chicagoist is feeling kind of irritable and grumpy this morning. And we’re blaming it on this weekend’s slate of films in wide release: the Garfield sequel, the Fast and the Furious sequel, Nacho Libre and The Lake House. Seriously, we’re feeling dumber just looking at that list. We know we’re supposed to be excited about Nacho Libre. Jack Black + director of Napoleon Dynamite x Mexican wrestling outfits = Comedy Gold, right? And yet…meh. One... more ›

Though Chicago has plenty of venues that nurture independent film (Chicago Filmmakers, Block Cinema, and Facets to name a few), there aren't as many resources available to help you get the damn thing made in the first place. more ›

Damn you, Ray Quintanilla. Thanks to your seemingly endless quest to bring “news” and “information” to the readers of the Chicago Tribune, you’ve gone and spoiled one of the best-kept secrets among Chicago’s movie geek populace. more ›

One of the best weeks for live music in the city wraps up this weekend with two fests: Adventures in Modern Music at Empty Bottle and Estrojam 2005. more ›

Even if Bill Murray wasn’t originally from the Chicago area, we’d still plan on seeing his latest collaboration with Jim Jarmusch, Broken Flowers, which hits Piper’s Alley and the AMC River East this weekend. Chicagoist has long believed that the way to tell the really compelling actors from the lousy ones is with The Phone Book Test. That is, if an actor is really good then listening to them read the phone book will still... more ›

Like movies? Like comedy? Have an attention span so short that shiny objects distract you? Then the Chicago Short Comedy Video and Film Festival might be for you. The Chicago Short Comedy Video and Film Festival is currently in its eighth year. Featuring up-and-coming local independent filmmakers like Jim Zulevic, D.P. Carlson, Tracy Letts, and former Project Greenlight finalist Scott Smith (no relation), the fest features 37 films under ten minutes with some as short... more ›

Media commentators have been falling all over themselves to proclaim that Hollywood’s in big trouble due to a six percent decline in overall box office receipts when compared with last year’s take. Some have even gone so far as to say that the “summer box office season” has gone into a slump thanks to last week’s underperforming Kingdom of Heaven. Wha? Since when does summer start in the beginning of May? Chicagoist is old-school and... more ›

How far can you stretch an art form until it snaps under the stress? Is there such a thing as being “too indie?” The organizers of the Chicago Underground Film Festival are asking for your answers to these and other imponderables. Submissions for the fest in August the fest are being accepted now through June 1st. The entry fee is $35 or $30 if your entry is postmarked by May 1st. Check their site for full details. more ›

Chicagoist and its fellow cinemaphiles have it rough this weekend. With the college crowd on Spring Break, most of our favorite off-the-beaten-path movie houses (Block Cinema, Doc Films) are dark. Don’t even get us started on the mainstream box office this weekend. We know The Ring was a big hit, but we saw the sequel the first time, you know? As for the new Woody Allen film, we’re skipping that one too. Unlike the family dog, we only have to be hit on the nose with a newspaper twice before we learn our lesson. And as much as we love Joan Cusack and Buffy’s little sister, we’re not sure we can bring ourselves to see The Ice Princess especially when our local video store has The Cutting Edge on DVD. Now THAT'S an ice skating movie. more ›

While there’s been little in the way of snow over the last couple of weeks, the winter doldrums continue at the movies this weekend. While Hitch with Will Smith doesn’t look too bad, Chicagoist gets the feeling we’ve seen all the good jokes in the previews (mostly because it’s the same five in every spot you see). On the other hand, it might give all the young dudes some last-minute V-Day inspiration. Still, we’ll probably... more ›

Chicagoist enjoyed the surfing movie Blue Crush as far as it went: great camera work, cute girls in bikinis, tolerable clichés. But lines like “You were working it like a rib without the sauce” didn’t exactly smack of reality. So we were kind of excited that Chicago Filmmakers (5243 N. Clark) was screening Heart of the Sea: Kapolioka’ehukai (although we were less than thrilled about the prospect of spelling it correctly for this post) as part of their Dyke Delicious series that starts this Saturday. more ›

Tonight begins Reeling 2004: The 23rd Annual Lesbian and Gay International Film Festival. Presented by Chicago Filmmakers and running through November 11th, Reeling is the 2nd oldest GLBT film fest in the U.S. and prides (pardon the pun) itself on showing a wide variety of films. It even claims that “many consider the festival to be the highlight of their cinematic year.” Oh the modesty! Check their website for ticket info and the full schedule. The opening night film is D.E.B.S., the feature-length version of a short film by Angela Robinson that makes the rounds on Sundance Channel from time to time. more ›