Results tagged “independentfilm”

Lit

--The Midwest Independent Film Festival starts a new season on Tuesday with the world premiere of Osso Bucco, which was produced in Chicago. The comedy revolves around disparate types stuck in an Italian restaurant during a massive snowstorm. Doesn't sound like such a terrible situation. The movie stars Illeana Douglas, who we've had a sort of crush on ever since Grace of My Heart. Several other cast members as well as the filmmakers will be at the show: 7:30 at the Landmark Century.

Now that the Chicago International Film Festival is over, we can finally turn our attention to some homegrown cinematic delights. Currently showing at the Siskel for a week-long run is Joe Swanberg's dramedy Hannah Takes the Stairs. A microbudgeted movie shot in Logan Square, it's been taking the festival circuit by storm and garnering write-ups in the New York Times. Despite his movie's acclaim, Swanberg himself, according to a new article in the Reader, is...

- In case you've missed the previous screenings of local film Crime Fiction, produced by former U of C students, you've got another chance to see it this evening at this month's edition of the Midwest Independent Film Festival. That's at the Landmark Century. There'll be an afterparty just around the corner at Cousin's. - Starting this Wednesday night at 6, Jonathan Rosenbaum presents a weekly series of film screenings and lectures at the Siskel...

Crime Fiction started life in 2005 as a modestly-budgeted project by some University of Chicago students. It's a sly dark comedy of artistic ambition, deceit and murder (no, it is not based on the day-to-day workings of Chicagoist). When we last chatted with associate producer Marc DeMoss in January, it had just gotten into the Slamdance Film Festival. That screening seems to have been some kind of golden ticket, because since then it's played at...

We're used to the Reader throwing out a curve ball now and then and rubbing some people the wrong way, but nevertheless we raised our eyebrows after reading its four-star review of Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters. If nothing else, it takes a certain amount of chutzpah to put a Cartoon Network-derived feature right up there with A Woman Under the Influence or even A History of Violence. Despite the controversy...

Filmmaker Brian Jun

No, we are not referring to post-Super Bowl craziness. We're talking about the Midwest Independent Film Festival, whose 2007 season begins tomorrow night at 7:30 at the Landmark Century. It's the only festival dedicated solely to work from the Midwest (thus the name) and best of all, it's year-round! Take that, Sundance! It's always the first Tuesday of each month. The fact that it's at the ultra-comfy Century is like icing on the cake (or marshmallows in the cocoa; choose your own metaphor).

Darren Afronsky’s Requiem for a Dream enjoys a special place in our DVD collection. It was one of those films that was superbly put together, but because it was so well done, we find it hard to just sit down and casually watch. It is the East Coast “here’s your brain on drugs” film. Tonight at the Midwest Independent Film Festival, the Midwest is responding with our drug film in the form of Iowa. Iowa...

Last month, the Midwest Independent Film Festival premiered the feature-length drama, . It was a very good -- but heavy -- drama done here in the city.

Zachary Zises & Dan Waller from the film "Repetition"

Bored and looking for something to do tonight? Good, because there're two great film events happening tonight.

Tonight's edition of the Midwest Independent Film Festival will be featuring the Chicago premiere of a few new short comedy films.

George Eckart - Animator

After a two month hiatus following the awards show, The Midwest Independent Film Festival is back. On February 7, the festival will host the Chicago premiere of Casting About, a film documenting the casting process of selecting from a pool of aspiring actress auditioning for The Part. It's a meta-movie if we've ever seen such a beast. After looking at an IMDB cast list longer than anything we've ever seen, we fired off a...

Last Tuesday, Chicagoist went down to the Landmark Century Theater to check out the 2005 awards for the Midwest Independent Film Festival. (See our earlier interview with the founders.) The evening kicked off with a social that included a rock band made up of cats, free drinks, and a drawing for screenwriting software. Around seven thirty, everyone piled into the theater to watch the ceremony. Half the awards show was spent announcing the winners...

Mike McNamara & Mike Kwielford - MWFF Founders

Pete Schwaba - Writer, Director, Actor, & Producer

The Chicagoist Arts and Entertainment department has been suffering from a month long movie news drought that officially ends this week.

In the last several years, media offerings like the Independent Film Channel and iFilm.com have made it easy for anyone to see indie films from the comfort of their own home. But for the last 28 years, Chicago indie film lovers have been enjoying interesting and provocative films from the comfort of their couch thanks to WTTW’s Image Union. Its new season begins on October 4th and Image Union is celebrating by bringing the films...

Chicagoist enjoys giving stuff away. You, the reader, get free movies or a Swatch out of the deal and we get a Santa Claus-like ego boost. That’s what the sales guys call a win-win situation.

When Chicagoist saw a notice yesterday for the Midwest Independent Film Festival, we were stunned; we thought we were finished with the spring round of fests. Turns out we were right as the MWFF is a clever re-naming of the Chicago Community Cinema, a monthly screening of the best short films and videos “from the eight-state Midwest region” (we’re guessing that’s Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri and Ohio). May’s program features a video...

The Goodman Theater and IFC--The Independent Film Channel--will be hosting a free screening on Monday February 7th of Nobody Knows, the Japanese entry for the Best Foreign Film Oscar in 2004, at the Landmark Century Cinema on Clark. Though not chosen as one of the nominees in this category, the film was nominated for the Palm D’Or at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival and was the winner of the Golden Spur at the Flanders International Film Festival for Best Foreign Film-diddly-do! Director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s previous works include the award-winning film After-Life.