Chicago filmmaker Stephen Cone's coming of age drama will open the 30th edition of the Reeling Film Festival. more ›

The Wise Kids took home the Grand Jury Awards for outstanding U.S. dramatic feature film and outstanding screenwriting. more ›

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

A local filmmaker who we interviewed awhile back needs your help. Stephen Cone is shooting one of the last scenes of his new opus, The Wise Kids, Sunday morning and he's looking for extras willing to dress up in their gay-club finest. The shoot is 11 o'clock at Charlie's, 3726 N. Broadway, and you should commit to staying until 4. He's looking we're looking for mostly males, some females; mostly 18-35, some 35-60; and various shapes, sizes, and types. more ›

Chicago isn't just a great place to see movies. It's also a great place to be an independent filmmaker. Young filmmakers Joe Swanberg and Andrew Bujalski have a direct honesty at the center of their work; Stephen Cone's films are equally sincere while exploring more unconventional subject matter. The Christians, which enjoyed successful runs at the Siskel, is centered on a small group of devout believers holed up in a Chicago apartment, convinced that the Rapture is imminent. His short Young Wives played at the 2007 LA Shorts Fest. Cone is about to start shooting his next project, In Memoriam: A Comedy. We talked with him about the themes of his work and what it's like to make films in Chicago. more ›