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The Chicago Reader

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Film, Movie Feature Nov 7, 2018
Here are some of the best bets at this year’s Chicago International REEL Shorts Film Festival

Political strife, family drama, bad one-night stands, protest rock, the dark Web, and the Holocaust: all in 30 minutes or less.
- By Andrea Gronvall
- Tags: Movie Feature, Chicago International Reel Shorts Film Festival 2018, Chicago Filmmakers, Project Chicago, Subverse, Joseph White, Sac de Merde, Greg Chwerchak, Arielle Haller-Silverstone, David Fumero, Heather Has Four Moms, Jeanette L. Buck, 1968, Alex Lubin, Leia’s Army, Oriana Oppice, Lisa Hodsol, Bolton Marsh, Rachel Sonvico, Ilona Dulaski, Konstantin Fam, Violin, Witnesses, short films, movie shorts

Film, Movie Feature Sep 20, 2018
The Reeling Film Festival is back for its 36th year, this time featuring unconventional and experimental films

There's more to queer cinema than the coming-out story.
- By Cody Corrall
- Tags: Movie Feature, Reeling Film Festival, LGBTQ international film festival, Brenda Webb, Chicago Filmmakers, Red Velvet, Little Bill’s Peep Show, Adonis, Scud, Canary, Christiaan Olwagen, Freelancer’s Anonymous, Sonia Sebastian, Daddy Issues, Amara Cash, Mapplethorpe, Ondi Timoner

Blogs, Bleader Jul 27, 2018
Manuel Cinema's The End of TV and more of the best things to do in Chicago this weekend

Afro-futurism short films at Chicago Filmmakers and more goings on 7/27-7/29.
- By Katie Powers
- Tags: Arts, Do This, Matchess, Whitney Johnson, Afro-Futurism Short Films, The Color Purple, Adrianna Hicks, Welcome to Castle Rock, Greetings from Castle Rock: A Stephen King Festival, Floyd Web, Black World Cinema, The End of TV, Manuel Cinema, Chicago Filmmakers, Flesh of my Flesh, International Museum of Surgical Science

Film, Movie Review Jul 25, 2018
‘Afro-Futurism Short Films’ dips into the cultural wellspring that fed Black Panther

Floyd Web of Black World Cinema curated this program of African-themed sci-fi and fantasy
- By Ben Sachs
- Tags: Movie Review, Afro-Futurist Short Films, Black Panther, University of Chicago Doc Films, Blade movie, Wesley Snipes, Space Is the Place, Sun Ra, Chicago Filmmakers, Floyd Webb, Black World Cinema, Blake, or the Huts of America, Martin Delany, W.E.B. Dubois

Film, Movie Feature Jun 7, 2018
Uncle Fun, the beloved Lakeview novelty shop, gets its own documentary

Director Laura Scruggs pays tribute to shop owner Ted Frankel with Uncle Fun: You’re the One.
- By Steve Heisler
- Tags: Movie Feature, Uncle Fun You’re the One, Ted Frankel, Laura Scruggs, Chicago Filmmakers, Jake Scruggs, American Visionary Art Museum, Goodies, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Bailiwick Repertory Theatre, Theater Wit, Kinder Odyssey, Maine-Niles Association of Spec

Blogs, Bleader May 18, 2018
Fever Ray at Metro and more of the best things to do in Chicago this weekend

Flies! The Musical! and more goings-on 5/18-5/20.
- By Steve Heisler
- Tags: Arts, Do This, Music, Film, flies the musical, pride arts center, tigers are not afraid, leah pickett, eddy clearwater, chicago filmmakers, mike donovan, buddy guy's legends, hideout, fever ray, plunge, metro, Karin Dreijer

Blogs, Bleader Feb 9, 2018
Mountains That Take Wing pays tribute to the women of radical U.S. history

This documentary about legendary activists Angela Davis and Yuri Kochiyama screens tomorrow night at Chicago Filmmakers.
- By Ben Sachs
- Tags: Film, History, Politics, Women's Issues, Mountains That Take Wing, Angela Davis, Yuri Kochiyma, Chicago Filmmakers, Dyke Delicious, C.A. Griffith, H.L.T. Quan, Congress of Racial Equality, Black Panther Party, civil rights movement

Blogs, Bleader Feb 7, 2018
For years the whereabouts of Allen Ross were a mystery—and then the mystery was solved

Jack Helbig told the whole strange story of the filmmaker's disappearance in two installments.
- By Aimee Levitt
- Tags: Archive Dive, Arts, Film, Crime, Allen Ross, Jack Helbig, Chicago Filmmakers, Grandfather Trilogy, unsolved mysteries, Samaritan Foundation

Film, Fall Preview Sep 13, 2017
Chicago Filmmakers and the Ridge Firehouse: A match made in heaven

The local indie cinema organization throws open the doors on its new home in October.
- By Ben Sachs
- Tags: Fall Preview, Chicago Filmmakers, Edgewater Chicago, James Bond projectionist, Brenda Webb, Harry Osterman, Floyd Webb, Black World Cinema, Chatham 14 Chicago, Uptown Chicago, BlackLight Film Festival, Adele Friedman, Jon Jost, Senn High School, filmmaking

Blogs, Bleader Sep 27, 2016
Joe Swanberg’s Easy is easily the most north-side-centric Chicago show of all time—but that’s not so terrible

The writer-director’s personal portrait of the city fulfills the contract of auteur television.
- By Jake Malooley
- Tags: Arts, Film, Small Screen, Easy, Joe Swanberg, Woody Allen, Dick Wolf, north side, Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D., Chicago Med, Chris Ware, Paul McGee, T.J. Jagodowski, Dave Pasquesi, Dark Matter Coffee, Portlandia, Chicago Filmmakers, Piece pizza, Don't Fret, Jesse Diaz, Tinder, Half Acre

Blogs, Bleader Sep 26, 2016
Easy is spot-on Chicago

Joe Swanberg's new Netflix series is for everyone, but there's a little something extra for locals.
- By Brianna Wellen
- Tags: Arts, Film, Small Screen, Television, Joe Swanberg, Easy, Netflix, Chicago Filmmakers, Dark Matter Coffee, Koval, TJ Jagodowski, Punch House, Don't Fret

Film, Movie Feature Sep 22, 2016
Reeling film festival looks back, and ahead

The Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film Festival opens at Music Box with Hurricane Bianca.
- Tags: Movie Feature, Reeling: The Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film Festival, Music Box, Matt Kugelman, Hurricane Bianca, Chicago Filmmakers, Landmark's Century Centre, Justin Kelly, King Cobra, Brenda Webb, Roy Haylock, Ryan Matthieu Smith, Alan Cumming, Sandra Cho, RuPaul, IFC Films, IFC Midnight, Christian Slater, Garrett Clayton, James Franco, Keegan Allen, Molly Ringwald, Alicia Silverstone, The Landscape Within, Eric "Nui" Cabales, Andrea Capranico, Princess Nabingka, Lazy Eye, Lucas Near-Verbrugghe, Aaron Costa Ganis, Slash movie, Clay Liford, Michael Johnston, Hannah Marks, Southwest of Salem: The Story of the San Antonio Four, Deborah Esquenazi, Elizabeth Ramirez, Cassandra Rivera, Kristie Mayhugh, Anna Vasquez, Tomcat, Klaus Händl, Lukas Turtur, Philipp Hochmair, Upstairs Inferno, Robert L. Camina, UpStairs Lounge, gay cinema, LGBTQ+ cinema, film festivals

Film, Fall Preview Sep 9, 2015
The artist and filmmaker Stuart Sherman gets a retrospective at Chicago Filmmakers
- By Drew Hunt
- Tags: Fall Arts, Fall Preview 2015, Stuart Sherman, Chicago Filmmakers, Baseball/TV, Rock/String, Robert Deacon, Your Program of Programs, Kestutis Nakas

Blogs, Bleader Jul 10, 2015
Video
Deaf kids tear it up in The Tribe, plus more new reviews and notable screenings

New reviews and notable screenings in this week's issue
- By J.R. Jones
- Tags: Opening, Film, Ben Sachs, The Tribe, Music Box Chicago, Gwynedd Stuart, The Gallows, Insidious, Paranormal Activity, Amy Winehouse, Batkid Begins, Cartel Land, From Caligari to Hitler, Jimmy's Hall, Ken Loach, James Gralton, A Murder in the Park, Medill Innocence Project, Northwestern University, Self/less, Ben Kingsley, Ryan Reynolds, Strangerland, Nicole Kidman, Robert Altman, Brewster McCloud, Chicago Filmmakers, Robert Wiene, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Gene Siskel Film Center, Dave Fleischer, Max Fleischer, Gulliver's Travels, Northeastern Illinois University Fine Arts Auditorium, D.W. Griffith, Way Down East, Dennis Scott, movies, Video

Blogs, Bleader Jun 19, 2015
Video
Andrew Bujaski gets Results, plus more new reviews and notable screenings
- By J.R. Jones
- Tags: Opening, Film, Results Andrew Bujalski, Funny Ha Ha, Mutual Appreciation, Computer Chess, Inside Out, Pixar, The Face of an Angel, Amanda Knox, Michael Winterbottom, The Trip, The Look of Love, Everyday movie, From Mayerling to Sarajevo, Max Ophuls, Letter From an Unknown Woman, The Earrings of Madame de . . ., Grand Central, Heaven Knows What, To See the Sea, The Wolfpack, The Yes Men Are Revolting, Andy Bichlbaum, Mike Bonanno, Alfred Hitchcock, The Birds, Music Box Chicago, Field Museum Chicago, Josh Engel, Orson Welles, Touch of Evil, Chicago Curiosities, Chicago Filmmakers, Columbia College Hokin Hall, Andy Resek, Tom Palazzolo, Heather McAdams, Chicago Jewish Film Festival, Century 12/CineArts 6, The Thieves movie, Chicago Cultural Center, What Happened Miss Simone?, Nina Simone, film festivals, movies, Video

Blogs, Bleader Jun 12, 2015
Video
Will the real Brian Wilson please stand up, plus the rest of this week's new reviews and notable screenings

New reviews and notable screenings in this week's issue
- By J.R. Jones
- Tags: Opening, Film, Brian Wilson, Paul Dano, John Cusack, Love & Mercy, Chicago African Diaspora Film Festival, Facets Cinematheque, Age of Panic, Fair Play, The Farewell Party, Insidious: Chapter 3, Insidious: Chapter 2, Jauja, Viggo Mortensen, Jurassic World, Live From New York!, Saturday Night Live, Madame Bovary, Mia Wasikowska, Gustave Flaubert, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, The Rendez-vous of Deja Vu, Results movie, Andrew Bujalski, Mutual Appreciation, Computer Chess, Testament of Youth, Vera Brittain, Ridley Scott, Blade Runner: The Final Cut, Landmark's Century Centre, David Lynch, Blue Velvet, Music Box Chicago, Orson Welles, The Magnificent Ambersons, Saint John Cantius Church, Those Were the Days Radio Players, The Green Hornet, Jay Warren, Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Chicago Filmmakers, Sharon Zurek, Midsommarest Mash-up Madness, film festivals, movies, Video

Blogs, Bleader Jun 5, 2015
Video
Cameron Crowe goes Hawaiian, plus the rest of this week's new reviews and notable screenings

New reviews and notable screenings in this week's issue
- By J.R. Jones
- Tags: Opening, Film, Gwynedd Stuart, Aloha Cameron Crowe, Say Anything, Jerry Maguire, Almost Famous, Entourage movie, Aloft movie, Claudia Llosa, The Milk of Sorrow, Jennifer Connelly, Cillian Murphy, Hard to Be a God, The Icing, Jan Hrebejk, Up and Down, Love & Mercy, Paul Dano, Brian Wilson, John Cusack, The Nightmare, Rodney Ascher, Room 237, Spy Melissa McCarthy, Paul Feig, Bridesmaids, Tonnerre, A Wolf at the Door, Orson Welles, Citizen Kane, Music Box Chicago, Tsai Ming-liang, Rebels of the Neon God, Gene Siskel Film Center, James Cameron, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Frank Tashlin, Who’s Minding the Store?, Jerry Lewis, University of Chicago Doc Films, Satyajit Ray, Apu Trilogy, Pather Panchali, Aparajito, The World of Apu, Group 312 Films 2014 Annual Report, Chicago Filmmakers, Columbia College Chicago, Retour de Flamme, Serge Bromberg, The Russian Woodpecker, Docs at the Box, film festivals, movies, Video

Blogs, Bleader May 8, 2015
Video
Far From the Madding Crowd, the rest of our new movie reviews, and this week's notable screenings

New reviews and notable screenings in this week's issue
- By J.R. Jones
- Tags: Opening, Film, Far From the Madding Crowd, Carey Mulligan, Ben Sachs, The D Train, Jack Black, James Marsden, Queen and Country, Gene Siskel Film Center, John Boorman, Point Blank, Deliverance, Hope and Glory, M*A*S*H, Stripes, About Elly, Asghar Farhadi Separation, Aspen Frederick Wiseman, Black Souls, Heaven Adores You, Elliott Smith, Christina Noble documentary, Roar movie, Tippi Hedren, Welcome to Me, Kristen Wiig, Music Box Chicago, Shira Piven, Joan Cusack, Orson Welles, Chimes at Midnight, University of Chicago Doc Films, Sam Raimi, The Evil Dead, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Flowers of Shanghai, Hope and Glory, Edward S. Curtis, In the Land of the Head Hunters, Dennis Scott, Hayao Miyazaki, Princess Mononoke, Alexander Korda, That Hamilton Woman, Frank Tashlin, Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, CineYouth Festival, Columbia College Film Row Cinema, Dyke Delicious May Shorts, Chicago Filmmakers, For Educational Purposes Only, Washington Park Arts Incubator, Sing-A-Long Mamma Mia, Sonic Celluloid, Northwestern University Block Museum of Art, Chicago Underground Film Festival, Ruined Heart, film festivals, movies, Video

Blogs, Bleader May 1, 2015
Video
Venerated avant-garde filmmaker Saul Levine makes a rare Chicago appearance tomorrow

This week also brings an exciting program of new experimental videos by local artists Kaycee Conaway and Molly Hewitt.
- By Ben Sachs
- Tags: Do This, On Video, Film, Saul Levine, Nightingale Cinema, Chicago Filmmakers, Molly Hewitt, Kaycee Conaway, experimental film, Video

Blogs, Bleader Mar 19, 2015
Video
Peacenicks invade the Chicago Cultural Center, plus more new reviews and notable screenings

New reviews and notable screenings in this week's issue
- By J.R. Jones
- Tags: Opening, Film, Peace on Earth Film Festival, Chicago Cultural Center, Jerome McDonnell Worldview, Ben Sachs, In a Foreign Land, Iciar Bollain, Take My Eyes, It Follows, John Carpenter, Danny Collins, Al Pacino, John Lennon, The Divergent Series: Insurgent, The Gunman, Sean Penn, An Honest Liar, James Randi, Horse Money, Pedro Costas, Colossal Youth, The Hunting Ground, The Invisible War, Seymour: An Introduction, Ethan Hawke, Seymour Bernstein, Spring movie, Tip Top, Isabelle Huppert, Sandrine Kiberlain, Emad Burnat, Guy Davidi, 5 Broken Cameras, Gene Siskel Film Center, Lisa Cholodenko, High Art, University of Chicago Doc Films, Marx Brothers, A Night at the Opera, Music Box Chicago, The Divine Feminine, Black Cinema House, Festival du Film Francophone, Alliance Francais, Gameboarding: Rise of the Indies, Lincoln Hall Chicago, Indie Horror Film Festival, Carl Schurz Slocum Hall, Jennifer Reeder, Nightingale Chicago, Juggernaut Film Festival, Chicago Filmmakers, Tales of the Grim Sleeper, Nick Broomfield, Kurt & Courtney, film festivals, movies, Video

Film, Movie Review Jan 28, 2015
See cutting-edge short films at the 2015 Onion City Experimental Film and Video Festival

More than three-dozen selections screen at Columbia College Ferguson Theater.
- By Ben Sachs
- Tags: Movie Review, Onion City Experimental Film and Video Festival, Chicago Filmmakers, Sauerbruch Hutton Architects, Harun Farocki, Gregg Biermann, Age of Animals, Paulo Abreu, Asleep, Prospector, California Picture Book, Tender Feet

Blogs, Bleader Jan 20, 2015
The next month is the time to catch the thriving local experimental-video-art scene

A preview of programs by local and formerly local artists Jake Barningham, Michele Smith, Jesse Malmed, and Melika Bass
- By Ben Sachs
- Tags: Do This, Arts, Film, Visual Art, Experimental video, Jake Barningham, Jesse Malmed, Melika Bass, Onion City Experimental Film and Video Festival, Chicago Filmmakers, Film Studies Center, Michele Smith

Blogs, Bleader Oct 31, 2014
Local filmmaker Stephen Cone talks Warhol, teaching, and making three movies in a year

Cone discusses his two most recent projects—This Afternoon, which just screened at the Chicago International Film Festival, and The Mystery of Life, which receives its local premiere tomorrow at Chicago Filmmakers.
- By Ben Sachs
- Tags: Theater, Film, Stephen Cone, This Afternoon, The Mystery of Life, The Wise Kids, Chicago Filmmakers, improvisation

Blogs, Bleader Oct 8, 2014
Chicago's wave of Filipino film screenings continues this weekend with Metro Manila

The 2013 crime thriller, a prize winner at last year's Sundance Film Festival, receives its Chicago premiere.
- By Ben Sachs
- Tags: Crime, Foreign, Film, Metro Manila, Sean Ellis, Chicago Cinema Society, Chicago Filmmakers, Cinema of the Philippines

Blogs, Bleader Sep 26, 2014
Video
Jimi Hendrix, Chris Marker, Charlton Heston, and the rest of this week's screenings

New reviews and notable screenings in this week's issue
- By J.R. Jones
- Tags: Opening, Film, Jimi Hendrix, Jimi All Is By My Side, Chris Marker Level Five, Chicago Filmmakers, Columbia College Chicago, Blonde Crazy, James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Julius Caesar, Northwestern University, Charlton Heston, Rocks in My Pockets, Signe Baumane, Norte the End of History, Lav Diaz, The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby, Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, William Hurt, Viola Davis, Isabelle Huppert, Bill Hader, The Equalizer, Edward Woodward, Denzel Washington, Hector and the Search for Happiness, Simon Pegg, Take Me to the River, Otis Clay, Mavis Staples, North Mississippi Allstars, A Terrible Beauty, 1916 Easter Rebellion, Tracks movie, Mia Wasikowska, Robyn Davidson, Eric Rohmer, Autumn Tale, Transistor Chicago, Josef von Sternberg Dishonored, Music Box Chicago, Steven Spielberg, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Logan Theater Chicago, Howard Hawks, A Girl in Every Port, Northwestern University Block Museum of Art, Jerry Blumenthal, Gordon Quinn, Golub: Late Works Are the Catastrophes, Chicago Cultural Center, W.S. Van Dyke, The Thin Man, University of Chicago Doc Films, movies, Video

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