14th Annual Black Harvest International Festival of Film and Video
The Gene Siskel Film Center welcomes you to the 14th edition of the Black Harvest International Festival of Film and Video, from August 1 through 28. The Midwest’s biggest and best celebration of the black experience on film, Black Harvest highlights talent from around the nation and around the world, with a special emphasis on our own Chicago-based filmmakers.
An array of special events, personal appearances, and filmmaker discussions keep this year’s festival exciting from beginning to end. Film critic/cultural commentator Elvis Mitchell is our special guest on Tuesday, August 5, at 8:15 pm, with an advance screening of HBO’s THE BLACK LIST, VOL. 1, presenting dramatic insightful portraits of influential African Americans. A special advance screening on Wednesday, August 6, at 6:15 pm, of TROUBLE THE WATER, set in post-Katrina New Orleans, provides a sneak preview of one of the most acclaimed documentaries from the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.
The festival panel discussion How to Get a Movie Made, on Saturday, August 9, is a valuable free workshop for filmmakers and aspiring filmmakers. Five Black Harvest directors provide detailed advice on how to get your production off the ground. New this year, we feature a free vendors’ market in our gallery/café from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm, providing information and demonstrations of production equipment.
In recent years, Chicago has become a notable center for black independent filmmaking. This thriving scene includes producers, directors, writers, and many actors. We are pleased to present a stellar crop of newly completed features and shorts by local directors, several of whom have presented work in Black Harvest in the past. Romance is just the starting point for three very different films: Deri Tyton’s hook-up comedy THE PARTY LINE; Mike Merrill’s high-living drama CAUGHT IN THE GAME; and Christopher Nolen’s comedy/drama policier SUBTLE SEDUCTION. David Muhammad’s THE OPPOSITE OF LIFE spins family drama around a woman’s right to choose, and Sidney Winters’s T.A.C.T.I.C.A.L. offers action with some comic touches.
Filmmakers from neighboring Indiana have a significant presence in Black Harvest for the first time this year. Two ambitious large-cast features by Mark Spencer, THE BALLAD OF SADIE HAWKINS and THE GILDED SIX-BITS, show off the talents of Gary’s West Side Theatre Guild. David Weathersby’s documentary SOUL OF A WOMAN features portraits of twenty-five women artists. Calvin Standifer’s short drama FREE TO BE FREE charts a wife’s emancipation, but with a twist.
This year’s bountiful harvest includes a host of films that have garnered critical raves and awards at major festivals around the world, from Berlin, Toronto, and Tribeca to Sundance. FAUBOURG TREMÉ: THE UNTOLD STORY OF BLACK NEW ORLEANS unfolds a rich history leading up to the destruction of Katrina, while the drama LIBERTY KID is set largely in the aftermath of 9/11. The lively and provocative A GOOD DAY TO BE BLACK & SEXY explores sexy maneuvers behind closed doors, while WHITE LIES, BLACK SHEEP tells the story of the unraveling of a young scenester’s party life. HEART OF FIRE tells the hair-raising story of a child’s coming of age in the Eritrean civil war.
Many personal appearances are a unique feature of Black Harvest, and some programs feature receptions after the show. See individual film listings for details, and be sure to check our web site www.siskelfilmcenter.org often for regular festival updates.
The Black Harvest Film Festival is supported by: the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art; the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency; American Airlines; the Alphawood Foundation; and The Playboy Foundation. Special thanks to festival consultant Sergio Mims, our Black Harvest Community Council, the many filmmakers who help make this festival possible, and to 7th Art Releasing for the Gazette cover image from HEART OF FIRE.
--Barbara Scharres
