Special Events
ALAN ARKIN TO BE HONORED AT ANNUAL GALA
The Gene Siskel Film Center will honor Oscar® winner Alan Arkin with the Gene Siskel Film Center Renaissance Award at our Annual Gala on June 5 at The Four Seasons. Arkin won the 2007 Academy Award® for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Little Miss Sunshine. Arkin will appear in person to accept the Renaissance Award and will participate in a lively discussion hosted by Chicago’s own Richard Christiansen, former chief Arts and Entertainment critic for the Chicago Tribune.
Raffle prizes to this year’s Annual Gala:
Tango Argentina
Business class roundtrip airfare for two on American Airlines® to Buenos Aires. Two nights at the Four Seasons Hotel in the exclusive La Recoleta district of Buenos Aires and two nights at the Four Seasons Resort Camelo in Camelo, Uruguay. From the beautiful La Recoleta you will board a hydrofoil and an hour later arrive in Colonia. Approximate value: $8,500.
The Big Night
Use your $1,000 gift certificate from famed Chicago designer Maria Pinto to select a fabulous fashion item. Wear your finery to dinner for 8 prepared in your home by the noted Brazilian chef Jorgina Pereira from Sinha Elegant Cuisine (ingredients provided). You and a friend can then enjoy Second City Main Stage and e.t.c. performances, volumes 1-4 of SCTV box sets of DVDs and Second City merchandise. When you are next in Los Angeles and New York, you and a guest will be in the audience for the filming of a Dr. Phil and a Rachel Ray TV show. Relax with ten DVDs of films recommended by our honoree Alan Arkin. Approximate value: $2,200.
Luxury Goes Green
Feel glamorous wearing a socially responsible/conflict-free ring with multiple rows of diamonds (total 1⁄2 karat) set in an 18 karat white gold ring, valued at $2,800. Then enjoy a five-night stay for two at the luxurious eco-resort, The Lodge at Pico Bonito in the Honduras rainforest; package includes breakfast and a visit to a nearby butterfly farm. Approximate value: $4,000.
Call 312-846-2072 to purchase gala and/or raffle tickets and for more information.
Chicago premiere!
Amy Greenfield and Selene Savarie in person!
CLUB MIDNIGHT
2007, Amy Greenfield, USA, 90 min.
With Andrea Beeman, Bonnie Dunn, Selene Savarie
“A mix of cutting-edge film and raw performance art…Turns erotic dance into a female-empowering cinema of desire, longing, energy, anguish and joy.”--V.A. Musetto, New York Post
“Exhilaratingly sensual…a post-modern romp through a neo-feminist party.”--Gerry Mak, Flavorpill.net
Avant-garde filmmaker Amy Greenfield (ANTIGONE/RITES OF PASSION) unveils “a new nakedness” in her multimedia cabaret composed of a series of seductive, mood-drenched erotic film-dances that imbue poetry and performance art with sensuality in a cerebral dimension. A celebration of the unclothed female form in sinuous motion, the film’s segments include: “Storyville Memory,” “Downtown Goddess,” “Dark Sequins; Dance of the Seventh Veil,” “Light of the Body,” and “Wildfire” featuring music by Philip Glass. A spoken-word performance by Dennis Hopper and Greenfield is a highlight of the concluding segment “Club Midnight.” Various formats. (BS)
Official Site: www.clubmdnight.net
Director Amy Greenfield and dancer/poet Selene Savarie will be present for audience discussion.
Saturday, June 7, 8:00 pm
Chicago premiere!
Filmmakers in person!
ALL JACKED UP
2008, Jennifer Mattox, USA, 110 min.
“This is the movie food companies hope you never see.”--Mike Adams, Natural News
The teenage bond with the world of fast food in all its variants is explored in this lively but hard-hitting exposé that brings animation, dramatization, comedy, and the testimony of experts in the fields of nutrition, food science, and psychology into play. Raquel, a binge-purge dieter; Michael, addicted to energy drinks; Danny, strictly a cheeseburger-and-fries eater; and Melissa, an overweight teen with an overwrought schedule, have their eyes opened to the fact that kids are being fatally shortchanged by food they have unwittingly been programmed to crave. DigiBeta video. (BS)
Director/writer Jennifer Mattox and producer/co-writer Doug Clemons will be present for audience discussion at both screenings.
Tuesday, June 10, 8:00 pm
Thursday, June 12, 8:00 pm
Chicago premiere!
Andrew Kukura in person!
THE DHAMMA BROTHERS
2007, Jenny Phillips, Anne Marie Stein, and Andrew Kukura, USA, 76 min.
“The teachings of Buddha infiltrate a maximum-security prison…a thinking-head documentary about finding answers within for those who can’t get out.”--Jeanette Catsoulis, The New York Times
Thirty-six lifers in a notoriously violent Alabama prison undertake a journey of transformation by way of a ten-day crash-course in Vipassana meditation that leaves prison officials scratching their heads, and some in this Bible-belt community alleging “witchcraft.” Three filmmakers have intimate access to the grueling retreat, in which silence and solitude are strictly enforced, and the film bears witness to the astonishing evolution of admitted murderers and rapists. Just as the revolutionary program appears to be an unprecedented success, conservative nay-sayers threaten to have their way. DigiBeta video. (BS)
Co-director Andrew Kukura will be present for audience discussion on Saturday.
Saturday, June 14, 8:00 pm
Tuesday, June 17, 8:00 pm
Onion City Festival
Opening Night Program
1969-2008, Various directors and nations, 99 min. total
The Opening Night Program of the 20th Onion City Experimental Film and Video Festival, a production of Chicago Filmmakers, features an exciting and diverse line-up of work. All are Chicago premieres:
THE RABBIT HUNTERS (2007, Portugal, 23 min.): In this coda to his magnificent feature COLOSSAL YOUTH, Pedro Costa continues his incisive look at the lives of the downtrodden Cape Verdians living on the outskirts of Lisbon.
LAST DAYS IN A LONELY PLACE (2007, USA, 20 min.): Using material taken entirely from the Grand Theft Auto video game, Phil Solomon creates a haunting and moody world teetering at the edge of apocalypse.
OBSERVANDO EL CIELO (2007, USA, 19 min.): Jeanne Liotta limns heaven and earth through seven years of time-lapse recordings of the night sky in this visually lush and magical film.
EASTER MORNING (2008, USA, 10 min.): A lyrical delight by the great Bruce Conner, featuring music by Terry Riley.
THE DIKE OF TRANSIENCE (2005, Hungary, 13 min.): The inhabitants of a small village live under the threat of the destruction of a nearby dam, in this charming and beautifully photographed film by Gyula Nemes.
OUR LADY OF THE SPHERE (1969, USA, 10 min.): A wonderful and strange animated classic by Larry Jordan, showing in a new 35mm blow-up.
THE HYRCYNIUM WOOD (2007, UK, 3 min.) and WE THE PEOPLE (2007, UK, 1 min.): These two atmospheric shorts by Ben Rivers explore tropes from classic horror films.
For the entire Onion City schedule, visit www.chicagofilmmakers.org. Various formats. (Patrick Friel)
Thursday, June 19, 8:00 pm
Back by popular demand!
Daniel J. Pico in person!
FAREWELL DARKNESS
2008, Daniel J. Pico, USA, 96 min.
With Keith Compton, BriAnna Weaver
After a harrowing tour of duty in Iraq, a young Marine returns to his Chicago neighborhood with a powder-keg temper, a relationship to rekindle with his uneasy girlfriend, a debt to collect from his buddies, and a score to settle with his abusive father. Director Daniel J. Pico (a Columbia College graduate) and screenwriter Roy Maurer (a Columbia grad and Marine Corps veteran) craft an intense drama whose hair-trigger shifts from lyricism to brutality mirror the unpredictable contours of their hero’s psyche. Pico works visual wonders on a low budget; the impressive combat scenes (filmed in Arizona) put many a mainstream production to shame. DigiBeta video. (MR)
Director Daniel J. Pico will be present for audience discussion at both screenings.