Jan 22
Americans have long been loath to learn foreign languages and equally unenthusiastic about subtitled films—an unfortunate trend, but by no means a hopeless one. Launched in 1960 by Mayor Richard J. Daley, Chicago’s uncommonly active Sister Cities program has since been dedicated to building the city’s international character through events like the upcoming Lithuanian Film Festival, organized in collaboration with Chicago’s sister city Vilnius and the Lithuanian film company Era Film. The five-night series will introduce Chicagoans to a recent blossom of Lithuanian short films and documentaries. Read the rest of this entry »
Oct 28
An Exxon Mobil flesh candle, a Yes Men hoax
. The scene is a large, fluorescently-lit conference room, walls draped in threatening black curtains, the air chiming with the scattered tinkling of metal, glass, and thick, cream-colored hotel-grade dinnerware. Slight murmurs drift upwards from a series of round tables filled with the occupants’ self-satisfied smiles. If it weren’t for the overabundance of grey suits, the scene could be mistaken for the Daytime Emmys, but lo: the smiles are shrinking.
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Jun 04
A worker at Windy City Harvest; courtesy of Mitra Sticklen
, pausing in between shots of the bright green kale and collards on display on a stand at the 61st Street Farmers Market. “It’s beautiful stuff—beautiful footage.” The stand belongs to Windy City Harvest, an urban agriculture job training program of the Chicago Botanic Garden and West Side Technical Institute, whose participants Sticklen has been filming since last fall. With the working title “Growing Change,” the film was originally meant to be a ten-minute short documenting one season of the program. During the course of filming, however, Sticklen “realized that there were several stories going on that were inspiring and interesting”—the farmer’s market itself, for instance, as well as a number of other urban agriculture initiatives that have recently sprung up across the city. Now Windy City Harvest is the focus of a demo reel, whose June 5 screening at the University of Chicago’s Film Studies Center Sticklen hopes will help win her funding for a longer film or television documentary.
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Apr 02
Be still my caffeine-addicted, jumpy heart. Spring might not be in the air quite yet, but this quarter brings a new Doc Films calendar to plaster dorm and apartment walls across Hyde Park. And who should be on this quarter’s sepia-toned, oversized broadsheet but Cary Grant, heartthrob? Though Doc calendars are usually relegated to the darkest corners of my own abode, perhaps this one can be hung prominently—too bad Mr. Grant is looking off to the side, instead of right into my tired eyes.
But perhaps I misspeak. After all, Cary is just the icing on the cake. The real treat is Doc’s ten weeks of programming. Let’s take a look. Read the rest of this entry »
