Chicago Filmmakers
5243 N. Clark, Chicago IL 60640
free admission, open to all!

Tuesday July 28, 7 – 9pm

Tuesday September 29, 7 – 9pm

This bimonthly networking event provides a chance for filmmakers to
meet and collaborate on projects. Are you a screenwriter looking for a
producer? A director looking for a director of photography? This event
is open to all talents and disciplines who are interested in making
independent media: editors, actors, art directors, composers, make-up
artists… Bring your resume and business cards, and we’ll handle the
rest. Special guests and community businesses will also be featured.

Six comedy TV pilots made by Chicago filmmakers will be featured during the
two shows of the event, on Thursday, July 23. Shows will start at 7pm and 9pm. Admission is $10 per show at The Chicago Cultural Center Theater, 78 E.
Washington St. The Festival line-up can be viewed at: www.witsendshorts.com.
Tickets are available only on the day of the event; the box office at the theater door
opens at 3pm on the day; cash sales only.

Thirty-nine comedy shorts by talented Chicago filmmakers will be featured
during the two shows of the event, on Friday, July 24. Shows will start at 7pm
and 9pm. Admission is $10 per show at The Chicago Cultural Center
Theater, 78 E. Washington St. The Festival line-up can be viewed at:
www.witsendshorts.com. Tickets are available only on the day of the event; the box office at the theater door opens at 3pm on the day; cash sales only.

BEING BUCKY
Landmark’s Century Centre Cinema
2828 North Clark Street
Chicago, IL, 60657
May 28th 2009, 7pm & 9pm

Tickets are $10 and can be bought here!

IFP/Chicago Board Member John Fromstein and Fulton Market Films win the Wisconsin Film Festival Audience Award with this buckumentary about being a mascot.

When you are Bucky, you are forbidden to tell anyone. You do not get paid. You do it for the privilege of upholding a time-honored tradition. The time commitment is grueling enough. The smell of the head is worse. You never know when you’ll get to use a bathroom, but it doesn’t matter because you sweat so much. You can’t talk and you can barely see. When you are Bucky, everyone wants to shake your hand. All the girls want to hug you, and children are in awe. When you are being Bucky for the first time, you’re confused and disoriented and wondering why you ever got yourself into this. By the time you’re done, you don’t ever want to stop. Being Bucky changes you forever. Meet the seven students who play Bucky Badger, the mascot at the University of Wisconsin-Madison during the 2007-2008 school year. Director Scott Smith grew up in Madison.
Directed by: Scott Smith
Director of Photography and Executive Producer: John Fromstein

Visit the film’s website for more info, to buy tickets and to watch the trailer!

http://www.beingbucky.com/

“BEING BUCKY…had the crowd howling” Duane Dudeck — Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

“BEING BUCKY is a badger of honor” Jane Burns — The Capital Times

RIFFRAFF
Gene Siskel Film Center
164 North State Street
Chicago, Illinois 60601
t – 312 846 2600
May 29th – June 4th

Produced by part time Columbia College faculty member John Otterbacher, the independent feature film RIFFRAFF is coming to the Gene Siskel Film Center for one week only starting May 29th.

Starring Robert Belushi, this coming of age story is set at Chicago’s North Ave. Beach and follows lifeguards through a summer there. Post Production Audio was completed with the help of a Columbia College AVM3 class taught by Diego Trejo. Many Columbia alumni participated, including cinematographer Kuba Zelazek and supervising sound editor Michael Woodnorth.

Tickets are available at the box office of the Gene Siskel Film Center and through Ticketmaster.

http://www.siskelfilmcenter.org/
http://www.ticketmaster.com/

For more info about schedule and cast/crew appearances go to www.riffraffthemovie.com

WIN OR LOSE: A SUMMER CAMP STORY
Highland Park Movie Theater
445 Central Ave
Highland Park, IL.
Sunday May 31st 2009, 11am & 12.15pm

The director and members of the documentary cast will be present for a Q&A after each screening.

The film is a character driven, documentary about boys at summer camp who push themselves to win an ultra competitive event called ‘Collegiate Week.’

During Collegiate Week, every person in camp wants nothing more than to win the first place trophy. Unfortunately, most of them won’t. They may leave camp without a trophy but do leave having learned a valuable lesson: how to lose. Almost all the campers that attend this camp come from the northern suburbs of Chicago such as Glencoe, Deerfield and Highland Park.

Some camps have color wars but Camp Ojibwa has Collegiate Week. It is the end-all be all of camp color-wars. There is nothing like it. Run of the mill nice kids have been known to trash their second place trophies. Older campers lose their head over a shuffle board match. Counselors will break down and cry like babies. Will an ultra competitive winner like Arob learn something about losing? And Charlie Schroeder has never won collegiate week in 9 years. Will he be able to handle another defeat? Then there is the young Jeremy Nachbar. This is his first year as a camper but he’s already giving pep talks just like the older guys. How much will camp change him? By the end of camp one thing is for sure, out of the 12 teams there will be one winner and eleven losers. Competition at Camp Ojibwa teaches kids how to lose. It’s a hard but important lesson to learn.

Buy tickets here:
http://www.winorlosemovie.com/payForHP.html

For more info, visit the film’s website:
www.winorlosemovie.com

Mon Oct 26th, 7pm – 9pm
Columbia College Chicago
Film Row Cinema, 8th floor
1104 S. Wabash Ave
Chicago, IL, 60605

FREE Admission, open to the public and great for all ages!

First exhibited at the 1994 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award for Best Documentary, “Hoop Dreams” is the remarkable true story of two American dreamers on the courts of the game they love.

Plucked from the streets and given the opportunity to attend a suburban prep school and play for a legendary high school coach, William Gates and Arthur Agee both soon discover that their dreams of NBA glory become obscured amid the intense pressures of academics, family life, economics and athletic competitiveness. But most importantly, both boys remain focused on their dream, no matter how hard tragedy strikes or how desperate their situation becomes. It is their faith in the game that unites their family and gives each person hope. And it is this faith that ultimately allows them to build upon their failures as well as their triumphs and make for themselves a potentially better life.

It’s been 15 years since Kartemquin Films first released the award-winning documentary Hoop Dreams. We are in a state of emergency to save our youth and while the current generation may have never heard of the film; the re-occurring messages of hope in this film still ring true today. The community panel discussions is an opportunity to create, engage and bridge the generational gap with the power of cinema to implement effective solutions to the social justice issues that affect us all.

Topics to be discussed by the panel: Education, Ethics, Pressure, Family, Finances, Politics, Higher Education, Non-Violence and many more. Film clips from HOOP DREAMS and NO CROSSOVER will be shown.
The Panel: Gordon Quinn, Steve James, Peter Gilbert, Adam Singer, Pastor Reggie Royal, Pastor William Gates, Arthur Agee with participation from Chicago’ s leading youth media organizations MAGIC, BMB 2025, SWYC, Arab American Action Network CTVN and more!
Moderators: Youth discussion led by MAGIC (Bryan Echols)
Message: Education is the best offense

Parking: Street and meter parking are available. Garage and open lot parking is also available along Wabash street.

“When somebody said, ‘When you get to the NBA, don’t forget about me,’ I should have said, ‘If I don’t make it, don’t forget about me.’”-William Gates, Hoop Dreams

The Big Water Film Festivalis a three day event that takes place in the town ofin northern Wisconsin.  This year the festival will be held on November 6, 7, and 8, 2009 at STAGENORTH, which enables us to show films of all genres using state-of-the-art sound and projection equipment, and allows film-lovers to relax and discuss films at the lobby bar overlooking the shores of beautifulLake Superior. Washburn

Find out about our festival and download a submission form on our website, www.bigwaterfilmfestival.org.  The fee to enter a film is only $10.00 and will go towards cash prizes for Audience Favorite and Jury Award Winner.  Film submissions are invited through August 15, 2009.  All submissions are welcome!

Cost for a weekend pass to the 3 day festival is $35.00, a day pass is $15.00, or a block of films is $5.00.  Weekend and day passes can be ordered in advance by calling STAGENORTH at (715) 373-1194 or by going to www.bigwaterfilmfestival.org.