There is a cool event taking place in Chicago this weekend. For those of you that don’t know, besides being a writer for The Movie Blog, I’m also one of the founders of the Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle (CIFCC). It’s a film critics group I’ve created with some a few fellow critics (Pamela Powell, Michael Glover Smith and Don Shanahan). We are a film critics group based out of Chicago, but with a national perspective and a mission statement of diversity in film criticism. That includes diversity in race and gender, as well as mediums (print, online, podcast, YouTube, etc.).
On Saturday November 5 and Sunday November 6, the CIFCC will be presenting a mini film festival, or as we call it a “showcase”. For our opening night we will be screening James Redford’s (yes, he has a famous father) powerful documentary film Resilience. The film centers on childhood stress. The film will be screening at the Gene Siskel Film Center on Saturday night at 8 p.m. James Redford will be in attendance for the Q&A after the screening.
For night two on November 6, we will be premiering Joe Houlberg’s thriller Thirst. The film centers on a blind woman’s trip back home that leads to some unexpected occurrences. The film will be screened at the Wilmette Theater at 5 p.m. Joe Houlberg will be in attendance for the Q&A after the screening.
The final presentation of night two will be Kevin B. Lee’s The Art of the Video Essay. It’s an unique video essay composed of critics from around the world. The screening will follow Thirst at 8 p.m. at the Wilmette Theater. Kevin B. Lee will be in attendance for the Q&A.
These will be three very different and unique presentations. I’m very proud to be part of this showcase and I hope you come out to check it out if you’re in the Chicago area this weekend. It’s the first showcase we are putting together as a group, so come and check it out! Below is information and links on how you can get tickets for these events:
Ticket Purchase Links:
www.siskelfilmcenter.org/resilience
Follow me on Twitter @JimRko
Special thanks to our sponsors:
