WBEZ | film

Chicago Global Artist: Zimbabwean filmmaker and novelist Tsitsi Dangarembga

Mon, 06 May 2013 16:41:00 -0500

Chicago’s rich and lively arts and culture scene is due no doubt to our deep bench of homegrown talents.

However, our city has also been marked in significant ways by artists from around the world.

Many of their contributions have been grandly public. The Picasso sculpture in Daley Plaza and Anish Kapoor’s Cloud Gate are notable for their trajectory from daunting sculptural objects to beloved playground-style icons.

More ephemeral projects include Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s 1969 project to wrap the Museum of Contemporary Art, a move which made art history and elevated the reputation of both the artists and the MCA.

But we can’t always see the ways global artists work in Chicago. Some come for very brief spells. And as artists in residence at small cultural organizations or universities, their opportunities to meet with a broader public can be limited, or fly under the radar.

In an effort to give more visibility to their work and to provide opportunities for you to interact with these artists, we’re launching a new global arts initiative on WBEZ’s international affairs show Worldview. Every few weeks I’ll profile an artist who has made her way to Chicago, for a brief or longer spell.

First up: Tsitsi Dangarembga.

Dangarembga came to Chicago about four years ago, to give a talk at Northwestern University. Based on that appearance, along with raves from some of his graduate students (who said her novels changed their lives), Reginald Gibbons invited her back, as the 2013 Spring Writer in Residence at the Center for the Writing Arts.

Dangarembga’s career can be measured by a number of firsts. Her debut novel Nervous Conditions, published when she was only 25, was also the first novel written in English by a black Zimbabwean woman.

When she moved on to filmmaking she also broke ground. Neria (1992), based on her screenplay, became the highest grossing feature in Zimbabwean history. And when Dangarembga made her own film, Everybody’s Child in 1996, she became the first black Zimbabwean woman to direct a full length feature.

None of this came easy. Nobody in Zimbabwe would publish Dangarembga’s novel, apparently because her coming of age tale, about the treatment of women in a newly independent Zimbabwe, wasn’t deemed representative of African women.

And Dangarembga’s style is challenging. Take a look at the trailer for her film Kare Kare Zvako (Mother’s Day). The ‘folk tale musical’ is a fantastical tale with a lively soundtrack of an abusive man who attempts to satisfy his greedy soul by consuming his wife.

Still, Dangarembga continued to make art. Nervous Conditions, which is widely considered one of the greatest African novels, proved to be the opening salvo in what is now a trilogy. The second volume The Book of Not was published in 2006 and Dangarembga’s looking for a publisher for the final volume Chronicle of an Indomitable Daughter.

She’s also continued to develop an international presence. Dangarembga gave a Tedx talk in Harare, in which she used her cat’s behavior as an opportunity for an amusing take on the rather depressing state of Zimbabwe - and human nature more generally. And Kare Kare Zvako screened at Sundance in 2005.

But most importantly, she’s done a little institution building in Harare. After forming her own film company Nyerai, she merged it with Women Filmmaker of Zimbabwe to create a platform for women filmmakers. Since 2002, they’ve hosted the International Images Film Festival for Women.

That Dangarembga has been able to do that with the very limited means and opportunities available in Zimbabwe, is instructive as we ponder the role of artists in Chicago, and wonder if we’re creating the conditions which allow art to flourish.

By the way I’d love to hear your suggestions if you know of any global artists who are new to Chicago and working here on a temporary or permanent basis. Email me acuddy@wbez.org

Alison Cuddy is WBEZ’s Arts and Culture reporter. Follow her @wbezacuddy, on Facebook and on Instagram.

Biopics to watch in 2013, plus the 10 best (and worst) of all time

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 08:00:00 -0500

The biographical film, or biopic, is a long-celebrated bastion of cinema that began with Napoléon in 1927 and continues to dominate movie screens to this day.

Last weekend, 42 (a Jackie Robinson biopic starring Harrison Ford and one-time Chicago actor Chadwick Boseman in the title role) premiered to commerical and critical acclaim, as films about real-life heroes often do.

Other big biopics expected for 2013 include:

The Butler (with Forest Whitaker as White House butler Cecil Gaines, and a slew of other A-list stars playing presidents Eisenhower through Reagan)
Lovelace (Amanda Seyfried as Linda Lovelace)
Jobs (Ashton Kutcher as Steve Jobs)
Diana (Naomi Watts as Princess Diana)
Nina (Zoe Saldana as Nina Simone)
All Is By My Side (Andre 3000 as Jimi Hendrix)
Behind the Candelabra (Michael Douglas as Liberace)

Of course, movie buffs are already arguing about Saldana's darkened skin in Nina and whether Kutcher will totally bomb as Steve Jobs after mixed reviews from Sundance.

Studios depend on biopics to create a perfect storm of advance publicity, which may or may not translate to big wins at the box office and massive sweeps during awards season.

Actors often bank on these films not just to win Oscars, but to stretch their limits with challenging accents, method lifestyle changes and shocking physical transformations (remember when Robert DeNiro gained 60 pounds to play boxer Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull?) Some fail miserably, while others are forever remembered and admired for their uncanny portrayals of real people.

Many biopics had the potential to be great films but fell short. The Doors could have been incredible, if not for Val Kilmer's regrettably one-note portrayal of Jim Morrison. The 1982 epic Gandhi featured a fantastic performance by Ben Kingsley, but ran about two hours too long. More recent biopics like Ray, Capote, Ali and The Aviator also featured spot-on performances from their charismatic leads; but in retrospect, could have amounted to so much more.

In my opinion, these are the greats:

10. Hotel Rwanda (2004)

9. The Social Network (2010)

8. Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

7. Goodfellas (1990)

6. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

5. The King's Speech (2010)

4. Monster (2003)

3. Good Night, and Good Luck (2005)

2. Schindler's List (1993)

1. I'm Not There (2007)

Also: Patton (1970), Milk (2008), The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996)

And now, the 10 worst (ranked from blandly underwhelming to downright atrocious):

10. The Iron Lady (2011)

9. Man on the Moon (1999)

8. Beyond the Sea (2004)

7. J. Edgar (2011)

6. Amelia (2009)

5. The Conqueror (1956)

4. Great Balls of Fire! (1989)

3. Patch Adams (1998)

2. Alexander (2004)

1. Liz & Dick (2012)

Which biopics do you love, and which ones do you wish had never seen the light of day? Leave a comment below, send me a tweet @leahkpickett or join the conversation on Facebook.

Where was Roger Ebert at 25?

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 13:13:00 -0500

When we started brainstorming for the Year 25 series, Roger Ebert was one of the first names that came to mind. What was the life of a to-be Pulitzer prize-winning film critic like during the intense twenty-something years? We had to find out.

I reached out to Roger Ebert via email in January, before the series even started, asking if he’d pen an essay for our website. He responded immediately, saying thanks for thinking of him but, “Only time to write for myself.”

This was right around the time, as we’ve recently learned, that Ebert was in and out of the hospital for radiation treatments to tackle the return of his cancer. He wrote Wednesday in his online blog that he’d be taking a “leave of presence” — essentially cutting back on writing reviews, working on a bigger and better website, and possibly writing about his illness.

Sadly, Roger Ebert lost his battle with cancer Thursday at the age of 70.

In his email to me in January, he graciously allowed WBEZ to excerpt from his memoir, Life Itself and gave us insight into his life at 25.

“My 25th year was the beginning of my 1967 term as film critic here,” he wrote in the email.

How about that.

A little context: Before he turned 25 in June of 1967, Ebert was accepted as a Ph.D. candidate in English at the University of Chicago and needed a job. He ended up getting an interview with the city editor of the Chicago Sun-Times.

Ebert’s description of the Sun-Times in those days is epic.

“I arrived in Chicago one morning on the Panama and walked up Wabash Avenue to the Sun-Times/Daily News Building, which looked like a snub-nosed ship on the banks of the Chicago River. A boat was moored at its dock, and a crane was offloading huge rolls of newsprint.”

He got a job on the spot - he’d start working under the Sunday magazine editor.

Ebert writes of the newsroom camaraderie and the ways he tried to work his 25-year-old-cub reporter self into the fabric of the newsroom.

“I knew I lacked authenticity in this company. I was young and unseasoned, but I discovered there’s nothing like drinking with the crowd to make you a member. I copied the idealism and cynicism of the reporters I met at Riccardo’s and around the corner at the downscale but equally famous Billy Goat’s.”

[See my chat with Rick Kogan for more on that subject...]

Now remember: The year was 1967. That Sun-Times/Daily News building was full of experienced journalists, including Mike Royko. Ebert writes of one memorable moment where he and Royko shared a drink on New Year’s Day in an “eye-opener” bar by the L tracks.

“I sipped the brandy, and a warm glow filled my stomach. It may have been the first straight shot of anything I’d ever tasted. I’d been in Chicago four months and I was sitting under the L tracks with Mike Royko in the eye-opener place. I was a newspaperman.”

Then in March of 1967, the feature editor at the time told Ebert he’d be Sun-Times' film critic. Ebert writes that this “came without warning,” though he’d written a few pieces on the movies here and there. He decided to drop his classes at the University of Chicago and focus solely on writing.

Interesting fact about 20-something Roger Ebert: Being a movie critic was not his career goal at the time.

“If I had one at all, it was to become a columnist like Royko,” he writes. “Now I had a title, my photo in the paper, and a twenty-five dollar a week raise.”

And that’s where it all began.

Ebert says he got a lot of attention from the start for being such a young film critic. You can read some of the reviews he wrote here - Ebert keeps an archive of his writings on his website RogerEbert.com.

In his memoir, Ebert writes at length about the movie scene in Chicago at the time: How it was centered in the Loop, how new movies opened on Fridays...

Here’s my favorite detail: “The Clark [Theatre] offered a $2.95 special: a double feature, a three-course meal at the Chinese restaurant next door, and free parking.”

Not a bad deal.

He also mentions the movie stars who would come through town, and what it was like to be interviewing them.

“I was by then twenty-five years old, naive for my age, inexperienced, but representing an important newspaper, so the stars and directors were kind to me. It was so new to me that I took it very seriously indeed—not just my job, but their fame and glamour.”

There’s all sorts of great anecdotes in Life Itself from Roger Ebert’s 25th year and beyond, but I’ll leave you with this excerpt, which seems to sum up his 25th year pretty well.

“It was a honey of a job to have at that age. I had no office hours; it was understood that I would see the movies and meet the deadlines. I loved getting up from my desk and announcing, “I’m going to the movies.”

TV and movie crews spending more time filming in Chicago

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 08:26:00 -0500

The number of days movies and TV shows spent filming in Chicago is up 45 percent compared to 2011, according to the Chicago Film Office.

The office’s director, Rich Moskal, said the city saw a record increase in the number of production days: 1,808 days in 2012 compared to 1,235 the year before.

Although the number of productions themselves held largely steady, Moskal said the production day figure gives a fuller picture of the amount of activity here. TV series could spend as many as 150 days filming, compared to the production of a commercial, which only has a presence for 2 to 3 days.

“Each day a production is filming translates into days of employment for local crew, additional days of business with local vendors, hotel nights, etc,” he said. “The more days a production is here, the more they spend locally.”

In 2012, Film Office data shows, local film and TV industry spending hit a high of $170 million. That’s up from $160 million in 2010 and $154 million in 2011.

Last year’s increase is mainly due to four TV shows: Chicago Fire (NBC), Boss (Starz), Underemployed (MTV) and Mob Doctor (Fox), Moskal said, adding that 17 independent movies also were filmed in the city. So were several reality shows including Mob Wives Chicago, Chicagolicious and Hardcore Pawn: Chicago.

“Chicago looks great on film, it’s a great place to tell a story creatively, but it also has great depth of talent and resources to outfit the productions when they are here,” Moskal said.

He said a 30 percent tax credit also helped bring in the film business: “The tax incentive has done a tremendous job in terms of attracting production and keeping (it) here in Chicago, not just for Hollywood productions, but locally produced productions as well.”

Although two of last year’s TV shows were cancelled, and the fate of a third looks uncertain, Moskal said that’s just part of the gamble.

“You never know if it’s going to last or not,” he said, adding that this year, the city will have four other pilots filming and three Hollywood films including Transformers Four.

Bruce Sheridan, who chairs the Film and Video Department at Columbia College Chicago, said he’s already seeing an increase in the film industry this year.

“We have six features that we are putting out students interns onto this coming summer, which is much higher than last year or the year before,” Sheridan said. “So, we think the trend is continuing.”

Flashbacks: East German Films on Cold War Screens

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 11:44:00 -0600

Two experts on East German cinema, Barton Byg and Ralf Schenk, discuss the international dimensions of German Democratic Republic filmmaking during the Cold War. Far from being trapped behind the Wall, East German films were screened around the world, including in the U.S., and won recognition at important international festivals. International exchanges took place through the film trade, co-productions, festivals, and international organizations such as the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF), which made possible events such as the 1975 retrospective of East German cinema at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. They will also examine the different perspectives of the two Germanys on anti-Semitism and the Holocaust.

Barton Byg teaches German and film studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he founded the DEFA Film Library in 1993 and was a founding faculty member of the Interdepartmental Program in Film Studies. He is the author of Landscapes of Resistance: The German Films of Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet, and his other published work on East German film have helped bring this cinema to the awareness of English-language scholars. In 2011, he was honored with the Reinhold Schünzel Award for his efforts in the preservation and restoration of German film.

Ralf Schenk is an internationally acknowledged authority on East German film and the Chairman of the DEFA Foundation. A film historian and journalist, he has authored and edited many key books and periodicals on East German cinema, and has participated in documentaries on post-WWII Eastern European and East German film history. He has served on the jury of the Berlin International Film Festival and worked on the reconstruction and restoration of "lost" East German films.

Recorded live Thursday, March 7, 2013 at the Spertus Institute.

Raw, shocking and beautiful: the Chicago Underground Film Festival holds nothing back

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 08:00:00 -0600

The term "independent filmmaking" means something completely different today than it did 20 years ago.

When most people say, "I love indie movies!" nowadays, they're usually referring to those quirky, slightly lower-budget films distributed by subsidiaries of studio giants like Fox, Universal and Paramount Pictures (Fox Searchlight's 500 Days of Summer, Focus Features' Moonrise Kingdom, Paramount Vantage's No Country for Old Men, etc.), not old classics like Primer or "no-budget" films like Tarnation that were made on iMovie for $218.

Meanwhile, genuinely independent features and shorts that unions qualify as "ultra-low budget" (made for less than $200,000) are hardly ever released in theatres, and far too often vanish into obscurity. Some indie projects strike festival gold and get picked up by major distributors, like Oscar darling Beast of the Southern Wild at Sundance 2012 or Lena Dunham's Tiny Furniture at SXSW 2010. But unfortunately, most independently released films—especially those that push boundaries and challenge audiences with a more avant-garde storytelling style—rarely see the light of day.

Luckily for the die-hard indie film buffs of Chicago, we have a festival that celebrates true independent cinema and visual invention outside the Hollywood mold. In 1993, the Chicago Underground Film Festival (CUFF) was founded by Jay Bliznick, a Columbia College film student fed up with the exclusivity of the festival circuit. 20 years later, the festival has grown into a cutting-edge film event with national press coverage and participants from around the globe.

This year's fest,which runs March 6 through March 10 at Logan Theatre, will exhibit an eclectic mix of independent features, shorts, documentaries and experimental films augmented by nightly parties and concerts. Instead of the slick "indie" films shown at high-brow festivals like Sundance, CUFF showcases works of unconventional artistry that eschew the status quos of market safety and monetary gain.

When John Waters received the Director's Tribute Award at the 1997 Deauville Film Festival, he said, "I like the word 'underground,' as in the Chicago Underground Film Festival. The word 'independent' carries a stigma of whininess. 'Underground' means a good time. "

CUFF 2013 kicks off tonight with the Chicago premiere of Untitled, a double 16mm projector performance with live audio from experimental filmmakers Sandra Gibson, Luis Recoder and Olivia Block. The show will be preceded by an 18-minute video short called Wreading from director Jesse Malmed, then followed by a free afterparty at The Owl with a vinyl set from Stacks O Wax DJ Dan Maloney!

For the full program schedule, which includes festival guides, trailers and event listings, visit cuff.org and get your tickets now.

Also, check out the film that I'm most looking forward to seeing at this year's fest--Taken by Storm: The Art of Storm Thorgerson and Hipgnosis, directed by Roddy Bogawa:

Follow Leah on Twitter @leahkpickett or add her on Facebook.

David Mamet’s Chicago roots

Sat, 23 Feb 2013 08:00:00 -0600

Recently I saw a tweet that referrenced “Zosia Mamet’s dad” – as in “Zosia Mamet’s dad David is rebooting ‘Have Gun – Will Travel.’ “

No. Just, no. I like her depiction of Shoshanna as much as the next Girls fan, and very much enjoyed the younger Mamet’s semi-recurring role as Peggy’s lesbian friend on Mad Men, but until Zosia writes Glengarry Glen Ross or The Postman Never Rings Twice she’s still David Mamet’s daughter to me.

Anyway, add this to the list of things younger members of the Twitterverse might not know about David Mamet: The Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright grew up in Chicago.

Mamet started his life in Hyde Park at 53^rd and Dorchester and later moved to South Shore. As a teenager he went to high school at Francis Parker in Lincoln Park, and used the city as his own personal playground:

In those days, being a young kid in the ‘50s, nobody knew where you went. Your parents didn’t know; they didn’t care. You just took the “L” and went to Comisky Park, you took the “L” and went to Wrigley Field. You just went everywhere, and you would explore the city.
I remember as a young kid I would crawl over the girders at the top of the Prudential Building, which wasn’t yet complete. We used to crawl up the Museum of Science and Industry, up among the caryatids. We’d crawl up to that level 40 feet off the ground and spend the whole day walking around, clinging to the outside.

Mamet even has his own memories of Chicago’s old Riverview amusement park, which he said “always just wreaked of danger and sex,” and which Curious City took a look at earlier this week.

In 2006, Mamet sat down with another Chicagoan reliably full of delicious memories – WBEZ’s own Afternoon Shift host Rick Kogan – to reminisce about the direct and lingering effect the city had on his life and work. You can hear a snapshot of Mamet shooting the sh*t with his old friend Rick in the audio above.

Dynamic Range showcases hidden gems unearthed from Chicago Amplified’s vast archive of public events and appears on weekends. Rick Kogan and David Mamet spoke at an event presented by Chicago Public Library in October of 2006. Click here to hear the event in its entirety.

Follow Robin Amer on Twitter @rsamer.

The work of projectionists in the age of digital movies

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 00:04:00 -0600

Tonight the Music Box in Chicago kicks off its first ever, two-week long festival of 70mm films.

70mm is a wide-gage, high resolution format. It is bright and sharp and absolutely steady, free of the distortion that can occur with 35mm films. The format's no novelty: It's been around about as long as we've had movies. But it is costly, requiring special projectors and screens. So 70mm has always been more of a special treat than standard fare at the cineplex.

Still, the Music Box program is eclectic enough to satisfy a variety of cinematic tastes.

High art formalists will appreciate 2001: A Space Odyssey or Vertigo, both of which screen tonight. Early Gen Xers can wax nostalgic over (and bring their kids to) Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. And for cult film enthusiasts, there's Lifeforce. The sci-fi thriller about space vampires was a failed attempt at a blockbuster, directed by Tobe Hooper and shot by the late Alan Hume, who did great work on films ranging from Return of the Jedi to one of my personal favorites, The Legend of Hell House.

Doug McLaren, head projectionist at the Music Box, says the festival was inspired by an advanced screening late last summer of Paul Thomas Anderson's film The Master, a rare contemporary film shot in 70mm.

It turns out the Music Box is the only theatre in Chicago capable of projecting 70mm. After a lot of local interest (and calls from "Anderson's people", according to McLaren), he arranged the screening, which almost immediately sold out and prompted rave reviews, for both the film and its presentation.

The Music Box only got their 70mm projector about 10 years ago – McLaren says to expand both their programming scope and projecting capabilities (the theatre can screen 16, 35, and 70mm film, as well as the digital equivalents to film: DCP or "Digital Cinema Package" and HDCAM).

But McLaren says in preparation for the festival they've completely rebuilt their 70mm projector, installing brand new gears and bulbs, and re-timing "everything."

Paradoxically, at the same time that the Music Box has been investing time and money in an aging and almost obsolete format, what they're now screening is almost entirely digital content.

McLaren says that wasn't the case even as recently as six months ago. But starting with their latest winter calender, the tides shifted.

"Even things that used to be a new restoration of a given film is now video," he said. "Which was quite a shock, because it came faster that we thought. It seems like everyone decided to go all in at the same time."

The arrival of digital

Much has been written about the rapid shift from analog to digital at the movies, in particular how the new "paradigm" threatens small, independent film exhibitors and movie houses, who can't always afford to pay for new digital equipment.

But I hadn't yet fully processed the impact this was having on the people who actually climb into the booth and screen the movies for us, until a recent chat with another local projectionist (and full disclosure, good friend), who had just returned from her annual 3-week gig at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

Michelle Puetz has been a freelance projectionist for 15 years. She regularly travels to festivals in the U-S and abroad to inspect and project films. It's always been a high pressure and even grueling gig. But thanks to digital, Puetz says the projectionists at Sundance saw their workload double.

Puetz and her colleagues had to inspect almost 300 movies, most of which were either DCP or HDCAM. Only 16 were 35mm films, and of those a mere 5 were actually screened. The other 11 were back-up copies, which were run through projectors with their lamps not on, in case something went wrong with the digital copy.

The protocol for inspecting actual films is pretty clear cut. But for what Puetz dubs "the wild west" of digital content, the Sundance projectionists had to figure out a whole new standard of inspection and quality control.

DCP, unlike a reel of film, is just a hard drive full of files which program a number of things, from the actual image, to the soundtrack, to the language or even font of the subtitles. A separate key (an alphanumeric string) "unlocks" the content, specifying which servers and for what period of time, down to the very minute, it can be played.

Which means that instead of measuring the length of a film or checking it for tears or splices, Puetz says "you're an IT person learning how to read code." And because there's no actual "object" to inspect often the only way Puetz could check a film was to load it on a server and play it, in real time.

Even that wouldn't guarantee a trouble-free screening (hence the 35mm back-ups). Digital promises that you can just push play and walk away. But any number of things can go wrong (see David Bordwell's exhaustive but enlightening take on the potential pitfalls of the nascent format). And if it does, a film technician can't open up the projector and take a look. They have to call someone who is authorized to access and re-format the content (controls Puetz and others chalk up to the studios' "paranoia" about piracy).

The process sounds annoying and mystifying to be sure. But according to projectionists, it's also diminishing.

The decline of projectionists

"In the past projectionists, though technicians, were very deeply interested in the art of presentation," Puetz said. "They knew when an image looked right on screen. They could see a shutter vibration or flicker. They could actually hear it going wrong. Now with digital, the presentation standards are set by studios. So it's not really an art anymore."

McLaren of the Music Box concurs.

"It invites a laziness I don't appreciate," McLaren said. "There's nothing I can really change."

And while he's a big proponent of "showing things in the medium that they were intended for, digital is creating an atrophying of skills, both in myself and my staff."

That's likely not just because of digital. Whether because of cost-cuts or sheer indifference, 35mm projection at many multiplexes has for years now been foiled by under-trained staff and poorly maintained equipment: How many badly lit, awful sounding films have you sat through?

These days, if audiences do notice the difference between film and digital, it's probably because if only by comparison, the latter is often a more satisfying experience. Even Puetz says if she's going to see a Hollywood feature she wants it be digital.

And the digital 'adapt or die' scenario projectionists face is not unique. Other skilled practitioners, from car mechanics to doctors (who seem to spend as much or more time doing data entry as diagnostics during appointments), have moved on. In fact some projectionists are excited by the potential of digital (Mclaren notes there's currently room for up to 128 audio tracks on DCP).

The digital divide

Still, what exactly is that potential? So far the main argument seems to be that digital conversion saves money, for the studios anyway. Great for them. What about us? I don't mean this to be a Luddite's lament. Smart phones, computers, social media streams: All have allowed us to communicate in wonderfully transformative and complicated ways.

How much wonder and imagination has digital conversion thus far brought to actual movie going, or to the art of film presentation? Digital visual effects have produced fantastic spectacles.

A film like Avatar definitely threw down the gauntlet, especially in terms of how much money was to be made with new 3D technology (digital conversion conspiracy: it was James Cameron, a whole bunch of green screens, and a huge swath of New Zealand that sent us hurtling pell mell down this path.)

But for all its technical innovation, film going and film screening has been a relatively stable and standardized experience. And so it more or less remains, at least for those of us out front, in the house seats.

Not so much for those up in the booth. As the art of projection dies away, and actual films become as rare and precious as old master paintings (how ever did the copy become the master, the original?), it is hard not to wonder to what purpose - or even why - such a complete and seismic shift in the film experience, had to happen.

Maybe it's too soon to tell. But as the winding down of cinema speeds up, I'd really love an answer.

The 70mm Festival runs February 15-28 at the Music Box Theatre.

You can follow me on Twitter @wbezacuddy or Facebook.

Female filmmakers shine at Sundance

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 05:00:00 -0600

When I was a film student at Columbia College Chicago, I had only one expectation on the first day of class each semester: I will be in the minority.

Sure enough, I'd walk in and see an overwhelming majority of dudes staring back at me, surprised by my femininity and clearly skeptical of my abilities as a director. In many of my classes, I was the only girl in the room.

Last weekend, Columbia College hosted a series of events in Park City, Utah for the opening of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. This year, for the first time ever, half of the films in the U.S. Dramatic Competition were directed by women (8 out of 16, to be exact). I wonder if any female students were inspired by watching these films onscreen, knowing that at least eight more holes have been blasted through their glass ceiling.

Still, women have a long way to go before acheiving the same status that men have long held as directors. Even though one-time Oscar winner Kathryn Bigelow directed arguably the best film of 2012 (Zero Dark Thirty, a modern masterpiece about the hunt for Osama Bin Laden), the Academy snubbed her for Best Director in favor of an all-boys club once again.

A recent study from the University of Southern California also shows a marked discrepancy between genders: male directors outnumber their female counterparts 15.24 to 1, and the numbers don't seem to be budging anytime soon. Except in Park City, that is, where women are evenly matched with men in both the documentary and dramatic film categories.

Sure, the statistics don't look great for female directors in Hollywood. But if the turnout at Sundance is any indication, more women are being acknowledged for their documentaries, indies and arthouse films than ever before.

Actress-filmmaker Sarah Polley (Away from Her, Take This Waltz), whose well-received documentary Stories We Tell gained entry into Sundance's Spotlight program this year, has noticed a steady rise in female confidantes since she first started coming to the festival in 2000.

"I feel like there's been a seismic shift," Polley said. "My first time at Sundance, I spent the whole time just trying to find other female filmmakers. Now you see there's been huge progress."

Director Lynn Shelton (Humpday, My Sister's Sister) is showing her latest film Touchy Feely at both the U.S. Dramatic Competition in Park City and the Music Box Theatre's Sundance in Chicago event on Jan. 31.

As a champion for female voices in a male-dominated industry, Shelton believes that the increased presence of women at Sundance bodes well for the future.

"It just feels like justice," she said. "Like, OK, this is the way it's supposed to be. This reflects the population of the earth. There's no reason why there shouldn't be as many women making movies as men. But I'm also waiting for the day when I'm not treated as an oddity as a woman. I'm just treated as another filmmaker."

Follow Leah on Twitter @leahkpickett

Chicago's rising stars

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 05:00:00 -0600

As I watched Tina Fey and Amy Poehler kill it as co-hosts of the Golden Globes on Sunday, I was reminded of how they got their start in Chicago over 20 years ago. They met while taking classes at Improv Olympics, immediately bonded over Tina's recent discovery of eyebrow waxing and formed the improv comedy troupe “Inside Vladmir” shortly thereafter. Fey went on to Second City, and Poehler took the Upright Citizen’s Brigade to New York. Then SNL came calling, and the rest is history.

Of course, Second City has a legendary track record of producing comic greats: John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Bill Murray, Steve Carrell and many more. Other famous actors who honed their skills in the Chicago theatre scene include Gary Sinise, Jane Lynch, David Schwimmer, Laurie Metcalf and John Malkovich.

Now, a new group of rising stars has given Hollywood reason to take notice. Here is my list of the top Chicago-based actors and comedians poised for career breakthroughs in 2013:

Katherine Cunningham

As an alumna of Conant High School in Elk Grove Village, Cunningham has played a variety of roles on stage, television and film. Her long list of credits includes Detriot 1-8-7, The Playboy Club, Shameless, The Mob Doctor, Chicago Fire and the Michael P. Noens film Two Days in February. Cunningham most recently appeared on MTV's Underemployed as Natalie, the love interest of lead character Sophia (Michelle Ang). Next up: Johnson, a film co-starring Cam Gigandet (Twilight, Easy A) set to premiere in 2013.

Joe Minoso

Minoso is a graduate of Nothern Illinois University and a veteran of the Chicago theatre scene, performing with such revered companies as the Goodman, Victory Gardens, Writer's Theatre and Chicago Shakespeare. In addition to serving as the associate artistic director at Teatro Vista, he has appeared in several Chicago-filmed television shows, including Boss, The Chicago Code, Shameless, The Beast and Prison Break. His current role, the tough but lovable driver Joe Cruz on NBC's Chicago Fire, is his best yet.

Tawny Newsome

As an ensemble member of Second City's e.t.c. Theatre, Newsome brings the laughs and an added bonus of top-notch theatre training. Before joining the cast in 2012, she graduated from DuPaul's Theatre School and went on to win rave reviews for her performances at Chicago Shakespeare, Writer's Theater, Victory Gardens and American Theatre Company. Newsome is an accomplished singer as well, lending her voice to local rock bands Jon Langford and Skull Orchard, The Dirty Rooks, and This Must Be the Band (Chicago's only Talking Heads tribute). Tribune theatre critic Chris Jones named her one of "10 new faces you should know" in 2012, and her future only looks brighter from here.

Michael Sanchez

Currently one of the driving forces behind Chicago's "Comedians You Should Know," Sanchez studied improv at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York before moving to the Windy City in 2006. He has traveled all across the country performing stand-up, including Seattle's Bumbershoot and New York's Seaport Musical Festival. In addition to writing a number of award-winning comedic shorts and opening for 30 Rock's Tracy Morgan, Sanchez is finishing up his first feature film The Return of Great Guy.

Beth Stelling

As Chicago's comedy It girl, Stelling did it all: studying improv at Annoyance Theatre, performing with the Chicago Underground Company, earning a 2011 Chicago Beat award nomination for Best Non-Equity play (Five Lesbians Eating a Quiche, which went Off-Broadway and will be published by Samuel French in 2013) and tri-hosting the popular Entertaining Julia showcase at Town Hall Pub. Since re-locating to Los Angeles in 2012, Stelling has worked with many funny people (Rob Delaney, Sarah Silverman and Kristen Schaal, to name a few) and was recently crowned #2 on LA Weekly's "12 L.A. Comedy Acts to Watch in 2013." Check out her super-cool website and watch her appearance on Conan below:

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