Movie theaters may not be an issue as detrimental as the inequalities that divide Chicago’s communities, but the waning of their presence mirrors larger issues of economic opportunity in the city, community investment, and access to recreation and culture throughout Chicago.

The post Coming soon—to a theater near you? appeared first on Chicago Reader.

This year, Chicago Filmmakers celebrates its 50th anniversary, a landmark achievement in the history of any nonprofit, let alone one focused on the cinematic arts.

The post Chicago Filmmakers celebrates its 50th anniversary appeared first on Chicago Reader.

As the Chicago International Children’s Film Festival celebrates its 40th year, festival program director Deidre Searcy wants people to know it offers something for everyone.

The post CICFF40 teaches families that ‘Chicago is a film town’ appeared first on Chicago Reader.

If rats can’t get fair treatment in the court of public opinion, they can at least get justice from the next best judicial institutions: Hollywood movie studios, where people treat each other right.

The post Hollywood Hates Rats appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Vera Drew has described the film as a coming-of-age story with parallels to her own, and while the people’s Joker needed to escape Smallville, Drew sought refuge in Chicago.

The post The Joker belongs to us all appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Andrew Buss spoke with the Reader about why High Fidelity tops his list of Chicago movies.

The post <i>High Fidelity</i> gets the oral history treatment appeared first on Chicago Reader.

In January 2024, barring any further delays due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, John Cusack will host an intimate screening of the long-admired film at the Auditorium Theatre.

The post In Chicago’s ‘top five,’ <i>High Fidelity</i> is a chart-topper appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Starting October 11, CIFF will once again grace the halls of the Music Box Theatre (and a number of other local venues), delivering 150 films from more than a dozen countries to movie lovers across Chicago. 

The post CIFF’s killer lineup appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Reeling International Film Festival is back to showcase a dizzying array of LGBTQ+ content, from campy horror to historical documentaries.

The post Reeling returns appeared first on Chicago Reader.

The Chicago Underground Film Festival is back, and the longest-running fest devoted to the subculture of movies has quite a variety of attractions.

The post Hello CUFF appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Solutions for violence disruption often fall on the shoulders of politicians and policymakers, but one youth baseball league is tackling the issue through the power of organized sports, as highlighted in an upcoming documentary.

The post Documenting the ‘pure childhood joy’ of baseball appeared first on Chicago Reader.

As has been the case for most of my adult life, I've also watched a lot of movies (and occasionally, some television) this summer. What's been different this year is that I'm now thinking more about those who made what I'm watching, both in front of and behind the camera.

The post Solidarity in the summer appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Fazel Ahad Ahadi expected to spend his whole life in Afghanistan with his extended family. But in summer 2021, Ahadi found himself hastily dismissing class and speeding home to raise a bonfire of books in his backyard. The Taliban had reclaimed Afghanistan’s capital city, and a 20-year artistic renaissance had come to an abrupt and violent end.

The post An artist in exile appeared first on Chicago Reader.

“A String of Pearls: The Films of Camille Billops & James Hatch” is a complete retrospective of their film work, the first-ever in Chicago.

The post No easy answers appeared first on Chicago Reader.

With a projector, a screen, chairs, and drinks, Whiner Beer Co.'s garden will turn into a moviegoing oasis for south-side filmmakers.

The post South of Roosevelt screens films at south-side brewery appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Film and television production in Chicago still lacks the resources, glamour, and consistency of opportunity found on the coasts—but you can’t build Chicago’s community and authenticity in a Hollywood hangar.

The post A local industry renaissance appeared first on Chicago Reader.

The 12-film retrospective presented at the Gene Siskel Film Center, under the questionable title of “The Dirty Stories of Jean Eustache,” will introduce audiences to the work of a fiercely personal artist.

The post Revelation and celebration appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Will No Hard Feelings revive the sex comedy? Probably not. Has it at least revolutionized the subgenre, bringing something heretofore unseen to the summer slate? Maybe . . .

The post Doesn’t anyone fuck anymore? appeared first on Chicago Reader.

The Music Box Theatre and Chicago film critic and programmer Katie Rife are showing several different sides of Godzilla with four screenings of his later, lesser-seen classics, playing at sundown in the Music Box Garden every night from July 24-27.

The post Godzilla is coming to the Music Box Garden appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Inspiration and overcoming are the Hollywood disability default. Jennifer Goodman, RJ Mitte, and their collaborators suggest that there’s a lot more to see.

The post See beyond disability in <i>The Unseen</i> appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Just as The Matrix invites a trans textual reevaluation—spurred from its creators coming out as trans women years after release—Bound subconsciously uses its genre-bending cinematic elements toward corporeal freedom and autonomy.

The post Bound for the floor appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Here’s a list of recommended titles, with an unapologetic slant toward films screening in Chicago theaters.

The post Pride at the movies appeared first on Chicago Reader.

An interview with Chicago native Dewayne Perkins, writer and star of the new horror-comedy The Blackening

The post ‘Without that sketch, maybe nothing, baby!’ appeared first on Chicago Reader.

At Howard Shore’s invitation, Doug Adams—a Chicago-based author and musicologist—observed, documented, analyzed, and eventually illuminated the composer’s work in a 400-page book titled The Music of the Lord of the Rings Films.

The post Doug Adams wrote the book on the Lord of the Rings scores appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Neal O’Bryan founded Workshed Animation, which specializes in stop-motion horror shorts and features, with longtime collaborator and childhood friend Chad Thurman in 2019.

The post ‘That’s movie magic to me’ appeared first on Chicago Reader.

This year, the eighth annual Doc10 Film Festival will strive to engage Chicago residents with stories that illuminate the real-life experiences and struggles of people, both locally and globally.

The post ‘Inform, energize, and engage’ appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Between Monday, April 24, and Friday, April 28, Apichatpong Weerasethakul will again appear in person, this time at several screenings of his films (most on 35-millimeter) between Block Cinema at Northwestern University and the Gene Siskel Film Center.

The post Explore the blessings of cinema with Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul appeared first on Chicago Reader.

“I am a forest, and a night of dark trees: but he who is not afraid of my darkness, will find banks full of roses under my cypresses.” —Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra Just three minutes into Edward Owens’s Autre Fois J’ai Aimé Une Femme (1966), the screen goes dark. It stays that way for […]

The post The Chicago Film Society fulfills tomorrow’s promises appeared first on Chicago Reader.

It’s an impressive venue, but can it survive the COVID-19 fallout and seismic shifts in movie-viewing preferences?

The post The Harper Theater is putting up a fight appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Chicago film lovers will get the chance to mark off a massive chunk of their movie lists at the tenth annual Chicago Critics Film Festival (CCFF).

The post Celebrating a decade of critically acclaimed film appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Devon, 30, runs She | Them Productions, a Chicago-based production company dedicated to telling inclusive and original stories.

The post Brittany Devon’s ‘quiet subtleness of sureness’ appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Emmy Award-winning host and producer Geoffrey Baer takes folks on an adventure in a program premiering Tuesday, March 7, at 7 PM on WTTW called The Most Beautiful Places in Chicago. 

The post Geoffrey Baer finds ‘gems all over Chicagoland’ appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Every year, countless local actors move to LA to pursue a career onscreen. But what about the ones who stay? What does it mean to be a working actor in Chicago?

The post Harold Dennis’s diamonds are in his own backyard appeared first on Chicago Reader.

The vibes are immaculate, joked one of my friends as we walked into the new Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Wrigleyville, which opened a few weeks ago.

The post Chicago gets its first Alamo Drafthouse appeared first on Chicago Reader.

This year’s Sundance Film Festival was a quieter affair.

The post Sundance: risk-free in 2023 appeared first on Chicago Reader.

FIRSTHAND: Life After Prison offers audiences an intimate, compassionate look into the experiences of people attempting to restart their lives after incarceration.

The post FIRSTHAND: Life After Prison illuminates the challenges of reentry for five Chicagoans appeared first on Chicago Reader.

The limitations of human perception and human existence, and the longing to extend both, are at the center of the Block Museum’s latest exhibit, “The Heart’s Knowledge: Science and Empathy in the Art of Dario Robleto.”

The post <strong>Open your eyes to Science on Screen</strong> appeared first on Chicago Reader.

In Amir Naderi’s The Runner, there’s a recurring motif where the young protagonist sprints toward the cargo ships he sees in the water and the planes that fly overhead the Iranian port city of Abadan, where he lives.

The post <strong>Run to the Annual Festival of Films from Iran</strong> appeared first on Chicago Reader.

The Music Box Theatre found itself at the center of controversy in the local LGBTQ+ film space when it planned a February 2 screening of Actors by Betsey Brown.

The post The Music Box cancels <i>Actors</i>, but the discourse continues appeared first on Chicago Reader.

“What we wanted to emphasize with the programming is the real range of work and the impact and power of what these women were trying to do in telling Black women’s stories."

The post Paying homage to Black women in film appeared first on Chicago Reader.

When Janet Fischer was a Chicago teen, she never expected that she’d have the rare privilege of being able to point to the exact spot where a seed from her family tree was planted.

The post The Lyric Theater is a family affair appeared first on Chicago Reader.

The nation's oldest and longest-running college film society is located right under our noses on Chicago's south side at the University of Chicago.

The post Chicago’s 90-year-old film treasure appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Despite the increased spotlight on marginalized voices in the ever-evolving film landscape, criticism doesn’t particularly reflect that. The majority of film critics still tend to be straight, white males, unrepresentative of the world around them. The Call Sheet is a new magazine that aims to disrupt that.

The post A more representative call sheet appeared first on Chicago Reader.

There’s a meme that circulates regularly among cinephilic social media accounts in which Japanese filmmaker Seijun Suzuki appears to declare, “I make movies that make no sense and make no money.”

The post Comprehending the incomprehensibility of Seijun Suzuki appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Women Talking asks if you’ll listen. There is, of course, an argument to be made that Sarah Polley’s adaptation of Miriam Toews’s critically acclaimed novel is meant to be more seen than heard. After all, the material has been taken from the page and repurposed for the screen. And while it’s understood that any great […]

The post Listen to <i>Women Talking</i> appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Rather than make a list of my favorite new films of the year, I’ve made a list of my favorite repertory screenings of 2022.

The post What’s old becomes new again appeared first on Chicago Reader.

It’s anyone’s guess as to why so many movies think “Chicago” in the same breath as “Santa,” but it’s a trend that shows no sign of slowing down, particularly as streamers, niche cable networks, and (shudder) Candace Cameron Bure have doubled down on making Christmas content.

The post A Chicagoland Christmas appeared first on Chicago Reader.

About the decision to hire Amir George, Gordon Quinn explains, “We really wanted someone we felt was going to help transform us into what the next iteration of Kartemquin would be.”

The post Kartemquin Films continues to grow appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Bad Animal feels like the natural progression for their fledgling production company [Emulsion Lab], marrying the indie music locus that inspired their start with the drive for creating projects that rival the scale of their DIY counterparts. 

The post <i>Bad Animal</i> captures Chicago’s glimmering indie music scene appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Will Tracy and Seth Reiss['s] time in Chicago helped inspire their view of fine dining, and several experiences they had in and around Chicago are actually reflected in The Menu. 

The post How Alinea’s tabletop desserts helped craft <i>The Menu</i> appeared first on Chicago Reader.

The 28th Black Harvest Film Festival, hosted at the Gene Siskel Film Center, invites Chicago to experience a rich selection of films devoted to amplifying Black storytelling and promoting the careers of young filmmakers.

The post One of a kind appeared first on Chicago Reader.

It’s oddly fitting that the touring, Los Angeles-based Eyeworks Festival of Experimental Animation went on hiatus during the dog days of the pandemic.

The post The Eyeworks Festival of Experimental Animation returns appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Halloween Ends is notable mainly for its cockamamie plot and its reverence for the original.

The post After 42 years, <i>Halloween</i> finally ends appeared first on Chicago Reader.

J.C. Cricket’s Sex Demon is not for the faint of heart—it’s for the depraved of mind, and Chicago is blessed to have it showing one night only at the Music Box on October 26.

The post <i>Sex Demon</i>: pornographic camp and long-lost queer history appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Pride Film Fest showcases LGBTQ+ shorts and features a diverse mix of riveting stories told across the LGBTQ+ spectrum. 

The post Black queer love, trans Iranian justice, asexual visibility, and more appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Local Band is a feature film about a fictional band that, like their real-life Chicago counterparts, still give it their all despite feeling doomed to fall through the cracks. 

The post Indie rock, immortalized appeared first on Chicago Reader.

There are plenty of film podcasts out there that focus exclusively on the plot or style. Neither Mallory nor I is an aspiring filmmaker or film historian; we’re just two friends talking.

The post Friendships and horror flicks appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Why did it have to be snakes? I don’t have especially strong feelings about them, and yet in the last few years I’ve accidentally become an expert on the deranged world of snakesploitation horror cinema.

The post A love letter to ‘snakies’ appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Adam Carston created Windy City Ballyhoo on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. It’s a repository of Chicago movie ads, photographs, and film reviews from the last century. 

The post Now Playing: Chicago’s history in movie ads appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Director, editor, and producer Maria Breaux taps into the bratty ferocity and cries for revolution of the 1990s riot grrrl movement with her crowdfunded feature film Vulveeta, premiering as part of the 40th iteration of Reeling: The Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film Festival. 

The post Maria Breaux’s crowdfunded feature film is <i>Spinal Tap</i> for queers appeared first on Chicago Reader.

I sat down with [Billy] Eichner and costar Luke Macfarlane to discuss the joy of the theatrical experience, bringing the film from idea to reality, and the exuberant messiness of loving both complicated people and communities.

The post ‘Let’s make the funniest movie we can make’ appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Marilyn Monroe is the American public’s white whale, that which we seek to dominate and claim as our own.

The post Marilyn-Monroe; or, <i>Blonde</i> appeared first on Chicago Reader.

The apparent dryness of Tsai’s films is but a facade, a layer under which a body of water—perhaps, like in one of his films, a river—is waiting to be found.

The post Tsai Ming-liang (finally) comes to Chicago appeared first on Chicago Reader.

From horror movie fests and indie short films to the best in queer and international cinema, you’re guaranteed to find something new to watch this season.

The post A fall full of film appeared first on Chicago Reader.

If you’re looking to fall in love with film and its potential to inspire, look no further than Celluloid Now.

The post Embracing analog appeared first on Chicago Reader.

This week, the WorldScene Film Residency culminates in a film festival curated to illuminate the struggles of young men entangled in the justice system, giving the detainees a voice to share their experiences with their community. 

The post WorldScene Film Festival proves that incarcerated people are <i>More Than a Uniform</i> appeared first on Chicago Reader.

This is the Chicago theatrical premiere of The Batwoman and the U.S. theatrical premiere of The Panther Women.

The post The gorgeous luchadoras of wrestling appeared first on Chicago Reader.

The Festival au Cinéma will take place from August 26 to 28 at Haven’s resident home, the Den Theatre. The festival is three days and three nights, featuring a full schedule of events such as cocktail mixers, a boozy brunch, and an award ceremony on Saturday, August 27.

The post Festival au Cinéma to usher in the ‘modern golden age’ of film appeared first on Chicago Reader.

At Destroy Your Art, taking place this year at the Music Box Theatre on Thursday, August 25, at 7 PM, the four invited filmmakers will each screen a film they made specifically for the event; after that, they’ll burn the flash drive on which it’s contained in front of the audience using a blowtorch. 

The post Destroy Your Art returns appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Produced by Beti Films, Any Given Day follows the story of three Chicagoans struggling to succeed despite mental health challenges.

The post ‘Little things make a huge difference’ appeared first on Chicago Reader.

That’s what makes the Pioneers of Queer Cinema series at Gene Siskel Film Center this month a true event “for the culture”: it’s a broad survey of movies made by queers, for queers that offers at least one tasty morsel for every kind of Letterboxd gay.

The post Do you hate movies, or do you like to fuck? appeared first on Chicago Reader.

It’s been a few years since Noir City: Chicago emerged from dark alleyways celebrating film noir, movies that embody the seedier side of everyday life. The pandemic paused the festival . . . but this year it’s back at the Music Box Theatre.

The post ‘Sexy and sinister’ appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Film historian, author, and Film Noir Foundation treasurer Alan Rode hosts Noir City: Chicago August 29 through September 1 at the Music Box Theatre.

The post Alan K. Rode’s 2022 Noir City: Chicago lineup appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Chicago audiences love the Music Box and Film Center, so, naturally, I wanted to ensure that MUBI GO is as exciting a premise for them as it is for viewers.

The post MUBI GO to the movies appeared first on Chicago Reader.

It’s unlikely that someone’s going to see The Reef: Stalked and go out and murder a bunch of sharks. But the fact that we tend to see nature as victimizing us rather than the other way around does have an effect on the present and future of the planet. 

The post The much worse predator appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Perea’s career is almost certainly going to hit another echelon now that Nope has hit cinemas. For the time being, though, he just hopes that audiences are thoroughly entertained by Peele’s dynamic storytelling and filmmaking.

The post From roller rinks to R-rated movies appeared first on Chicago Reader.

If you want to see Crispin Glover’s Olivia Newton-John impersonation, head around the bunny-headed Jesus, past the John Wayne Gacy display, and watch your head down the stairs.

The post Odd Obsession has returned appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Ultimately, whether the show is any good does not depend on how well it "gets" Chicago, on a logistical or even cultural level, but on whether it is entertaining or not.

The post Thrill of recognition or contempt for inaccuracy appeared first on Chicago Reader.

With over a hundred years of the moving image at their disposal, these creative people appear at a loss how to proceed. It’s a very familiar feeling.

The post Not just another remake appeared first on Chicago Reader.

“When we go to a skate park, we take up space, and then all of a sudden you don’t see a bunch of guys trying to tell you to move out the way, ’cause we’re the majority now,” says Lid Madrid. “And we’re taking up space, and just changing the way that skate parks traditionally […]

The post Welcome to the skate park appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Floyd Webb is the curator of the Black Actors in Foreign Cinema screening series, co-presented by nonprofit media arts organization Chicago Filmmakers and his company, the Blacknuss Network.

The post Showcasing Black actors in foreign cinema appeared first on Chicago Reader.

From the comfort of your car or on a picnic with friends, Chicago’s outdoor movie screenings have resuscitated the alluring drive-in experience, so screentime can be spent with others all summer long.

The post Ghost of drive-ins past? appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Airport (1970) introduced many tropes so closely associated with the 70s disaster genre: the reverence for—and subsequent destabilization of—then-new technologies, in this case the Boeing 707; a miasma of soap-operaish subplots; and huge all-star casts slumming for easy paychecks.

The post A brand new print of <i>Airport</i> premieres at this year’s Music Box 70mm Film Festival appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Critics sometimes say that films like Running Man and Battle Royale implicate the viewer. When you watch them, you’re supposed to recognize the ickiness of your own enjoyment of uber-violence. But isn’t the ickiness also part of the enjoyment?

The post Cinema Deathmatch: Round One explores moral-panic entertainment appeared first on Chicago Reader.

It’s a sci-fi, Afrofuturistic story that is also a musical that takes place in the past, present, and future, while also spanning the wide depths of identity and innovation.

The post <i>Neptune Frost</i> is limitless appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Over the course of 19 jam-packed minutes, Hanson plays with the storytelling conventions of rom-coms, reality dating shows, and pornography to tell a comedically rock 'n' roll story about unrequited love and some of queer culture's unspoken taboos.

The post <i>Bros Before</i> is stupid and horny—and wonderfully queer appeared first on Chicago Reader.

This month, Chicago filmgoers are lucky enough to experience not one but four genre-defining anime classics on the silver screen as part of Anime Auteurs, a series put on by Facets. 

The post Timelines overlap, worlds warp, and dreams become reality appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Heavily inspired by Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, the romantic comedy follows a group of best friends as they enjoy a weeklong vacation on Fire Island, the famous hotspot for queer culture that’s located just off Long Island, New York. 

The post Joel Kim Booster is on fire appeared first on Chicago Reader.

The Gene Siskel Film Center’s monthlong celebration of Chicago native Haskell Wexler’s centennial concludes May 31.

The post ‘Let’s fuck up the frame’ appeared first on Chicago Reader.

“What we know for a fact is that making abortion illegal does not stop women from seeking abortions, it just keeps them from getting safe abortions.”

The post <i>The Janes</i> is a call to action appeared first on Chicago Reader.

In the context of film, silence helps us appreciate the beauty and gift that is our sense of sight.

The post Seeing with silence in avant-garde cinema appeared first on Chicago Reader.

The film is the thing, the guiding force behind what they do. 

The post The sweet sound of silents appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Philip Glass’s soundtrack for piano, pipe organ, and chorus mirrors the repetition in the summoning spell.

The post Horror is a sound you can’t stop saying appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Those once-pestering words on the bottom of television screens I now see as an opportunity to refresh and expand my communication.

The post In defense of subtitles appeared first on Chicago Reader.

I left feeling hollow and angry. Like I’d been manipulated using methods pioneered and perfected under the long-gone Soviet regime of my childhood.

The post <i>Navalny</i> feels like a Soviet-era infomercial appeared first on Chicago Reader.

The Northman is not a bad film. . . . But I can’t help but be disappointed that Eggers took this politically and socially fraught figure, the Viking, and played it so straight.

The post A testosterone-fueled hero’s journey appeared first on Chicago Reader.

The Reader caught up with Kerman to talk about what connects South Side and Bust Down, being reasonable in an insane world, and working with Freddie Gibbs.

The post ‘Chicago is a funny-ass town’ appeared first on Chicago Reader.

The long-running porn festival HUMP! Fest (organized by Chicago Reader sex columnist Dan Savage) made its way to the Music Box last weekend after being canceled last year.

The post The 17th annual porn film festival is back in person appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Like the rest of us in 2020, film director Michael Glover Smith found his carefully laid plans laid to waste by a microscopic agent of chaos and destruction.

The post At the Siskel Center, Rogers Park is Tuesday’s star appeared first on Chicago Reader.

This is the final of four curated weeks in the festival, and PrideArts finishes things off by showcasing touching connections, tragic losses, and lighthearted shenanigans in five short films. 

The post Five electric films at PrideArts appeared first on Chicago Reader.