Chicago Cinema Forum

Chicago Cinema is screening some shorts on Tuesday before Halloween. Check out some of the stuff they're showing, including Betty Boop and Buster Keaton!


A NIGHT OF THE MACABREA collection of horrific shorts and clips on Halloween Eve

Films presented will include:

THE GHOST TRAIN (anonymous, 1901)
THE MERRY FROLICS OF SATAN (Georges Méliès, 1905)
THE RED SPECTRE (Segundo de Chomon, 1907)
THE HAUNTED HOUSE (Buster Keaton, 1921)
BETTY BOOP IN SNOW WHITE (Dave Fleischer, 1933)
LE VAMPIRE (Jean Painlevé, 1945)
THE ALPHABET (David Lynch, 1968)
THE SCARY MOVIE (Peggy Ahwesh, 1993)+ 16mm
HORROR TRAILERS assembled by Brian Block+ many other surprises!

Various formats. Most films screening on 16mm.$5 includes films, candies and wine (while it lasts) Venue:CHOPIN THEATRE LOUNGE
1543 W. Division St. in Wicker Park
http://www.chopintheatre.com/
Date:Tuesday, October 30th
doors open 8pmMore info:http://www.chicagocinemaforum.org/

Questions

OK! So I emailed Tamara and she said I can email her our questions. Now, if I had read my email earlier I could have met up with her Sunday. Apparently North Western University has got something going on, cause they've got her presenting Thursday morning! She's not scheduled to do anything at Columbia. Anyway, send me your questions and I'll work em' all into a nice list and email it.

Goofy Short

We just wanted to remind everyone about the Goofy short being played before the Three Robbers tomorrow morning at the Davis Theatre at 10:30. We'll be doing a Q/A with the producer afterwards and would like an approximate number. If you're planning on coming, please let Kristine know or leave a comment here.

Here's the original post about it-
http://wiachicago.blogspot.com/2007/09/lets-see-first-disney-short-to-be.html

The Pixar Story

At Comic Con, we caught most of this documentary, The Pixar Story. It is now playing at the Landmark Theatre. It's directed by Leslie Iwerks, grandaughter of Ub Iwerks.

http://www.landmarktheatres.com/Films/films_frameset.asp?id=63971

Flip Books

Hi all! Okay so I know that during the summer we agreed to do flip books, so I was wondering if any more people have done flip books? I would like to collect them in the next WIA meeting on November 14th. If you have done one and would like to do another please feel free to. Just in case, the flip books should be 8.5 X 5.5, enter left and exit right, also please number your pages and write how many frames the pose is going to hold for, so when I shoot them, there won't be a mix up. Thank you.

An interesting site

Pixar has created a "mock" company site from their next film, Wall-E.

http://www.buynlarge.com/NewsCenter.html?storyId=25

Sketchcrawl!

The next "official" sketch crawl is Nov. 4th.

http://www.sketchcrawl.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=32&sid=5acd8d51df1b9d49ad49bc1cc20ff78d

Meeting with Producer of "How to Hook Up Your Home Theatre"

I recently emailed both director's of the new goofy short that is playing at the Chicago Children's International Film Festival. I actually got a response from the Producer, Tamara Boutcher, of the short. We get to meet and chat with her after the screening on the 20th! Here's the email she sent regarding a possibility to have an email chat with the directors of the short:

Hi kristine, Stevie forwarded your mail on to me. I am the Producer of "how to hook up your home theatre" the short that will be screening at the festival. Unfortunately, the directors will not be attending the scrreening on the 20th, but I will be there and would love to say hello to your group. Let's talk then about setting up an email "chat" with stevie and kevin. We may also be talking to some colleges in the area and I will have more up to date information about that on the 20th too. Thanks for your interest in our project. Cheers! --tamara


So WIA chicago- if you are attending the screening on that Saturday morning, please let me know so I get a count. I will post directions to the theatre here later this week, it's actually at the DAVIS theatre on the North end of the city. See you all at the screening and start thinking of questions you might want to ask!

I've updated my blog with an illustration for Illustration Friday! And you can vote for it if you'd like....
kborcz.blogspot.com

Oct. Meeting Notes

Thanks to everyone who came to the WIA meeting today. Here are some dates to mark on your calendars:

Sat. October 13th- A group of us are going to see Animation Nations, animation shorts playing with the Chicago International Film Festival. (5:30 show) http://www.chicagofilmfestival.org/cgi-bin/WebObjects/CIFFSite.woa/3/wa/pages/Shorts

Sat. Oct. 20th- We’re going to the Children’s International Film Festival to see the 10:30 show of The Three Robbers with a new Goofy short, How to Hook up Your Home Theater, playing before it. (Check back here for exciting news regarding that!)

November 7th- Bill Plympton is having a preview of his nearly complete film, Idiots and Angels, at the Music Box. Chicago will be the first audience to see this film before it’s sent off to Sundance. It is a bit late though, but should be well worth it! 10pm

We decided not to have a sketchcrawl for October because the month is already full, so let’s have one in November. Please think of indoor locations for the next sketchcrawl.

One idea we had is to have a bit of “show and tell” time at the end of each meeting. Anyone who has anything they’d like to show the group is welcome to at the end of each meeting. It’d be great to see what everyone else is working on. Also, if anyone would like to give tutorials/demonstrations, please let us know. We might have a Flash demonstration at the next meeting by Patrick Cheng.

We’re also in the process of scheduling a guest speaker, Priscilla Olson, to come back and show us more of her animation. It should be in November or December.

The next meeting will be at the same time and same place on November 14th.

Meeting this Wednesday

Remember the October meeting is this Wednesday at 6pm at Columbia College in room 401H at the 1104 S. Wabash building.

Is anyone interested in kind of doing a "show and tell" type thing after each meeting? Anyone who's interested can show what animation or art projects they're working on.

Chicago International Film Festival

It's fall and that means the Chicago International Film Festival is back! It started October 4 and runs until the 17th. Who wants to go see the animation shorts Saturday, October 13th? (5:30pm)

Animation Nations-
Dark events force Bill to evaluate his life in Everything Will Be Okay. 1977 follows a girl's difficult search for her identity. Graham's unholy fantasy gets the better of him in For the Love of God. Entropy and order have it out in Spontaneous Generation. A stormy night in Looking Glass makes a young girl question if she's safe at home. Art's Desire allows famous paintings to come to life. Sleeping Betty shows a young girl who just wants to sleep in peace. An old man's experience with a Fascist attack is retold in The Battle of Cable Street. Flutter flies along with a young boy who runs off to explore the world. Yours Truly is a high-octane thriller with noir icons. Rowlandson Rides Again celebrates the art of Thomas Rowlandson in truly randy fashion. Total running time: 87 minutes.

Bill Plympton's Secret Premier

We just recieved this email from Gabe, the guy who organized the John&Bill Show:

IDIOTS & ANGELS...a dark comedy about a man's battle for his soul...the latest and greatest from Bill Plympton.At The John & Bill Show earlier this summer, Bill previewed a pencil test of his work-in-progress, Idiots & Angels. Most of you reading this were at the show, and, if you recall, the preview left all of us slack-jawed. This could very well be Plympton's most visually demanding work yet.

This screening is happening ONLY in Chicago, and ONLY one night; and in no small part it is thanks to all of you who came out for The John & Bill Show. SO...Bill is returning to Chicago on Wednesday, November 7th to the Music Box for an exclusive test screening of the nearly complete film. This is the first (and only) public screening of Idiots & Angels before he sends it off to Sundance. After the screening, Bill is going to hang out and talk with you about the movie. In his words, "I want to know what's wrong with it." He wants feedback to help polish and complete the film for entry into Sundance this year. It's not often (if ever???) that fans get a chance to be a part of the creative process, so if you dig Bill's work, I hope you can make it out.

You can get your tickets through Ticketweb or http://www.gabelevinsonpresents.com/. It's only $7 in advance, or $10 at the door.

For more info on Idiots & Angels, check out this story just published in The Hollywood Reporter.By the by...with The John & Bill Show, you saw posters, articles, ridiculous amounts of emails and MySpace bulletins...but keeping in the vein of this "secret" show, you're not going to see or hear too much about it beyond this email (maybe one more closer to the show) and some postcards drifting about town. PLEASE TELL EVERYONE YOU KNOW. Let's pack the house with Plymptoons freaks! Forward this email along to anyone and everyone who may be interested. This is a pretty underground marketing campaign and the best advertising is going to come from you. Let's show Bill some Chicago love and if we can fill the seats, I think it will be a strong argument for Bill to want to bring more nights like this into our home.

Hitchcock Exhibit

Casting a Shadow: Creating the Alfred Hitchcock Film is a new exhibit at Northwestern University's Mary and Leigh Block Museum. It opened last week and will stay there until Dec. 9.


"Through drawings, paintings, storyboards, and production documents, this exhibition explores a film making process that thrived on teamwork, with the director's colleagues contributing critical ideas and Hitchcock engaged in creative collaboration frame by frame. The exhibition, which will include computer and multimedia technology, will be accompanied by an illustrated catalogue, a film series with speakers, and a symposium."

Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art
40 Arts Circle Drive
Evanston, IL

For more info, please visit http://www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu/exhibitions/current/hitchcock.html