DAILY BLOG

10.25.12
MIKE'S GREATEST ADVENTURE
Michael Kutza, Founder and Artistic Director

I learned a lot this year! It may be my 48th Festival, but in terms of surprises there was one every day! Record crowds, of course.  More filmmakers visiting Chicago than ever, of course. But the biggest surprises came with the technology of the Festival itself - DCP, KDM, Hard-Drive encryption and a window of time with a key. Times have changed with the invention of different filming methods and the Festival is only 10% film these days. In the past I never used to worry about a star or director arriving on time, but I did worry if all six 35mm reels of a film would arrive at the theater. Now, I have to worry if the film has been ingested into the server of the projector! The theme of my worries stay the same, even as technology changes.

This year’s Festival was an amazing success and I work with a terrific team of dedicated people – Vivian, Mimi, Rebecca, Alex and Erin. As we wrap-up the next few days I’m told everything will be put up on the Cloud server for safe-keeping... Now where is that? And will someone show me how to get there?  What an adventure the Festival has become!

10.23.12
OPERATIONS AND VENUES:
My Festival experience in 2 sentences

Frank Ledezma, Operations and Venue Manager:
Smoke and Mirrors. And leave them smiling.

Sean Blay,  Production Coordinator:
This is my second year on the ops team. I set up the carpets you see in all our great photos and make sure everything runs smoothly for all our guests.

Sean Campe, Operations Coordinator.
Crowd control and line management can take a toll on a person. I now reside on the Box Office floor and found that popcorn that has become a major food group.

10.22.12
EYES ON VOLUNTEERS
Caroline Murphy, Volunteer Coordinator

After 3 years of volunteering at the Festival, I am taking the reins and heading up the volunteers as the Volunteer Coordinator at this year's Chicago International Film Festival. With over 250 volunteers this year, you will often find me checking volunteers in for their shifts and getting them oriented on their daily assignments. The volunteers are such an integral part of the Festival. It wouldn't be a success without their help and dedication each and every day!

10.21.12
A LITTLE HELP FROM OUR FRIENDS
Sarah Schwartz, Marketing Coordinator

To say that many people and hours go into making the Chicago International Film Festival a success would be an understatement. From extra staff to extra hours, we work around the clock to make each and every Festival better than the last. But we couldn't do it alone.

From radio to print, from online ads to Facebook posts, it has been an absolute privilege to work with our media partner this year. A grateful thank-you goes to WBBM, JCDecaux, TimeOut Chicago,Chicago Tribune, RedEye, Hoy, CS Magazine, Chicago Reader, WXRT, Screen Magazine, Reel Chicago and Yelp, who have all be integral in spreading the word about our Festival and getting the information out to you. I hope you have been following them around on their social media pages, as there were some great passes and prizes out there to help make your Festival experience one-of-a-kind. Or show them some love by sending me a photo of you by one of our bus shelters, with one of our ads or reading one of our partner's publications and we will post it to our Facebook page!

As my first Festival comes to a close, I am so grateful for the friendships and partnerships that we've created together and that, because of them, more people were able to "come see the world!"

10.20.12 
A NOTE FROM OUR INTERNATIONAL INTERNS

नमस्ते, Bienvenu, Bem-vindo! Celebrate with Arushi, Alice, João and Paul the 48th Chicago International Film Festival! Being a foreigner in an international film festival is very exciting. It is always such a pleasure to welcome and make you discover our best fellow-citizen artists. We are very proud to represent our different countries and to bring another little exotic touch to the Festival!

10.19.12
GOOD PUBLICITY
Alejandro Riera, Publicity Manager

Breathtaking !!!! Exhilarating!!!! THE BEST ACTION SEQUENCES SINCE (take your pick)!!!! ALL IN EYE-POPPING 3D!!!! Well, not really. But, as the publicity manager for the 48th Chicago International Film Festival, I could easily come up with a half dozen more adjectives that could describe what these past two months have been like for me. This is my second year with the Festival and, after having covered it for so many years as a reporter, critic and editor for Hoy and Exito, this experience has once again given me a deeper appreciation for the hard work that goes behind the scenes, and the role the Festival plays as a key destination for local, national and international filmmakers.

None of this would be possible without the support of my colleagues in the media. The coverage the city’s newspapers (dailies and weeklies), television and radio stations, film critics, bloggers and online media have given to the Festival has been fantastic. Thank you! A big shout-out and thanks also go to Nick Harkin and Carly Leviton, our publicity partners at Carol Fox and Associates, who have worked so hard and so diligently at each and every single one of our special red carpet events and photo opps. And finally, to the good folks at Allied-THA, thanks for all your help. I will see you at the next screening.

 

10.18.12 
HALFWAY THERE: A LOOK AT SHORTS
Penny Bartlett, Programmer

As the second weekend of the festival draws closer, I look forward to unleashing a parade of nudists made out of felt and wool, elderly ladies with a penchant for facebook flirting, stranded astronauts, alcoholic puppets, feline cinematographers and many, many, more ... the short films line-up is where you'll find some of the weirdest and most wonderful films in the festival.  But while the shorts may be quirky in their content, the stories they tell are universal, powerful and relevant. I am beyond excited that two of this year's documentary shorts - Paradise, by Nadav Kurtz, playing in Shorts 1, Friday at 1pm and Sunday at 12pm, and The Perfect Fit, by Tali Yankelevich, playing in Shorts 6, Friday at 3:45pm, have made their way onto the Oscar shortlist for Best Short Documentary Film. I know many more of these filmmakers will be making a splash in the future, and I look forward to welcoming them to the festival from around the US as well as New Zealand, Israel, Belgium and Poland. Come to the festival and be among the first to discover these talented new voices and check out their bold, bizarre and breathtaking visions!

10.17.12 
TEAM HOSPITALITY
Malinda Lynch, Hospitality Manager 

This is my third year working with the Chicago International Film Festival and my second year as the Hospitality Manager. One of my favorite things about my job is the process of preparing the filmmakers welcome packet, communicating with them via email and then finally meeting them face to face. It is truly rewarding to hear about each filmmakers journey to different festivals and their individual creative processes. Even though most of them are in Chicago for a short time, we form a special bond with them and always hate to see them leave!

10.17.12 
TRANSPORTING TALENT
Nick Rocchio, Transportation Manager

It has been an absolute pleasure managing transportation for the 2012 Chicago International Film Festival. I feel that the transportation that we provide for our film makers is truly unique to this festival and makes them feel lavishly accommodated for and privileged to be in attendance. I think the time the filmmakers get to spend in the automobiles with the drivers gives them an opportunity to relax and digress for a moment from their sometimes hectic schedule. Our drivers are all Chicago veterans and always offer plenty of suggestions, answers, and decent conversation to any and all inclined guests. The Chicago International Film festival is such an important cultural contributor to Chicago's historical and vibrant art scene and I'm happy to be a part of it.

10.17.12 
BEST WISHES FOR OUR FILMMAKERS
Kelly Holzknecht, Travel Coordinator

I have had the incredible honor of being one of the first people to reach out to our directors, actors, jury and guests and invite them to the 48^th Chicago International Film Festival. As this year’s travel coordinator, I have done my best to provide our guests with travel and hotel and make sure everything runs smoothly. What I didn’t know going into this job was how much fun I would have. It has been a pleasure to work with the Cinema/Chicago staff and the Hospitality Team. I have met some amazing directors and actors that I hope to keep in touch with long after the Festival ends.

 

10.17.12 
FESTIVAL FIRSTS
Jason Brousseau, Hospitality Coordinator

This is my first year with the Chicago International Film Festival, and it has been such a great experience so far. It's funny how such a huge event can make you realize what a small world it is. Working in the Hospitality Suite and Filmmaker Lounge has been such a great opportunity to get to know people from around the world, and even have surprise visits from some that I've already met. It's a great feeling when we are told how we've helped to make their trip memorable.

10.16.12
THE REAL RED CARPET
Amber Tillett, Special Events

“You have the best job,” Festival-goers and staff always say to me.  “Yeah, it’s pretty awesome,” I always respond.  

Special Events Manager for the Chicago International Film Festival is a great job, but it’s not what most people think it is.  Most people think we hob-knob with VIPs all the time, wearing fancy outfits.  In reality, we spend a lot of time dragging around giant boxes, crawling around on the floor gaffing red carpets and building towering step and repeats.

I warned Taryn, my Special Events Assistant, of these incredibly un-glamorous duties when she took the job, and she still accepted.  Thank goodness she did, because we’re quite the team.  

We do have moments to sit back and take it in.  That’s when the reward comes.  We see our filmmakers and guests mingling and we feel the love, the love of film.  

10.15.12 
EYES ON DEVELOPMENT
Erin Payton, Development Manager

I have so enjoyed building relationships with our sponsors, members and donors over the past year. From running into members Carol Schalk and Diane O’Leary on Opening Night, to meeting our Texan donor Patricia Makin, to spending time with the diligent canvassers from Creative America, the Festival has been so rewarding for me.

Thanks to all of my sponsors and my contacts that make my job so much easier: Brenda from our Presenting Partner Columbia College Chicago, Eric from Stella Artois, Liz from DePaul University School of Cinema and Interactive Cinema, Chris Pagano-Realtor, Rebecca and Dave from Land Rover, Rob from ShutterBox Photobooth, Mark, Nathan and Schuyler from Cultivate Studios (download our iPhone App!), Lori and Nicole from iNDemand, Jessica and Katie from Brugal Rum, Christina from Creative America, and Ignacio from EC Charro Tequila. Thanks to the rest of our sponsors as well: our Official Airline American Airlines, The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, AMC Theatres, Intersites, WBBM Newsradio, Optimus, Gibsons Restaurant Group, Second City Computers, our Headquarters Hotel, JW Marriott and our Hotel Partners, Park Hyatt Chicago, theWitChicago, and PUBLIC Chicago.

Enjoy the Festival!

10.14.12
DOCS & SUCH
Alex Kopecky, Competitions Coordinator/Programmer

When we think of documentary filmmaking, the very nature of the term can corner us into a bit of overly reductive categorization. After all, the form has proven to be more than a simple label as descriptive as "drama" or "comedy;" documentary is a mode of film practice that stretches from the purest vérité traditions to the point at which drawing a line between "fiction" and "non-fiction" is hopelessly pedantic. Coming from around the world and representing a vast array of approaches, the twenty-one films that make up this year's documentary selection are intended to reflect that heterogeneity. Whether your interests lie in hot-button political issues or visual abstraction, we hope to see you in theater, debating these films and the nature of documentary itself with each other and the filmmakers.

 

10.13.12
LESSONS IN CINEMA
Rebecca Fons, Education Program Manager

It's a tumultuous time for public schools - budget tightening, school closures, never ending pressure on teachers and administrators to produce high ranking students and test scores. The outlook can seem bleak when facing the uphill journey that is educating our youth.

When the odds feel insurmountable, I turn my attention to the core of the solution: the individual student. That single student who seeks guidance, passion and inspiration. Every weekday morning of the Festival and throughout the school-year, Cinema/Chicago provides that inspiration through our free Education Outreach Screenings to Chicago Public School students as part of our year-round Education Outreach Program.

Screening after screening, as hundreds of students file into the theater and I look out over the sea of faces in the seats, I am confident that within this school year, within this school day, and within these next two hours, at least one student will be moved to act by the film they see. They will be inspired to create art by the images they are exposed to; they will be driven to speak their voice by the program we have presented.

It's a triumph, one student at a time.

10.12.12
WELCOME TO THE FRIST WEEKEND OF THE FESTIVAL!
Mimi Plauché, Head of Programming

After a year-long search for films to bring to the Festival, it is so exciting and rewarding to see the films up on the big screens, as they're meant to be seen, playing to crowded houses of our Festival audiences. We are also so thrilled to have so many filmmakers and actors in town to meet our audiences and talk about their work, their process, and their ideas. And they are equally eager to hear your reactions! The post-screening dialogues in the theaters cover everything from technique and symbolism to character motivation and cultural or historical meaning. It is these conversations that, for me, make the Festival experience a truly unique one. The Festival is a place where film can not only entertain, enrich, and move us individually but also bring people together. We look forward to hearing what you have to say!

What is the first film you remember seeing and loving?   
Raging Bull

If you could work with any actor, living or dead, who would it be? 
Al Pacino and Sean Penn

Do you like to watch your own films?  
No

What movie will you stop on when flipping channels, no matter how many times you’ve seen it and no matter what time it started? 
There are a lot of films

Where do you sit at the movies: front, middle, or back row? 
Back corner

I am a(n) _________ filmmaker. Or What defines you as a filmmaker?  
... It could be I am not a filmmaker.

Landon Zakheim (ANOTHER BULLET DODGED) 

What is the first film you remember seeing and loving?   
THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN. My mom took me to see Terry Gilliam's film when I was 5 years old and for years afterwards, I wasn't sure if that was a real movie I had watched or a dream that I had. Without any internet, I was hopelessly describing fragments of that film to people who had no idea what I was talking about until one day when I was 16, I came across the cover of it in a video store while searching through a backlog of titles and I instantly knew what I was looking at.

If you could work with any actor, living or dead, who would it be? 
Al Pacino and Walter Matthau

Do you like to watch your own films?  
No, but I do it anyways. It's a very masochistic tendency.

What movie will you stop on when flipping channels, no matter how many times you’ve seen it and no matter what time it started? 
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Where do you sit at the movies: front, middle, or back row? "
MIDDLE! or wherever there is a seat when I run in just as the lights are going down.

I am a(n) _________ filmmaker. Or What defines you as a filmmaker?
SHORT filmmaker. I enjoy the form in and of itself as a legitimate representation of film culture. I would like to be defined as a filmmaker who looks to step outside my own comfort zone each time out.

 

Ana Lazarevic ( the Runner) 

What is the first film you remember seeing and loving? 
The Little Mermaid as a kid and City of God as an adult. Those two are my ultimate! I used to make my older sister rewind and play The Little Mermaid over and over again. I felt really connected to Ariel and I wanted her to get her character want so badly. As for City of God, I watched that in a World Cinema class at DePaul and I was just blown away by how powerful it was. I loved it in a different way than I had any other film. It kept me on the edge of my seat. It hit me in the gut, where a movie should hit.  The photography was raw yet stunning. 

If you could work with any actor, living or dead, who would it be? 
Right now, I'd have to say Tahar Rahim from A Prophet. I thought that he was just incredibly believable and vulnerable. He made Malik's emotional journey true and nuanced. I truly believed that he was that character. He maintained a vulnerability throughout despite the harshness of Malik's world. He betrays and kills someone early on in the film and I'm still routing for him. That says something.

Do you like to watch your own films? 
Some of them. The first few films I made, not so much. But I don't mind watching The Runner. 

What movie will you stop on when flipping channels, no matter how many times you’ve seen it and no matter what time it started? 
Mannequin. Maybe it's because they used to play it on tv a lot when I was a kid.

Where do you sit at the movies: front, middle, or back row? 
Back (ish) row and as close to the center as possible.

I am a(n) __________ filmmaker. Or What defines you as a filmmaker? 
INTUITIVE. I like to make quiet films that are guided by unspoken emotions. I also balance those emotional moments with adventure and suspense. It's those quiet moments that inspire me. What's being said when no dialogue is exchanged?

 

Esmaeel Monsef (Under the Colors) 

What is the first film you remember seeing and loving? 
A Man Escaped

 If you could work with any actor, living or dead, who would it be? 
Marlon Brando

Do you like to watch your own films?
Yes

What movie will you stop on when flipping channels, no matter how many times you’ve seen it and no matter what time it started? 
A film in which silence speaks louder than words.

Where do you sit at the movies: front, middle, or back row? 
Back

I am a(n) _______ filmmaker. Or What defines you as a filmmaker? 
Artist

Fawzia Mirza (The Queen of My Dreams)

What is the first film you remember seeing and loving?
English Language Film: THE SOUND OF MUSIC,  Hindi Language Film: YEH VADHA RAHA

If you could work with any actor, living or dead, who would it be?
N/A

Do you like to watch your own films?
When I am IN them, it is harder and I don't want to watch after the first few times. If I have produced, directed, written the project, I am interested in feeling the energy of an audience during a screening.

What movie will you stop on when flipping channels, no matter how many times you’ve seen it and no matter what time it started? 
THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT

Where do you sit at the movies: front, middle, or back row?
I used to sit in the middle, now I LOVE the backrow. 

I am a(n) _________ filmmaker. Or What defines you as a filmmaker?  
Making experimental work is what defines me as a filmmaker. From a film-making perspective, I invest my energy into projects that aren't being made, that may facilitate my work as an actor, and tell stories that reflect either a culture, a community, a voice, that I think is missing.

 

Nina Grosse (The Weekend)

What is the first film you remember seeing and loving? 
Bonnie & Clyde 

If you could work with any actor, living or dead, who would it be?
Jack Nicholson

Do you like to watch your own films?
The good ones yes.

Where do you sit at the movies: front, middle, or back row? 
Front row.

I am a(n) _________ filmmaker. Or What defines you as a filmmaker? 
I am an obsessed filmmaker.

 

Jan Troell (The Last Sentence)

What is the first film you remember seeing and loving? 
Snow White 

If you could work with any actor, living or dead, who would it be? 
Charles Laughton

Do you like to watch your own films?
Sometimes with an audience

What movie will you stop on when flipping channels, no matter how many times you’ve seen it and no matter what time it started?
The Night of the Hunter

Where do you sit at the movies: front, middle, or back row?
Middle

 

Zack Bornstein (Dear Hunters)

What is the first film you remember seeing and loving?
The live-action Super Mario Brothers movie, "trust the fungus!", is a devastatingly kitschy, yet perfect film, and I could watch this 1000 times as a child and not get bored.

If you could work with any actor, living or dead, who would it be? 
I would love to work with Jackie Chan in a non-Kung Fu movie. Would be jarring the whole time. Growing up my family had a Jackie Chan night where we would watch one of his movies every weekend, going back and forth between the American and Chinese ones. My mother read my brother and me his autobiography when we were kids as a bedtime story, and he just seems like the nicest man in the world. Imagine him in a Rom-Com, there's nothing he could say that wouldn't be hilarious.

 Do you like to watch your own films?
I watch my own films only as a learning experience of what not to do in the next one. After seeing it so many times in the editing room, it's hard not to see only the mistakes.

What movie will you stop on when flipping channels, no matter how many times you’ve seen it and no matter what time it started?
Kingpin, directed by the Farrelly Brothers. A true dark comedy of comedies and one of my personal favorites. It was also the first DVD I ever saw. I thought every DVD menu would have a bowling ball as the selector between options.

Where do you sit at the movies: front, middle, or back row? 
Frontish-Middle. I like the edges of the screen to be just outside of my range of vision so I'm slightly overwhelmed. Makes me feel more like the camera is my actual vision. If I wanted to see the entire screen, I'd watch it in my bed at home.

I am a(n) _________ filmmaker. Or What defines you as a filmmaker?
Mad-Scientist. I try to direct with scientific precision, and my movies tend to be vaguely unsettling. I like to mix-and-match things that don't go together, and I want to make the audience question their own traditions and values when they leave the theater.