The lawsuit filed on behalf of Teamster 727 member Anne Stuart, a commercial driver, charging the union with sex discrimination, is back in the game after a judge tossed her lawsuit out of court last March.

Writer/producer/director Jack C. Newell’s romantic comedy, “Open Tables,” is one of 15 films showcasing in the 51st Chicago International Film Festival’s “City & State” section — the largest number of local participating filmmakers yet.

The Illinois House’s last-minute amendment to Senate Bill 4 (SB4) to add a sunset clause in five years to the state’s hard-earned tax incentives has riled up film workers who are eager to do something about it.

“By all means contact your state senator and tell him how you feel about the importance of retaining our incentives,” urges John Coli, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 727, with 6,000 members.   

Chicago Deputy Mayor Steve Koch was among the speakers Thursday at a street-naming ceremony that honored the late Nikolaos “Nick” Mirkopoulos, the visionary owner of Cinespace Studios that transformed Chicago’s film industry and the studios’ North Lawndale neighborhood.

Fortunately, Cinespace is a monster-sized film studio so it can easily accommodate the hundreds of guests expected to attend GalaWeen, a bewitching costume party Halloween night, Oct. 31, 7 p.m. until midnight, to support CineCares Foundation.

Phone calls and Emails of sympathy, gratitude and shock been pouring into  studio executive Alex Pissios’ office at Cinespace since the news of the death of Cinespace owner  Nick Mirkopoulos on Saturday swept film industries from Toronto to LA.

AFTER THREE YEARS with Shirley Hamilton Talent as a TV and film agent, Sanaa Sayyed joined Claire Simon Casting as a casting assistant – where she first worked as an intern practically off the plane from Houston. 

Casting was always her first love, she says, and right now there’s no place busier than Simon, which is casting for TV series “Chicago Fire,” “Chicago PD,” “Betrayal,” “Crisis” and sci-fi feature “Jupiter Ascending.”

Chicago’s ranking as a film city is a sometimes thing.  There have been times when Moviemaker Magazine, for example, has put Chicago on top of a list of the 25 best cities to live and work in one year, and then ignores it the next year in a similar compilation.

To compensate for past sins of omission, the current issue of the International Cinematographers Guild ICG Magazine cites Chicago as one of its five “Great [Union] Locations, where film commissions, vendors and residents love union crews.”