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Indie Focus

The Tattooed Torah produced & animated by 11 Dollar Bill

By Reel Chicago Apr 29, 2021

The Tattooed Torah, brilliantly animated and produced by 11 Dollar Bill, is based on the children’s book by Marvell Ginsburg. Like the book, the film is meant to educate ...

Indie Focus

Doc featuring life of Chicago LGBTQ+ leaders Art and Pep

By Reel Chicago Apr 25, 2021

A teaser and website for the new film Art and Pep was just released, giving a first glimpse into the documentary that will feature the life and love of LGBTQ+ civil rights lead...

Indie Focus

LA indie drama will film in Evanston in late March

By Ruth L Ratny Mar 11, 2014

Indie film “A Light Beneath Their Feet,” from LA-based PhD Productions, starring Taryn Manning (“Orange is the New Black”) will start shooting in Evanston the end of Mar...

Indie Focus

Questar’s “Running of the Bulls” DVD the real things

By Mike Morgan Jan 20, 2014

Chicago has been host to many different kinds of events that fall into the sporting category, but the one scheduled Saturday, July 12 is hard to classify as it’s a version of ...

Indie Focus

Tax prep firm makes for a surprising web reality show

By Mike Morgan Jan 6, 2014

WHILE A TAX PREPARATION BUSINESS may appear dull and predictable, CEO Judy Brooks and sister Jackelin Brooks, partners of well established, Judy Brooks & Associates (JBA) of...

Indie Focus

Dickens’ feature doc wins Best of Midwest award

by Ruth L Ratny Dec 5, 2013

KY DICKENS’ FEATURE DOC, Sole Survivor, keeps winning honors and acclaim, the latest being the Best Feature award from the Midwest independent Film Festival, presented in fron...

Indie Focus

Comedy webseries bows at live Laugh Factory evening

by Ed M. Koziarski Jun 17, 2013

DIRECTOR ALEC PINKSTON and his writing partner STEVE SHIELDS debut their new comedy web series Sick Day, a satire of a morning talk show, with a screening and live standup June ...

Indie Focus

Lawyer Linda Mensch coproduces Loukas’ indie drama

by Ed M. Koziarski May 16, 2013

SHOOTING IS UNDERWAY on first-time filmmaker/actress Allie Loukas’ low-budget feature, Like Father, Like Daughter, filming which shot in Lake Forest and Waukegan and moves to ...

Indie Focus

Vasilatos edits second doc about S.C. gang wars

by Ed M. Koziarski Apr 25, 2013

JERRY VASILATOS of Nitestar Productions edited Colors: Bangin’ in South Carolina, the second documentary about gang violence in that state by Terrance Davis (South Carolina Dr...

Indie Focus

MWFF, Chicago Improv co-present Comedic Shorts Night

by Ed M. Koziarski Apr 1, 2013

THE MIDWEST INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL’S annual Comedic Shorts night April 2 is doing something different this year by co-presenting with the Chicago Improv Festival. MWF...

Indie Focus

IndieGoGo funds sought for indie feature by April 1

By Ruth L Ratny Mar 25, 2013

Busy actress/producer Grace McPhillips of Sterling Rock Productions has taken to crowd sourcing IndieGoGo to raise $100,000 by April 1 for an indie feature she plans t...

Indie Focus

Ch. 9 airs TV producer DuPree’s sports reality pilot

by Ed M. Koziarski Mar 19, 2013

VETERAN TV PRODUCER DON DUPREE of DuPree Productions is producer of the half-hour pilot A Piece of the Game, a sports reality show presented by Alllstate that’s running five t...

Indie Focus

“Emerald City” video for punk band The Tossers album

By Ed M. Koziarski Feb 28, 2013

ERIC RICHTER, Victory Records’ in-house video producer, has a new video for The Tossers’ “Emerald City,” the title track off the Gaelic punk band’s new album.&nbs...

Indie Focus

CollabFeature’s first project involves 25 directors

By Carrie L. Kaufman Feb 20, 2013

The art of filmmaking is, in many ways, the celebration of a singularity of vision, with auteur filmmakers telling stories that are at once personal and universal. Marty Shea an...

Indie Focus

Thomas’ animated feature from play in development

by Ed M. Koziarski Feb 15, 2013

CHERYL THOMAS is the writer and executive producer of the in-development animated feature Elv-olution, adapted from her own play, which ran in December at the Greenhou...

Indie Focus

CUFF’s 20th season March 6-10 at the Logan Theatre

by Ed M. Koziarski Feb 13, 2013

“The festival or me personally?” Chicago Underground Film Festival programmer and artistic director Bryan Wendorf retorts when asked if he expected to be around this long.Re...

Indie Focus

MWFF 2013 season opens with Looby’s ‘Be Good’ feature

By Ed M. Koziarski Feb 1, 2013

TODD LOOBY’S FEATURE BE GOOD opens Midwest Independent Film Festival’s 2013 season Feb. 5. The Chicago-made indie, written and directed by Looby, stars Amy Seimetz (of...

Indie Focus

Cooper’s ‘The Painter’ adds voice to child violence

by Ed M. Koziarski Jan 22, 2013

DIRECTOR KEVIN COOPER of Amarok Productions, who directed the family dog film I Heart Shakey, arguably the first stereoscopic 3D feature made in Chicago, tackles the tough ...

Indie Focus

Looby’s short ‘Lollywood’ doc screens at Slamdance

by Ed M. Koziarski Jan 2, 2013

TODD LOOBY’S short documentary Lollywood, about a teenage filmmaker and war orphan at Liberia Mission, Inc. screens Jan. 20 and 23 in the Slamdance Film Festival.Looby’s nar...

Indie Focus

Paralympic sprinter Katy Sullivan stars in short film

by Ed M. Koziarski Dec 20, 2012

PARALYMPIC SPRINTER AND ACTRESS Katy Sullivan co-stars with Chicago veteran character actor Ron Dean in non-profit Blue Damen Pictures’ short film, Recalculating, directed by ...