Chicago Cinema Forum is a new group made up of ambitious young cinephiles who aim to bring Chicagoans rare films, along with the chance to talk about them with film scholars in post-screening discussions.
Founders Christy LeMaster, Gabe Klinger and Darnell Witt are working together to turn this vision into a reality.
Although all three collaborate on programming choices, LeMaster concentrates on fundraising, while Klinger and Witt deal with the nuts and bolts of finding film prints and guest speakers.
LeMaster cut her teeth as assistant director of the True/False Documentary Festival in Columbia, Missouri. Klinger teaches at Columbia College and Witt operates blog Cine-File and NWesternAve, an eclectic screening space.
They talked with Rob Christopher about Cinema Forum and their future plans for the Forum.
REEL CHICAGO: Where did the idea for the Forum originate?
CHRISTY LeMASTER: Gabe Klinger and I attended a screening of “Inland Empire,” and we both felt that there was room for a film series that provided the audience with relevant, in-depth context for what they were watching. Darnell joined us a little later.
The idea is still taking shape. We know what we want to be able to provide?the question now is how to make our project scalable and sustainable.
