The 56th Chicago International Film Festival has announced the winner of The Pitch at the 6th edition of Industry Days: Go to the Body, written and directed by Kyra Jones (co-creator
CMA Digital Studios and Proteá announce the release of its bad-girl web series ALL-AMERICAN SEX OFFENDER. All six-episodes, directed by Chloe Lenihan (writer: HOW FAR SHE WENT; director: LIFE, COACHED) and co-written
Next week begins the 56th Chicago International Film Festival and Reel Chicago will bring you coverage of the films. This year, we can look forward to two award-winning films from
Mimi Plauché, artistic director of the 56th Chicago International Film Festival, today announced the jury members for its competitions, featuring a host of acclaimed filmmakers and film professionals from across the globe. Juries
The 56th Chicago International Film Festival announced a slate of four narrative feature film projects in active development that will be pitched live in front of a virtual audience and a panel of distinguished industry judges during the Festival’s Industry Days on Sunday, Oct. 18, 2020. Now in its sixth year, The Pitch at Industry Days has established itself as a leading industry showcase spotlighting bold, original work from the Chicago region. Past projects from The Pitch at Industry Days have gone onto completion, including Jennifer Reader’s Signature Move, and two films showing at last year’s Chicago International Film Festival: Knives and Skin, also directed by Jennifer Reeder, and Haroula Rose’s Once Upon a River. This year’s filmmakers represent a diversity of voices that continue to reinforce the breadth and vitality of Chicago-area filmmakers and projects: from a sci-fi comedy horror film set in the suburbs to a drama set along the Mexico-American border, to the story of a sexual assault within a Black community and an estranged daughter in an Iraqi-American family who impersonates her recently deceased father. See below for loglines. The winning pitch receives an awards package of in-kind goods and services worth tens of thousands of dollars. Contributors include Keslow Camera, IFA Chicago and The Story Stage at CineSpace, Chicago Media Angels, Ramo Law PC, and the Sundance Institute. “Right now, during the pandemic, it’s the perfect time to develop, workshop, hone, and fine-tune feature film projects and make them great,” said Chicago International Film Festival and Industry Days Senior Programmer Anthony Kaufman. “The Pitch is a terrific way for the Festival to support and encourage local filmmakers and help push their projects forward.”
National Geographic announced the acquisition of CITY SO REAL, an official Indie Episodic selection at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, set to premiere on the network this fall. From twice
Chicago filmmaker, Kris Rey talks with Reel Chicago about the making of her newly released indie feature “I Used to Go Here” opening today at the Music Box. It’s always
Acclaimed Chicago actress / producer Deanna Reed-Foster (Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D.) launches a powerful PSA video series titled I’m Tired. In a time when most people are just trying to survive,
Up and coming Chicago-based filmmaker, Chantel Chavon, makes her directorial debut by tackling the connection between racism and mental illness head on in the short film, When the Leaves Fall.
Mailchimp, VICE, and Arts & Sciences, launches the self-shot docuseries Essentials that follows nine essential workers navigating their lives during Covid-19 in various cities around the United States. The show focuses
Filmed entirely in isolation, in a bedroom, bathroom, and the alley, ‘Friends on a Shelf’ alleviates the loneliness and monotony of isolation. Chicago-based boutique production company Minimal produced a spot
DePaul School of Cinematic Arts announced that Assistant Professors, Ronald Eltanal and Alireza Khatami, have been selected for the prestigious IFP Episodic Lab fellowship program for their project titled, Tenure.
Kartemquin Films announced the two projects that will participate in the first year of the Hulu/Kartemquin Accelerator: Traces of Home by director Colette Ghunim and Tres Fridas by director Reveca Torres. The Accelerator program offers two alumni of Kartemquin’s
Being Here, a short film written, directed, and produced by local Chicago female filmmaker Sydney O’Haire, will make its debut on the Omeleto platform, a short film YouTube channel currently
Pepe Vargas, the Founder and Executive Director of the Chicago Latino Film Festival sadly announced the postponement of the 36th annual festival. Due to the concerns for the spread of
Editor’s Note: They are leaders. They are inspirational. They are mentors. They are visionaries. They are, quite frankly, badasses. They are our 2020 Reel Women During Women’s History Month, you
Chicago will become the center of the TV and film universe when it hosts the eighth annual ScreenCraft Writers Summit at the Hotel Allegro next month from April 24 to April
Angie Gaffney chaperones a lot of dreams in the Windy City. As Executive Director of the Chicago Independent Film Alliance — an organization recently formed by combining the Independent Filmmaker
The 2020 Chicago Irish Film Festival kicks off with the US premiere of Guns & Rosaries, the 2019 documentary directed by award winning BBC filmmaker Peter Kelly, February 27 at
Breaking Bad producer Stewart Lyons will be among the TV and film creators appearing at DePaul University’s School of Cinematic Arts Visiting Artists Series this winter. The award-winning guest, who
