Theda Bara`s mysterious black-rimmed eyes are back, staring balefully from scraps of newsprint, well-toned T-shirts and high-gloss posters, silently imploring all Chicago: Go to the 28th Chicago International Film Festival, Friday through Oct. 25. Watch local premieres of 100 films from 30 countries. Rub elbows with directors, producers, actors and film fanatics.
Film festival critics are back, too, grouching that Chicago hosts a B-grade festival, a two-week forced march through the world`s dullest films, sparsely attended by locals and all but snubbed by the stars who are supposed to gild the festivities with their glamor.
In other words, it`s time once again to throw popcorn and praise at Chicago`s annual homage to world film.
This year, the task will come a little easier. The festival has been cropped down to about 100 films, from 120 last time around, and nearly all will be screened at least twice.
The festival has commandeered all four screens at Loew`s Pipers Alley Theatre complex, making movie marathons more accessible. Films will also be shown on the big screen at the Music Box Theatre.
The festival will whisk viewers around the world in 17 days, from a dirt- poor village in Senegal in ”Hyenas” to the glittering show floors of
”Vegas in Space.” Along the way, movie mavens can pause to reflect on the resurgence of anti-Semitism in film, take in retrospectives on Indian filmmaker Shyam Benegal and Israeli director Dan Wolman, taste the spicy new films from Mexico, and, if all goes well, gawk at Kathleen Turner-live-during one of two star-strewn weekends.
”The Bulls and Bears aren`t the only stars in the heavens,” says festival founder and artistic director Michael Kutza. ”That $7 is not just your movie ticket, but a chance to visit with directors and see the stars.”
The previews here, and the listing of films in Take 2 and the daily Tempo section, can help light your way through a couple weeks in the dark.
Reel world reflects political upheavals
The reel world is looking more like the real world, as the immense changes in Eastern Europe, the breakup of the former Soviet Union, the reunification of Germany and the impending changes in Hong Kong travel from the streets to the silver screen.
”Eastern Europeans always had more freedom on the screen than in life,” says festival director Michael Kutza, who spent nearly six months sitting through some 350 films to cull this year`s list. ”The difference is their problems are not disguised any more.”
Candid looks inside the former Soviet Union can be found in the Russian film ”Love,” directed by Valery Todorovsky, which won the Moscow Critics`
Award for Best Film of 1991. Levan Zakareishvilli had to postpone shooting of ”They” during the political upheaval in Georgia. The film, set in the Brezhnev era, tracks alienated youth through a desperate crime spree.
”Brats,” directed by Janos Rozsa, follows a band of boys casting about urban Hungary. ”Sweet Emma, Dear Bobe,” directed by Istvan Szabo, and
”Goldberg Variations,” by Ferenc Grunwalsky, also offer frank portraits of Hungary today.
In ”To Liv(e),” directed by Evans Chan, Hong Kong edges uneasily toward Chinese rule.
”These films deal with issues you can`t get on the evening news or from reading any paper,” says festival program director Marc Evans. ”You see people expressing themselves about the issues most important to them. Cinema is incredibly important in defining a culture.”
`Magical` honors animator Jones
Unlike most ducklings, Daffy was not hatched from an egg, but from the manic pen of animator Chuck Jones. So were Bugs Bunny, the Road Runner, Pepe Le Pew, Wile E. Coyote, the Grinch (who stole Christmas), Horton (the one who hears a Who), and a menagerie of other Looney Tunes, or plain looney Saturday morning companions.
”The Magical World of Chuck Jones,” which will premiere on Thursday, celebrates Jones` work and includes clips from some of his best-loved films:
”What`s Opera, Doc?” ”The Rabbit of Seville” and ”Duck Dodgers in the 24th and a Half Century.”
George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Frances Ford Coppola and Matt Groening, among others, discuss Jones` influence on their work.
”He took animation to a new level by really incorporating the viewers as well as the artist,” says program director Marc Evans. In his classic ”Duck Amuck,” for instance, Daffy and the artist battle for control of the film.
”He was the forefather of social commentary in animation,” says Evans.
”Rocky and Bullwinkle would never exist without Bugs and Daffy.”
Jones is scheduled to attend the opening, and celebrate his 80th birthday. Ducks are welcome.
In America on film, dodge the bullets
On film, America is a scary place. ”Don`t ask me why every other film has a woman with a gun in her hand,” says festival director Michael Kutza.
Titles, including ”Gun Crazy,” ”My New Gun” and ”The Silencer,”
promise plenty of gun-toting gals. ”That`s today in America,” adds Kutza.
Today`s America, reflected in ”Rediscovering America,” 23 films by independent American filmmakers, is also a place grappling with AIDS, crime, homelessness, intolerance and the occasional lost kidney.
”There`s an inward-looking feel,” says program director Marc Evans. ”A close-to-home feel.” Any closer, and we`d recommend bullet-proof vests.
There will be a discussion of American films with directors, producers and actors at 3 p.m. Oct. 17 in Pipers Alley.
Look for stars – but not too hard
Here`s a chart of the constellation of stars scheduled to be in view during the festival, Friday through Oct. 25. Unlike the celestial sort, these stars sometimes don`t show up. Call ahead (312-644-FILM) if it would ruin your weekend to pay $50 for a dinner Kathleen Turner skips.
Jack Lemmon: Friday night, Academy Award-winning actor Lemmon will be honored with the festival`s Lifetime Achievement Award in a ceremony hosted by film critic Roger Ebert and newsman Bill Kurtis at the Chicago Hilton and Towers (720 S. Michigan Ave.). Cocktails at 6:30 p.m., program at 7, dinner and dancing at 8:30, tickets $175.
Hugh Hefner: On Wednesday, playboy Hefner is scheduled to be on hand for the world premiere of ”Hugh Hefner: Once Upon a Time,” produced by David Lynch and Mark Frost of ”Twin Peaks” fame. Champagne reception at Pipers Alley, 7 p.m., screening at 7:30, tickets $10.
Chuck Jones: On Thursday, Jones, the creative power behind Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, is scheduled to blow out the candles on his 80th birthday cake and watch the world premiere of ”The Magical World of Chuck Jones.” At the Music Box, party at 7 p.m., screening at 7:30, tickets $7.
Kathleen Turner: On Oct. 16, Turner is scheduled to receive the Piper-Heidsieck Award, which annually honors someone in the film industry whose work shows ”independence, courage and risk-taking.” The celebration, held at the First Chicago Center Theater (One First National Plaza at Dearborn and Monroe Streets), includes a champagne reception at 6:15 p.m., awards and film clips hosted by Gene Siskel at 7 and dinner at 9. Tickets $15 for the reception and screening, $50 with dinner.
Arthur Cohn: On Oct. 25, Cohn, five-time Oscar winner and producer of such classics as ”Brief Vacation,” ”Dangerous Moves,” ”American Dream”
and ”The Final Solution,” will discuss his work at a panel discussion on
”Anti-Semitism in Film and the Media” at 3:30 p.m. Tickets $10 ($9).
A number of directors, including Liv Ullmann (who directed ”Sofie,” a festival film), are scheduled to discuss their work after the films`
screenings. Call to check.
Commercials make an encore
At home, you`ll perform daring feats of finger-cramping to zap ads out of your life. But at the Chicago International Film Festival, you can pay to see one of the few things still free on TV.
Commercials weren`t even a part of the festival last year, as they were in previous years. This time they`re back.
”The Best of the Business `92” compiles commercials from the United States, Britain, Spain, France and beyond, all on a giant projection video, at 7 p.m. Oct. 22.
”Everyone does it,” says festival director Michael Kutza. ”Alan Parker, before he made `Midnight Express,` made films selling beer. They`re works of art. If you can tell a story in 60 seconds, it`s worth taking note of.”
