Are you envious of globe-trotting movie critics, their glamorous itinerary and their jaunts off to London, Venice, Berlin? You don`t need to be.
Next week, movie critics, reporters and professionals from around the planet will descend on one of France`s sunniest and most elegant resort cities, packing the cafes and theaters, bars and beaches, for the 50th session of that most famous of all international film soirees: The Cannes Film Festival.
Only a handful of Chicagoans will be among them. That means that most of the city will miss the midnight parties on various yachts and piers, the interviews with Bernardo Bertolucci and Catherine Deneuve, and the standing ovations at the Palais du Cinema a grand movie auditorium that has 39 steps (in honor of Alfred Hitchcock`s 1935 movie).
But what they don`t have to miss is the important stuff, the things that are the heart of Cannes and every film festival: the movies themselves.
Chicago, unbeknownst to many of its inhabitants, is a city of so many film festivals, held throughout the year, that it sometimes boggles the mind and glazes the eyes. Think of a subject, country, theme or social group and chances are that one of Chicago`s many specialized film festivals – if not the excellent year-round, ongoing programs at The Film Center of the School of the Art Institute, Facets Multimedia, Chicago Filmmakers and other local groups – will have it covered.
Best known is the granddaddy of all local fests, the Chicago International Film Festival, now approaching its 33rd year (in October). Chicago is filled every year with selections largely culled from the other international fests (like Cannes). And though Chicago`s home fest often takes a bum rap for not being Cannes – or Sundance or Toronto – it still offers us our first, best and sometimes only chance to see the movies from the major festival circuits.
But the Chicago International Film Festival isn`t the only outlet for fine, adventurous or offbeat international and American independent movies. There are dozens of others, some of which have been around for years, building up loyal followings; some are just starting out.
But most of them have at least something valuable, interesting, provocative – and sometimes even great – to offer.
The problem lies in finding them. However, once you get the details, they`re a whole lot easier to get to than Cannes. And much less expensive. So what if you miss seeing Liv Tyler and Leonardo Di Caprio on the promenade? A movie can be great wherever it`s projected.
