2008 Chicago International Film Festival from Oct. 16 to 29 kicks off with 'The Brothers Bloom'

I just received the following press release for hte 2008 Chicago International Film Festival (where I will serve on the documentary shorts jury):

44th Chicago International Film Festival Kicks Off With ‘The Brothers Bloom’
Director Rian Johnson and Academy-Award® Winning Actress Rachel Weisz
Will Walk the Red Carpet, Thursday, October 16, 2008
Tickets go on-sale Wednesday, September 24, 2008

CHICAGO, September 17, 2008 – The 44th Chicago International Film Festival will officially open with the adventurous comedy The Brothers Bloom and a star-studded red carpet featuring the film’s director Rian Johnson (Brick) and Academy-Award® winning actress Rachel Weisz at the Harris Theater, 205 E. Randolph Drive, Thursday, October 16, 2008 at 7pm.

The sophomore film from director Rian Johnson (Brick), Academy Award® winner Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardener), Academy Award® winner Adrien Brody (The Pianist), Mark Ruffalo (Zodiac), and Academy Award® nominee Rinko Kikuchi (Babel) star in The Brothers Bloom, a globe-trotting comedy about the last great adventure of the world’s best con men. In the world of The Brothers Bloom, deception is an art and nothing is as it seems. The brothers have perfected the art of swindling fortunes through years of fraternal teamwork. Now they’ve decided to take on one last spectacular job—luring a beautiful and eccentric heiress into an elaborate plot that takes them around the world.

Rian Johnson and Rachel Weisz will be at Opening Night to present The Brothers Bloom, which opens nationwide on January 16, 2009.

Tickets for Opening Night go on sale Wednesday, September 24 and will be available via Ticketmaster, www.ticketmaster.com or 312-902-1500. Ticket prices for the film range from $30 (balcony) to $35 (floor) for Cinema/Chicago members and from $35 (balcony) to $40 (floor) for non-members. Ticket packages which include the film (floor seats) and a post-screening cocktail reception with hors d’oeuvres at Preston Bradley Hall at the Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington, are available at $80 for members and $100 for non-members.

Rian Johnson (Director, Writer) was honored with the Sundance Film Festival’s Special Jury Prize for Originality of Vision for his first feature film Brick. The film and its director garnered numerous other prizes, including the Chicago Film Critics Association award for Most Promising Director, the Utah Film Critics award for Best Screenplay, the San Francisco Film Critics Circle award for Best Original Screenplay, the Texas Film Critics award for Best First Film, the Austin Film Critics award for Best First Film and indieWIRE Critic’s Poll prize for Best First Film. Brick also made more than 40 of the year’s top 10 lists. A graduate of USC’s School of Cinema-Television, Johnson has been making films since the seventh grade. Born in Silver Spring, MD, he now resides in Los Angeles.

Rachel Weisz (Penelope) is an Academy Award-winning actress known for portraying women of incredible spirit and intelligence. She continues to seek out challenging projects and roles on screen and stage. For her performance in The Constant Gardener, directed by Fernando Meirelles and based on the bestselling John le Carré novel, Weisz received overwhelming critical praise, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Golden Globe and an Oscar.

She just wrapped production on Peter Jackson’s eagerly anticipated adaptation of Alice Sebold’s novel The Lovely Bones as well as Alejandro Amenábar’s Agora. She is known to audiences worldwide for her lead role opposite Brendan Fraser in Stephen Sommers’ blockbuster adventures The Mummy and The Mummy Returns. Most recently, Weisz appeared in Adam Brooks’ Definitely Maybe, opposite Ryan Reynolds; David Dobkin’s comedy Fred Claus, opposite Vince Vaughn and Paul Giamatti; and Wong Kar Wei’s My Blueberry Nights, opposite Norah Jones and Jude Law.

Other film credits include Darren Aronofsky’s sci-fi/romantic epic The Fountain, opposite Hugh Jackman; Francis Lawrence’s hit Constantine; Gary Fleder’s Runaway Jury; James Foley’s Confidence; and Chris and Paul Weitz’s About a Boy. Weisz also starred in Jean-Jacques Annaud’s Enemy at the Gates, Michael Winterbottom’s I Want You, David Leland’s The Land Girls, Beeban Kidron’s Swept from the Sea, and Bernardo Bertolucci’s Stealing Beauty.

Weisz received critical acclaim for The Shape of Things, which also marked her first venture into producing. She had previously starred in writer and director Neil LaBute’s staging of his original play of the same name, in London and New York City productions. Her performance in Sean Mathias’ U.K. staging of “Noel Coward’s Design for Living” garnered her the London Drama Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Newcomer. She also starred in the West End production of “Suddenly Last Summer,” also directed by Mathias.

Weisz began her career as a student at Cambridge University, where she formed the 18 Talking Tongues Theatre Group, which performed numerous experimental pieces and won the prestigious Guardian Award at the Edinburgh Festival.

About the 44th Chicago International Film Festival
As it has for 43 years, the 44th Chicago International Film Festival, October 16 – 29, 2008, presented by Cinema/Chicago, will offer moviegoers the best new films from around the world, with several exciting additions, including a “Festival Village” and the launch of Green Screen, a series celebrating our natural environment, the power and artistry of filmmaking, and the intersection between the two. In its fifth decade, the Festival still brings appearances by legendary international actors and directors and an impressive film line-up for which the Festival is known.

Audiences will be captivated by over 150 films from around the world, from full-length features to thoughtful documentaries and vibrant shorts, which showcase both established and promising new filmmakers. Film Festival passes are now on sale, and individual tickets for the various 44th Chicago International Film Festival events will go on sale at the beginning of October. Passes and tickets are available by visiting www.chicagofilmfestival.com or www.ticketmaster.com, or by calling 312-902-1500.

About Cinema/Chicago
Cinema/Chicago is the not for profit, tax exempt cultural and educational organization that presents the annual Chicago International Film Festival, North America’s oldest competitive international film festival, organized to encourage better understanding between cultures and its people and to make a positive contribution to the art form of the moving image. Subscribers to Cinema/Chicago’s membership program form a loyal core audience for the organization and are granted access to more than 15 free film screenings and sneak previews throughout the year. Cinema/Chicago also offers year-round educational programs designed for students and the deaf and hard of hearing to provide new film experiences and offer insight into other cultures, languages, and ideas. These programs include the Educational Outreach Program, the Program for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, and the Black Perspectives Program.

For up-to-date and detailed Festival information, call 312-332-FILM or visit http://www.chicagofilmfestival.com.