Film News: Preview Night For 2011 Chicago International Film Festival

CHICAGO – The 2011 Chicago International Film Festival kicked off its 47th year with a preview party on September 19th at the Lucky Strike Lounge, within the AMC River East 21 Theaters on Illinois Street, where all the festival screenings will take place. Founder and Artistic Director Michael Kutza introduced staff members and presented notable films to be shown.

The 47th Chicago International Film Festival will run from October 6th through the 20th and will kick off Thursday, October 6th with “The Last Rites of Joe May,” directed by Joe Maggio and featuring Dennis Farina and Gary Cole. All will walk the Red Carpet and the film will then be presented by Chicago news legend Bill Kurtis.

Founder and Artistic Director Michael Kutza at the 47th Chicago International Film Festival Preview Photo credit: Patrick McDonald for HollywoodChicago.com

Highlights of the rest of the festival includes a “Spotlight South Asia Program Launch” on October 7th. Co-sponsored by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, this new festival program will this year feature films from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Local Chicago and Illinois talent will have a night on Monday, October 10th, at the City & State screening night and after party. The festival Awards Night is Friday, October 14th, a Black Perspectives Tribute is Saturday, October 15th and the Closing Night is Thursday, October 20th.

Cinema/Chicago is the presenter of the Festival, and Managing Director Vivian Teng opened the preview night with a general overview of the upcoming events, and then introduced Michael Kutza, Founder and Artistic Director of the Festival. Kutza presented the committee heads for features, shorts, documentary and education.

Finally, a video presentation of notable feature films, shorts and documentaries concluded the preview. Highlights included “Bunny Drop” (Japan), “What Love May Bring” (France), “Club Zeus” (Netherlands/China), “Carol Channing: Larger Than Life” (USA), “Holidays by the Sea” (France), “Love is in the Air” (Denmark), “Salaam Dunk” (USA/Iraq), “Machete Language” (Mexico), “The Clown” (Brazil), “Madame X” (Indonesia), “His Mother’s Eyes” (France), “Sadermania” (USA), “The Jewel” (Italy), “The Whispering Darkness” (USA), “Venus” (Denmark), “The Vacuum Kid” (USA) and “Andrew Bird: Fever Year” (USA), “The Artist” (France) and “My Week with Marilyn” (USA).

For the full schedule, go to the Chicago Film Festival [13] site.

[15]	By PATRICK McDONALD [16] Senior Staff Writer HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com [15]