Podtalk: Executive Director Brent Kado on 7th Chicago Comedy Film Festival From Nov. 9-11, 2017

CHICAGO – If you hear the sound of laughter from the vicinity of the Rogers Park neighborhood in Chicago, then most likely it is coming from the New 400 Theater, the base for the 7th Chicago Comedy Film Festival. The Festival showcases features, shorts and experimental films in all styles of funny. It opens on Thursday, November 9th, 2017, with a program of Chicago Short Films at The Second City, and continues through Saturday, November 11th.

The 2017 Chicago Comedy Film Festival, November 9th-11th
Photo credit: ChicagoComedyFilmFestival.com

Founded in 2010 by Artistic Director Jessica Hardy, the Chicago Comedy Film Festival mission is to support comedy filmmaking as a vital and influential art form. Presenting films ranging from low budget to studio quality features, the fest champions strong voices in comedic storytelling.

The Festival made news last week when they decided to pull their Saturday spotlight film, a documentary about comedian Andy Dick, in light of recent sexual harassment allegations against him. In a statement, Jessica Hardy said, “With the accusations being investigated we do not feel it is appropriate to showcase the documentary and have him attend our event. This goes beyond Andy Dick. Society and the film industry has been dealing with a black cloud of harassment and silence for too long… There are too many victims asking to be heard. Our festival does not want to be part of perpetuating or silencing this negative culture.” The documentary has been replaced with the feature comedy, “Bernard and Huey,” featuring Mae Whitman, Richard Kind, Jim Rash, Nancy Travis and David Koechner.

In the following Podtalk, Executive Director Brent Kado offers a preview of the Chicago Comedy Film Festival, answers a question about the Andy Dick story and talks about the evolution of comedy films since the festival began.

[19]	By PATRICK McDONALD [20] Writer, Editorial Coordinator HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com [19]