Podtalk: Founder Joyce Porter for Inaugural Oak Park Film Festival, Sept. 12 & 14, 2024

Submitted by PatrickMcD on September 10, 2024 - 7:46am

OAK PARK, IL – When there is an awesome Village like Oak Park (Illinois) right adjacent to Chicago, it stands to reason that Joyce Porter, a prominent character actor, would put in motion the first Oak Park Film Festival. Opening Night is September 12th, with a special screening of “The Abyss: Special Edition” – which features Oak Park native Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio – and wraps up with an all-day short film and seminar celebration on Saturday, September 14th. For details and tickets, click OAK PARK FF.

Founder Joyce Porter, who is also the President of the Fest, began planning last year for this first time event. The mission of the festival is to bring together and showcase Oak Park Illinois’ outstanding creative community and provide entertainment for the entire Chicago area. The Village, famously the boyhood home of Ernest Hemingway and with a collection of Frank Lloyd Wright Homes, has also been an incubator for the arts, which includes Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, in addition to the dancer Doris Humphrey, writer Edgar Rice Burroughs and actor John Mahoney, among others.

September 12th Opening Night at the Lake Theatre
Photo credit: Oak Park Film Festival

Actor Joyce Porter is a versatile on camera and voice-over artist/actor, with many roles on stage and screen. Born in Chicago, she studied acting at the University of Illinois at Champaign and received an M.A. in Theater from Northwestern University. She co-founded a theater and film program while teaching at Moraine Valley College (Palos Heights, Illinois), and has focused on her acting career since retiring from teaching.

Joyce has performed in numerous independent films and plays as well as several TV shows and commercials, and was recently name Best Actress at the New York Indie Shorts Festival. Under Joyce K. Porter, she had authored a book called “Mastering Senior Life: Thriving and Surviving.” No one thrives harder than Ms. Porter.

In a Podtalk with Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com, Joyce Porter, Founder & President of the Oak Park Film Festival reflects on the upcoming inaugural event …

Ms. Porter gives the pitch …

The inaugural Oak Park Film Festival Opening Night is Thursday, September 12th at the Lake Theatre and concludes with an all-day Short Film/Seminar event on Saturday, September 14th at the Madison Street Theatre. For all details and schedule, click here.