Philadelphia

CHICAGO – The impact that director Jonathan Demme had on the last couple generations of cinema will live beyond his passing last week, at the age of 73. The Oscar-winning filmmaker also made an impact with the film writers of HollywoodChicago.com – Jon Espino, Patrick McDonald and Spike Walters.

NEW YORK CITY – He was the helmsman of “The Silence of the Lambs,” which won him Best Director and took home Best Picture at the 1992 Academy Awards, and made numerous other late 20th Century movie classics. Director Jonathan Demme died in New York City on April 26, 2017, at the age of 73.

CHICAGO – Comcast is a company of diversity, and has launched several options through that diversity with their Xfinity system options, and within their corporate culture. Joining the Spanish bilingual choice, and their in-house Accessibility Lab benefitting persons with disabilities, Comcast recently announced the launch of speciality content with LGBTQ themes. The Executive Director of Multicultural Services, Jean-Claire Fitschen, was recently in Chicago to promote the launch.

CHICAGO – The premiere of a director’s first feature film is a major evolutionary moment for the cinema artist, and Layne Marie Williams will debut “Dollface” this Friday, June 10th, 2016, at the Canvas event space in Wicker Park in Chicago. The film features Hannah Kopen in one of the lead roles, and the premiere will be part of a gallery/cinema fusion called SINtegrate. For complete details, click here.

CHICAGO – One of the best points that Layne Marie Williams – co-founder/director of “The Women’s Film Festival” (TWFF) of Philadelphia – made in her interview with HollywoodChicago.com, was that even though the festival was developed to showcase the works of women filmmakers, it plays to an audience of everybody. This is how badass creators come together, and this is the second year of The Women’s Film Festival, unspooling on Friday, March 11th, and running through Sunday, March 13th, 2016.

CHICAGO – Watching Philip Seymour Hoffman perform, now that he has passed on, is a bittersweet reminder of his ability and power to embody his deeply felt characters. He does it again in one of his last roles, adding his special brand of acting to the messy story within the gritty noir drama, “God’s Pocket.”

CHICAGO – In the 1970s, there was a period in history when the civil rights movement began to splinter and disintegrate. Government infiltration, internal divisions and lack of direction especially hurt organizations like the Black Panthers movement, a focus of Writer/Director Tanya Hamilton’s new film, “Night Catches Us.”

CHICAGO – Remember the golden rule? Those who have the gold makes the rules. An illustration of this point is in the new documentary “The Art of the Steal,” a stark reminder of territorial power regarding a valuable art collection.

CHICAGO – “The Art of the Steal” is a very telling title. The “art” refers to a multi-billion dollar cache in Philadelphia and the “steal” refers to the powerful government, societal and territorial forces that desire the art. Director Don Argott made the documentary.

CHICAGO – Just as Tom Hanks put a face to AIDS in 1993’s “Philadelphia,” Sean Penn has now put a face to gay rights as Harvey Milk in the new Gus Van Sant true-story film “Milk”.