Podcast

CHICAGO – Dennis Dugan, in directing Adam Sandler (“Happy Gilmore”), Chris Farley (“Beverly Hills Ninja”) and John Ritter (“Problem Child”), can rightly be considered a comedy director icon. He also for his latest film, “Love, Weddings & Other Disasters,” developed the story and wrote the screenplay for the first time.

CHICAGO – Now that the socially distanced Thanksgiving is past us, it’s time to turn to Christmas and the films that are associated with that holiday. Documentary director Dana Nachman has a series of emotional and true stories in her latest film “Dear Santa,” an overview of a gift-giving charity that starts with a child’s letter.

CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com reviews the new documentary “Truth is the Only Client: The Official Investigation of the Murder of John F. Kennedy” on the 57th Anniversary of the JFK assassination on November 22nd, 2020. The doc reassembles investigators of the 1964 Warren Commission.

CHICAGO – Combine the hilarity of prime observational comedy with the zen of inner peace, and you have Melinda Hill’s downloadable stand up special “Inappropriate.” This sharp master of laughs delivers an hour of riffs on her life and loves, including her viral tweet on fellow comedian Louis CK (#MeTooSoon).

CHICAGO – The 26th edition of Chicago’s Black Harvest Film Festival (BHFF) continues with online and virtual access. One of the short films, in the program “Voices of Our Time,” is writer/director Okema “Seven” Gunn’s “Black Mama Sable.”

CHICAGO – Artist Lonnie Edwards is traveling the film festival circuit again, exhibiting his latest short “Periphery,” and this time it will appear at the 27th Chicago Underground Film Festival (CUFF 27) Chicago Shorts Program 2, at the Chi-Town Movies Drive-In on Friday, November 13th, 2020.

CHICAGO – The 1950s/60s Southern author Flannery O’Connor gets an overdue documentary by co-directors Elizabeth Coffman and Mark Bosco. “Flannery” screens at the 27th Chicago Underground Film Festival Drive-In on November 12th, 2020.

CHICAGO – On Friday, November 6th, 2020, the 26th edition of Chicago’s Black Harvest Film Festival (BHFF) opened for online and virtual access. The BHFF is one of the country’s most prestigious black-oriented film celebrations in the country, and will run throughout the month of November until Monday the 30th.

CHICAGO – “Echo Boomers,” the feature directorial debut of Seth Savoy, will have its Chicago run at the Music Box Theatre starting November 13th, 2020. The locally made film features Patrick Schwarzenegger, Michael Shannon, and Alex Pettyfer.

CHICAGO – The 2018-19 mayoral campaign in Chicago was a historic moment for the city, as the first woman of color (Lori Lightfoot) was elected. Director Steve James, of the legendary “Hoop Dreams,” takes on the events leading up to this history and beyond, in “City So Real.”