I'm Larvell Hood and my first film, FROM FRED TO FREDERICK continues to be a learning experience for me. The biggest challenge in making this film is displaying the true art of conviction: translating the thoughts in my head into an entertaining product. My film was shot in Burbank, CA, because it was convenient for everyone involved: centrally located and cheap. It took more than a half a...
Cinema Salon Blog
Kanithea Powell
Tue, Aug 31st at 4:08pm
The name of my film is FINDING JULIET. A wonderful story about one’s journey to find true love. The idea to do the film came to me whilst I was walking one evening and passed the Shakespeare Theatre. I began to think of all the classics…Hamlet, Taming of the Shrew, and of course Romeo and Juliet. At that moment I thought, you know, I really need me a Juliet. I truly admired the...
Daniel Nearing
Tue, Aug 31st at 4:06pm
I’m Daniel Nearing and I directed CHICAGO HEIGHTS, which is based on Sherwood Anderson's "Winesburg, Ohio," a novel published in 1919 and ranked by the Modern Library as the 24th finest novel ever written. The book is very resistant to adaptation—Hollywood has never successfully adapted it—and our version, in many ways, is an anti-adaptation that draws out one of the threads of the narrative...
Mark H. Howard
Fri, Aug 20th at 12:51pm
My name is Mark H. Howard. My film is NO CHASER. The inspiration behind my film is 1) a love for watching movies and telling stories and 2) my own personal thoughts about my own father I have never met. This is my first movie. The biggest challenge was financing post-production. I saw in "post" how so many corrections can be made to make the film better and how much I have to learn about...
Russell Norman
Fri, Aug 20th at 12:47pm
Helloooo, Black Harvest and film lovers everywhere around the world!!! My name is Russell Norman and it's an honor to be in this INTERNATIONAL film festival with my debut film HELL AINT FULL. I was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, and I shot my film in the West Pullman and Roseland neighborhoods.
I wrote, directed, produced, starred in and even did the catering...
Sandrel “Sanicole” Young
Fri, Aug 20th at 12:08pm
Hey, my name is Sandrel “Sanicole” Young and my film is LOOSE CHANGE. I’ve always been fascinated with people, their relationships and the mystery in how they meet. I’m just an observer in general, so I’m often entertained by people’s interactions and how they can sometimes change the course of each other lives with the smallest gesture or action. Also pulling experiences from my own life and...
Jean de St. Aubin
Tue, May 25th at 7:41pm
Two alumni from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago walked away with big prizes at the closing of the Cannes Film Festival. Most notably, Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul better known as "Joe," won the highest honor at Cannes, the Palme D'Or for his film "Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives". Joe is not only an alum of SAIC but he was a...
Barbara Scharres
Sat, May 22nd at 1:00am
Entry to the Grande Theatre Lumiere for the press premiere of Rachid Bouchareb's "Outside of the Law" was considerably delayed on Friday morning by heightened security. Heavily-armed members of the French National Guard were stationed in the street and on the red carpet. Water bottles were...
Barbara Scharres
Thu, May 20th at 2:00am
There's a slide that appears on the big screen in the Debussy Theatre while audiences file in for screenings for the A Certain Regard section of the festival. Two figures in profile, one of them with horns on his head, are shown in silhouette against a light background. It's actually a photo of this...
