Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-12-13
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  WINDY CITY TIMES

Chicago Filmmakers to cut ribbon on new home
Extended for the online edition of Windy City Times
by Liz Baudler
2018-04-25

This article shared 1924 times since Wed Apr 25, 2018
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email


While it's been up a flight of stairs on Clark Street in Andersonville for years, Chicago Filmmakers always dreamed of having a different space for themselves.

"If you needed to get to the classrooms you had to walk through the theater," said Executive Director Brenda Webb of the old location. "You couldn't do both things at the same time. It was definitely run down and funky, and we didn't want to put a lot of money in it, we didn't own it."

Filmmaker Sharon Zurek of Black Cat Productions, who works closely with Chicago Filmmakers and hosts the popular Dyke Delicious film series, recalled both how eager people were to see those films and how unsuitable the old space could be. "I had ladies come to Dyke Delicious with walkers, and they'd come up the stairs," she said.

Thankfully, the dream has come true for Chicago Filmmakers. The ribbon-cutting for its new space, a converted Chicago Landmark city firehouse at 5720 N. Ridge Ave., is coming up soon—an opportunity that Webb said she'd be been looking for since around 2010.

"For a small nonprofit like us, kind of an unrealistic expectation, but I knew that some public buildings had been sold to theater companies for a dollar, so I thought well, gee, maybe we can do that too," Webb said. She looked at the firehouse, which dates from 1928, in 2013, but with a flooded basement, she assessed it as "too scary to take on" without support. But later that year, the city requested proposals for the space, and Webb became involved.

"I heard about it a couple of days before the deadline, so it was probably the most intense, quickest proposal writing I've ever done in my life," she said.

Then followed becoming a finalist for the space, meeting with the city, working with architects, having to reconceive plans after bids came in too high and needing everything ready to go to begin construction the next business day after closing, per city requirements for the agreement. Then, there wasn't three-phase electricity for the much-desired elevator.

Construction was running overtime, and expecting to move into the space any month now, Chicago Filmmaker's usual schedule of screenings got postponed for all of 2017. But now, established in its new home, the organization is ready to resume, in Zurek's words, "everything we did before and more," including Dyke Delicious's recent triumphant return.

"The way I characterize the change in coming to the space is really deepening our roots in the community," said Webb. "We've always seen ourselves as a community of filmmakers and filmgoers, and it's citywide. Now, in addition to that, what are the communities we have in this geographic area and how can our programming reflect that?"

She's hoping to use the space for increased collaboration and new programming directions, whether with new film groups or local partners, such as Senn High School or Loyola University.

"There's lots of anticipation and expectation, as we came into this neighborhood, and people were so excited to see something happening with the building, which had been sitting here empty," Webb said. "I think there's just a lot of interest in the organization. Now there's a new constituency which sees us as part of the Edgewater community that they want to connect with."

The organization looks forward to broadening its class schedule to appeal to more groups of people, including their ideal audience of working artists. "Traditionally, our classes were evenings and weekends. Hopefully we can start having some weekday classes for seniors and others, because not everyone works nine to five," Zurek said.

The space will also be a new venue for Reeling, of which Webb is founder. Although straight, the idea for an LGBTQ film festival came to her while reading about queer sensibility in film in the early '80s, and realizing many experimental filmmakers were also queer.

"Does the LGBTQ community even know about these people, that they exist? Probably not. They need to know that the pioneers of experimental film are gay and lesbian: they should know that and they should support that." Webb recalled thinking. "We had been an organization that since our inception had been really dedicated to experimental film, so it was really kind of taking those same filmmakers that we screened—Barbara Hammer and Kenneth Anger and James Broughton—and sort of putting them in a different frame."

And thus Reeling, the second-oldest LGBTQ film festival in the country, was founded in 1981. Webb reconnected with Zurek, a former Columbia College classmate, when the latter dropped off some projectors at the space.

"As a student, Chicago Filmmakers was important to me because I would show my work there. It was a place where you could see your films on a huge screen and invite your friends," Zurek remembered. She feels that the film industry has shifted direction since work first began on the building, and that filmmakers are not just looking for training, but for opportunities to make connections. She pointed out that Chicago Filmmakers can serve as a fiscal sponsor for those looking to make new work, and they host filmmaker meet-ups every other month.

Asked for the best way to support LGBTQ filmmakers, Webb and Zurek were unanimous in suggesting attending screenings of their work and volunteering with organizations like theirs. And there are more concrete ways to support their new space.

"Like a lot of my lesbian friends, we're not used to asking for help," Zurek joked. "If we had three times as much money, we'd have three times as much stuff. We're hoping people will come into a room and go, boy, my company can donate a big LED screen, or 'you need new computers.'"

Much of the building's architectural accents have been preserved and repurposed, including a front desk made out of limestone from the old fireman's showers. The space includes an upstairs classroom and in the old fire truck bay, the screening theater, for which Chicago Filmmakers is still looking to acquire proper platform seating. There are plans to have a patio with a green space outside. And Zurek is particularly excited about the larger bathrooms, recalling how in the Clark Street location, "intermission used to be as long as the bathroom line."

Webb added that while the building was sold below market price, they still have a mortgage, and have raised about $300,000 of their million-dollar capital campaign goal.

"We called the Clark Street address our clubhouse: now we have a new clubhouse," Zurek said. "We do want to grow and offer more services. We brought everything we could with us and we're ready to grow even more."

The open house and ribbon-cutting will take place on Saturday, April 28, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 11 a.m. with 48th Ward Ald.n Harry Osterman; Christine Dudley, Director of the Illinois Film Office; Rich Moskal, director of the Chicago Film Office; Dr. Eric Freedman, dean of the School of Media Arts at Columbia College Chicago; actor Chris "Mouch" Stolte, one of the stars of NBC's Chicago Fire; and other film industry and community leaders.

The event is free; RSVP at www.eventbrite.com/e/chicago-filmmakers-ribbon-cutting-open-house-tickets-45110227906.


This article shared 1924 times since Wed Apr 25, 2018
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email

Out and Aging
Presented By

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

JP Karliak morphs into non-binary character for Disney+'s X-Men '97 2024-03-22
- series X-Men '97, a revival of the popular X-men: The Animated Series that's both continuing the ongoing mutant storyline and breaking new ground along the way. The character of Morph now looks more like the comic ...


Gay News

WORLD Uganda items, HIV report, Mandela, Liechtenstein, foreign minister weds 2024-03-21
- It turned out that U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Senior LGBTQI+ Coordinator Jay Gilliam traveled to Uganda on Feb. 19-27, per The Washington Blade. He visited the capital of Kampala and the nearby city of ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Queer musicians, Marvel situation, Elliot Page, Nicole Kidman 2024-03-21
- Queer musician Joy Oladokun released the single "I Wished on the Moon," from Jack Antonoff's official soundtrack for the new Apple TV+ series The New Look, per a press release. The soundtrack, ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Lady Gaga, 'P-Valley,' Wendy Williams, Luke Evans, 'Queer Eye,' 'Transition' 2024-03-15
- Lady Gaga came to the defense of Dylan Mulvaney after a post with the trans influencer/activist for International Women's Day received hateful responses, People Magazine noted. On Instagram, Gaga stated, "It's appalling to me that a ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Jinkx Monsoon, Xavier Dolan, 'Frida,' Lena Waithe, out singer 2024-03-08
- Two-time RuPaul's Drag Race winner Jinkx Monsoon is headed back to the New York stage, joining off-Broadway's Little Shop of Horrors as Audrey beginning April 2, according to Playbill. The casting makes Monsoon the first drag ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Queer actors, icons duet, Hunter Schafer, Oscars, Elizabeth Taylor 2024-03-01
- Queer actor Kal Penn is set to star in Trust Me, I'm a Doctor—a film that chronicles the final days of actress/model Anna Nicole Smith, whose overdose death in 2007 at age 39 sparked a tabloid ...


Gay News

Dorian Film Awards: 'All of Us Strangers' takes top prizes 2024-02-27
- February 26, 2024 - Los Angeles, Ca. - For its 15th Dorian Film Awards, GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics fully embraced All of Us Strangers, writer-director Andrew Haigh's fantastical and tear-inducing tale of two ...


Gay News

SAG Awards honor Streisand, few LGBTQ+ actors 2024-02-25
- Queer entertainers made their mark—although not a major one—at the 2024 Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards, held Feb. 24 in Los Angeles. The event was live-streamed on Netflix for the first time. Indigenous and Two-Spirit actor ...


Gay News

WORLD Caribbean ruling, Pussy Riot, Russian raid, Canadian warning, anti-trans bar 2024-02-23
- The top court in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines dismissed a challenge to colonial-era anti-gay laws, Reuters reported. Javin Johnson and Sean Macleish—two gay men who had pushed to decriminalize ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Kristen Stewart, Rock Hudson, Talia Keys, 'True Detective,' Marvel comic 2024-02-23
- At the Berlin Film Festival, Kristen Stewart defended her photo shoot for a Rolling Stone magazine cover that went viral and divided audiences on social-media platforms, per The Hollywood Reporter. "The existence of a female body ...


Gay News

Second Glance Productions hosts LGBTQupid Soiree 2024-02-16
- In celebration of Valentine's Day, Chicago based film and media production company Second Glance hosted The LBGTQupid Soiree. The event, which was focused on spinning attitudes on this particular day, was presented at The iO ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Elton John, Hannah Gadsby, video game, Jennifer Lopez, queer thriller 2024-02-16
Video below - Sir Elton John has sold his Atlanta home and is now auctioning off more than 900 of his personal items that were kept in the 13,500-square-foot condo, The Daily Mail noted. The massive collection includes rare ...


Gay News

GALECA announces nominees for the Dorian Film Awards 2024-02-07
--From a press release - Feb. 5, 2024 - GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, consisting of over 500 entertainment critics, journalists and media icons, today announced the group's democratically chosen nominees for its 15th Dorian Film Awards. All of ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ JoJo Siwa, Tom Holland, Bowen Yang, Pet Shop Boys, Mariah Carey 2024-02-02
- In the wake of Nigel Lythgoe exiting So You Think You Can Dance, queer personality JoJo Siwa is returning to the series, per Deadline. Siwa, who was a judge on season 17 of the Fox show, will replace Lythgoe, who left ...


Gay News

Leather Archives & Museum announces 2024 Fetish Film Forum 2024-01-27
--From a press release - CHICAGO, Illinois—After a wildly successful inaugural year, including a 10-film series at the Leather Archives & Museum and a 5-film series at FACETS, the Leather Archives & Museum is thrilled to announce the continuation of Fetish ...


 


Copyright © 2024 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.

All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS







Sponsor


 



Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.