Interview

CHICAGO – The delicate sensibility in the documentary “First Position” would probably had not existed if first-time filmmaker Beth Kargman had not wanted to see the movie herself. As a former ballet dancer, she wanted to go behind the performance for portraits of young dancers as dedicated artists.

CHICAGO – Friday, May 18th, marks the season finale of The CW Network’s “Nikita,” the series focusing on a rogue assassin portrayed by Maggie Q. Co-star Shane West and Producer Craig Silverstein previewed the end of the Season Two at Chicago’s C2E2.

CHICAGO – The morality of conflict is brought to form in the new film, “Where Do We Go Now?,” written and directed by Nadine Labaki. This is a speculative fable about a small town in Lebanon that lives in harmony, as long as they are stay away from religious battles that plague the rest of the country. The town loves their peace, and the women there want to keep it that way.

CHICAGO – Director Jack C. Newell ended up meeting one of his great collaborators while taking classes at Columbia College Chicago. His future filmmaking partner turned out to not be a fellow peer, but his teacher, Ron Falzone. Together, they made the acclaimed short, “Typing,” about two Hollywood screenwriters whose brainstorming session draws inspiration from the clacking of typewriter keys in the next room.

CHICAGO – Joel Murray, as most people know, comes from the Murray clan of Wilmette, Illinois, which includes his fellow actor brothers Brian Doyle and Bill. He has established himself as a memorable TV and movie character actor, and portrays a man gone wild in the Bobcat Goldthwait-directed “God Bless America.”

CHICAGO – Embarrassments both mortifying and tragic are viewed through a cathartically hilarious and disarmingly humanistic lens in the cinema of Bobcat Goldthwait.

CHICAGO – Director Brian Jun is a veteran filmmaker, having completed his third feature, and this will be the second time his work has been showcased at the Midwest Independent Film Festival. His film “Joint Body” will be at the festival on Tuesday, May 1st, at the Landmark Century Cinema in Chicago.

CHICAGO – Though Chicago’s John Cusack is perhaps best known for his beloved roles as a down-to-earth charmer in “Say Anything” and “High Fidelity,” he’s no stranger to exploring the troubling depths of darkness.

CHICAGO – Peter Lord may be the most important and influential animation producer of the last fifty years that you probably haven’t heard of. In the ’70s, he co-founded a company with Steven Broxton that would go on to change the form of stop-motion animation — Aardman Animation.

CHICAGO – Kevin Hart is easily one of the most popular stand-up comedians on the planet and he’s had a consistent film career for years now. But it feels like he’s right on the verge of a breakthrough as his career-best work premieres this weekend in “Think Like a Man” and he co-stars in next week’s “The Five-Year Engagement.”