Patrick McDonald

CHICAGO – The delightful new animated film “Trolls” takes the familiar doll to a new level of fun and heart. Behind this invention is the director team of Mike Mitchell and Walt Dohrn, who have worked together in various animation roles over the years before teaming up in their first collaboration for Dreamworks Studio.

CHICAGO – For seven years, the town of Mineral Points, Wis., has hosted an ever evolving event called the “Driftless Film Festival.” And for all those years, from the time she was a young teenager to the present day, Eve Studnicka has worked within and around the festival. For the past two years, she has been the Festival Director, all while completing her undergraduate degree at Columbia College in Chicago.

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MIDDLE MAN - Director Ned Crowley and Actor Jim O’Heir.

CHICAGO – The 52nd Chicago International Film Festival wrapped last week, but the Red Carpet presentations continued right up to that end date. The Chicago connections films, either made in the area or by Chicago filmmakers or actors, had two major Red Carpets, and HollywoodChicago.com was there to capture them. Actors and filmmakers from the new films “Middle Man” and “Imperfections” were there.

CHICAGO – One of the great nights at the 52nd Chicago International Film Festival is the short film presentation celebrating the best of area filmmakers, the City of Chicago and the State of Illinois. Included in the program were three notable filmmakers, Anne Beal (“Positioning”), Filip Kojic (“HUH”) and Brian Zahm (“The Nude”).

CHICAGO – Although “The Handmaiden” is based in deceit, fetishes, thievery and subservience, director Park Chan-Wook (“Stoker”) keeps it light by the addition of some subversive humor, and weaves a mystery with a pitch that is like the “The Sting” meets “In the Realm of the Senses.”

CHICAGO – It was 38 years ago that the seminal horror film “Halloween” was released, and its impact made a star out of the heroine in the film, Jamie Lee Curtis. Curtis was in the Chicago area in September to promote her new children’s book, “This is Me: The Story of Who and Where We Came From,” (illustrated by Laura Cornell).

CHICAGO – The recently completed 52nd Chicago International Film Festival offered a world perspective on cinema, and honors the films that will influence the arts culture for years to come. Their Awards Night was October 21st, 2016, and was hosted by Richard Roeper, film critic of the Chicago Sun Times. The recipient of the top prize of the fest, the Gold Hugo, was “Sieranevada” (Romania), directed by Cristi Puiu.

CHICAGO – We are all victims of our own circumstances. How we interact with this circumstance, given our DNA, social nurturing, family and relationship ties are thrown in the air like organic confetti, landing here and there, and often in smaller and smaller pieces. “Moonlight” is a film full of this absolution.

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OPENING NIGHT: Rosemarie DeWitt of ‘La La Land.’

CHICAGO – The glamor and the action always takes place on the Red Carpet, and the 52nd Chicago International Film Festival had one virtually every night of their two week 2016 run. New and veteran celebrities walked the carpet, representing their films or being honored at the fest, and HollywoodChicago.com was there.

CHICAGO – She is the oldest daughter of movie legend Charlie Chaplin, from his fourth marriage to Oona O’Neill, but she also was a spectacular actress in her own right. She is Geraldine Chaplin, and she was honored at the 52nd Chicago International Film Festival, and was president on a film jury for the fest.