GENE SISKEL FILM CENTER
OF THE SCHOOL OF THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO
PRESENTS OFF-SITE SCREENINGS IN DECEMBER AS
GENE SISKEL
FILM CENTER ON LOCATION
Gene Siskel Film Center’s theaters will be closed
for renovations and technical upgrades December 1- January 4
The Film Center will reopen to the public on Friday, January 5
Taking the feedback of its loyal patron base to heart, the Gene
Siskel Film Center is investing in the comfort of moviegoers to make upgrades,
the first time since the facility opened at 164 N. State St. in 2001. It will
shutter its doors for approximately one month from Friday, December 1, 2017,
through Thursday, January 4, 2018.
The Gene Siskel Film Center will be closed for renovations as the
17-year-old seats and carpeting in both Theater 1 and Theater 2 will be
replaced and wiring will be installed to improve hearing for patrons with
cochlear implants. To maintain a presence with its world-class programming,
movies and Film Center staff will travel off-site to various cultural centers
around Chicago to present four films as Gene Siskel Film Center On Location from
December 3 through 10.
“The Gene Siskel Film Center is known and celebrated for serving
various communities in Chicago through film so it’s only fitting that we give
back by bringing highlights from the past year to select venues around the
city. While our theaters will be closed during our December programming cycle,
continuing to present movies elsewhere is essential to maintaining our presence
and brand while on hiatus, and to remind film lovers that we aren’t going away,”
said Jean de St. Aubin, Executive Director.
The architecture firm responsible for managing the renovation
project is Gensler, the same company that designed the Film Center’s original
buildout when it relocated in June 2001 to its current State St. location.
Pepper Construction is the general contractor that will install the seats,
carpeting, and enhanced assisted listening technology.
Films
presented in Gene Siskel Film Center On Location:
I Know a
Man…Ashley Bryan
Sunday,
December 3, 2:00 pm
Logan
Center for the Arts, 915 E. 60 St., Chicago
I Know a Man…Ashley Bryan is a portrait of the beloved author and
illustrator of over 50 children’s books, including such classics as Beautiful Blackbird and Dancing Granny, and has also created
collages, puppets, and stained-glass windows, all deeply rooted in spirituality
and the Black experience. While the ebullient 94-year-old seems part-child
himself, he is far from naïve as he was a stevedore in World War II, experiencing
racism in the then-segregated Army and landed on bloody Omaha Beach on D-Day
which influenced him to commit his life to spreading joy and beauty through is
work. I Know a Man…Ashley Bryan had its Chicago premiere at the Film
Center during the 23rd Annual Black
Harvest Film Festival in August 2017.
Time to Die
(Tiempo de morir)
Monday,
December 4, 6:00 pm
Instituto
Cervantes, 31 W. Ohio St., Chicago
The first film by the Mexican
auteur Arturo Ripstein, revisionist western Time to Die's original
screenplay was written by Gabriel García Marquez while the dialogue was adapted
by celebrated Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes. After 18 years in prison, Juan
Sáyago returns to his hometown to settle down only to encounter
the hotheaded son of the man Juan killed in self-defense. Time to Die was last
presented at the Film Center during its Recently
Restored series in September 2017.
Swim Team
Thursday,
December 7, 7:00 pm
Gorton
Community Center, 400 E. Illinois Rd., Lake Forest, IL
Swim Team is a documentary that looks at autistic
competitive athletes who form a swim team after New Jersey parents Maria and
Mike McQuay observed that their young son became calm and focused in the family
pool. A multicultural group of boys on the autism spectrum were recruited and a
decade later the now co-ed team thrives as a unique confidence-building program
that produces a remarkable range of social and therapeutic benefits to the
swimmers, including some who have become champions in the Special Olympics. Swim
Team had its Chicago premiere at the Film Center in July 2017.
Kedi
Sunday, December 10, 3:00 pm
Chicago Athletic Association, 12
S. Michigan Ave., Chicago
Kedi is a loving portrait of the cherished street
cats in the atmospheric city of Istanbul—purring mascots that have roamed the
ancient capital for millennia, protected, admired, and honored for their beauty
and their skills as mousers. Kedi had its Chicago premiere in
January 2017 as part of the series Stranger
Than Fiction: Documentary Premieres. Patrons
will have the opportunity to adopt felines following the screening through
representatives from Tree House Humane Society and Hyde Park Cats, noting that live
animals will be present. If patrons aren’t in the position to adopt, Chicago
Athletic Association Hotel will be accepting cat and dog food donations at the
screening, allowing Tree House and Hyde Park Cats to feed furry friends in need
during the holiday season.
Note that screenings may include post-show discussions. For
updates, please visit www.siskelfilmcenter.org/onlocation.
* * *
The Gene Siskel Film Center will reopen to the public on Friday,
January 5, 2018. Films slated to open that day will be the new Kartemquin Films
release Keep Talking, a documentary that looks at four Alaska Native
women fighting to save the endangered language Kodiak Alutiiq, currently spoken
by less than 40 fluent native elders, and Tom of Finland, a biopic about the
late Finnish artist Touko Valio Laaksonen whose homoerotic fetish art made a
transformative impact on late 20th century gay culture.
* * *
Tickets to each screening are $11/general admission, $6/Film
Center members, and
$5/students with current I.D. Advance tickets are available online
and at the Film Center box office (until November 30), hours of operation: 5:00
to 8:30 pm, Monday through Thursday; 1:00 to 8:30 pm, Friday; 2:00 to 8:30 pm,
Saturday; and 2:00 to 5:30 pm. Tickets may also be purchased in person at the
Gene Siskel Film Center main office, hours of operation: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm,
Monday through Friday. General admission, member, and student tickets are
available through the Gene Siskel Film Center’s website www.siskelfilmcenter.org/content/tickets. There is an online
surcharge of $1.50 per ticket.
* * *
A Gene Siskel Film Center membership is a year-round ticket to
great movies for only $6 per screening! Memberships are $50 (Individual) and
$80 (Dual). They also make a great holiday gift for the movie lover in your
life! For more information, call 312-846-2600 or visitwww.siskelfilmcenter.org/content/membership.
For more information about the Film Center, call 312-846-2800
(24-hour movie hotline) or 312-846-2600 (general information, 9:00 am-5:00
p.m., Monday-Friday), or visit www.siskelfilmcenter.org.
* * *
About the Gene Siskel Film Center of the School of the Art
Institute of Chicago Since 1972, the Gene Siskel Film Center of the School of the
Art Institute of Chicago has presented cutting edge cinema to an annual
audience of 85,000. The Film Center’s programming includes annual film
festivals that celebrate diverse voices and international cultures, premieres
of trailblazing work by today’s independent filmmakers, restorations and
revivals of essential films from cinema history, and insightful provocative
discussions with filmmakers and media artists. Altogether, the Film Center
hosts over 1,500 screenings and 200 filmmaker appearances every year. The Film
Center was renamed the Gene Siskel Film Center in 2000 after the late,
nationally celebrated film critic, Gene Siskel. Visit www.siskelfilmcenter.org to learn more and find out
what’s playing today.
About the School of the Art Institute of Chicago
For 150 years, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC)
has been a leader in educating the world’s most influential artists, designers,
and scholars. Located in downtown Chicago with a fine arts graduate program
ranked number two by U.S. News and World Report, SAIC provides an
interdisciplinary approach to art and design as well as world-class resources,
including the Art Institute of Chicago museum, on-campus galleries, and
state-of-the-art facilities. SAIC’s undergraduate, graduate, and
post-baccalaureate students have the freedom to take risks and create the bold
ideas that transform Chicago and the world—as seen through notable alumni and
faculty such as Michelle Grabner, David Sedaris, Elizabeth Murray, Richard Hunt,
Georgia O’Keeffe, Cynthia Rowley, Nick Cave, and LeRoy Neiman. Learn more
at saic.edu.