Directed by Haile Gerima in 1993, the Ethiopian production “Sankofa” mystically and viscerally centered Black diaspora in a slave narrative. The idiosyncratic film opens with a Black man with white body paint banging on a set of drums while dissolves of sun-smeared fields complement underneath, leading to an intoxicating invocation to those Black souls lost during the…

The documentary “The Most Beautiful Boy in the World” opens on a disturbing note: An aged Björn Andrésen, now 66 years old, walks slowly down a dilapidated, empty, blue-lit hallway. Paint is peeling from the walls. The ceiling is tattered and ruined. His silhouette, marked by his black overcoat, is nothing more than a lonely…

I was with Kate on an early summer day in Times Square when I got the call. It was Mick LaSalle, the movie critic for the San Francisco Chronicle. He was excited. Was I interested in going to the Venice Film Festival? There was this panel for something called the Biennale College, a group of…

Navy Pier, Chicago’s iconic cultural destination,will host Chicago LIVE Again!—a free, two-day outdoor festival to celebrate Chicago’s arts and entertainment industry as it makes its triumphant return to live stages across the city since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The first-of-its-kind event, held on Friday, September 24th, and Saturday, September 25th, will include live performances…

Melvin Van Peebles was a bridge between the French New Wave and Blaxploitation. His independent classic, the highest grossing self-produced film to that point, “Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song,” without hyperbole, altered the course of cinematic history, proving Black movies made for Black audiences could be profitable. He gave Earth, Wind & Fire their big break.…

“It was all very queer, but queerer things were yet to come.”—Joe Gillis (William Holden) in Billy Wilder’s “Sunset Blvd.” Windy City cinephiles are sure to rejoice over numerous selections set to screen during the 39th installment of Reeling: The Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film Festival. Thirty-three features and nine short film programs will both screen…