Tag Archives: Layne Marie Williams

February 21, 2020

Chicago Shorts at the Beloit International Film Festival

By michaelgloversmith

I wrote the following capsule review of the Beloit International Film Fest’s “WI / IL TWO” shorts program for Time Out Chicago.

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A Missed Connection. Photo courtesy of Third Wheel Entertainment.

Chicago Shorts Shine at This Year’s Beloit International Film Festival

Located in a picturesque small town in Wisconsin just north of the Illinois border, the Beloit International Film Festival is a gem of a regional fest that has long featured an impressive roster of Midwestern filmmaking talent, and this year’s lineup is no exception. Any Chicagoans planning on attending the 2020 edition of BIFF, which kicks off tonight, Friday, February 21, and runs through Sunday, March 1, would do well to check out the “WI / IL TWO”shorts program: It features a contingent of unusually strong Chicago-made short films. Among the works screening in this program (and thus vying for the fest’s highly competitive “Best Illinois Short” award) are Matthew Weinstein’s A Missed Connection, Layne Marie Williams’ Golden Voices and Eve Rydberg’s Home. This program screens at Bagels & More on Friday, February 21 at 7:30pm and again at the same location on Saturday, February 22 at 7:30pm. Filmmakers and cast members from all three short films will be present for a Q&A session following both screenings.

A Missed Connection is an emotionally resonant study of two college friends, Jacob (Tyler Pistorius) and Lauren (Kimberly Michelle Williams), reconnecting in a coffee shop by chance on a wintry night. That writer/director Matthew Weinstein packs a bit too much “character arc” into the brief run time is a welcome problem in an age of films of too little ambition, and one that is compensated for by spectacularly subtle lead performances and gorgeous Rembrandt-esque visuals. Golden Voices is a poetic horror film about a ghost-chasing podcaster (Kalika Rose) who stumbles upon sleepwalking children whispering of “gold” in rural Indiana. Director Layne Marie Williams, aided by cinematographer Grace Pisula (whose Gold Point Studio produced), packs a wealth of haunting atmosphere into a fleet 14 minutes that will likely leave viewers wanting more; this could easily be the pilot for a web series. Home, a pungent dramedy about the reunion between a father/daughter duo, both on the verge of homelessness, serves as a terrific showcase for two of Chicago’s finest theater actors (Francis Guinan and Carolyn Hoerdemann, who also co-wrote); when actors can cause your heart to lurch by interacting with a tomato—you know you’re in the presence of art.

For more information about this year’s Beloit International Film Festival, including ticket info and showtimes,visit the BIFF website here.

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January 30, 2019

RENDEZVOUS IN CHICAGO on WGN Radio’s Patti Vasquez Show

By michaelgloversmith

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My fearless producer Layne Marie Williams and I were on WGN Radio’s Patti Vasquez Show last night to talk all about the Chicago Premiere of RENDEZVOUS IN CHICAGO at the Gene Siskel Film Center! The interview segment begins at the 38:40 mark and runs all the way until the end of the program. This is a fun, freewheeling listen. Check it out here.

If you haven’t bought tickets yet, they are selling like hotcakes! The Friday and Saturday shows, in particular, should sell out in advance so please get ’em while you still can at the Siskel’s website here.

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December 15, 2018

First 2019 RENDEZVOUS IN CHICAGO Screenings Announced

By michaelgloversmith

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There is a great story by Joey Filer at the essential Chicago film-industry news website Reel Chicago all about RENDEZVOUS IN CHICAGO. It features quotes from producer Layne Marie Williams, actress Clare Cooney and yours truly, and breaks the exciting news that our Chicago Premiere will be held at the Gene Siskel Film Center in February! Filer also makes some rather salient critical points about the film. He writes, “RENDEZVOUS IN CHICAGO’s music, camera work, 4:3 aspect ratio, narrative arc, vignette structure, and pacing, along with one of the most unconventional dance scenes in recent memory, all beg to be analyzed in a film theory course and written about in scholarly journals.” You can read the full article here.

I am also very excited to announce that our first festival screenings in 2019 will take place at the Santa Fe Film Festival in New Mexico (exact date TBA but the fest is held 2/13-2/17) and the Beloit International Film Festival in Wisconsin (exact date tba but the fest is held 2/23-3/04). Members of the cast and/or crew will be present for live Q&As after both screenings. Even more screenings will be announced soon – so stay tuned!

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October 21, 2018

RENDEZVOUS IN CHICAGO Press Round-Up / Newcity’s Film 50

By michaelgloversmith

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(left to right: Rendezvous in Chicago Associate Producer Jill Sandmire, Production Manager Armani Barron, me, and Producer Layne Marie Williams)

My new film Rendezvous in Chicago had its World Premiere this past weekend at the fabulous Adirondack Film Festival in Glens Falls, NY where we had two screenings in front of large and appreciative audiences (the first show was sold out!) and were fortunate to take the 2nd place Audience Choice Award for Best Feature. It was great to have some of the “Women of the Now” on hand to celebrate the occasion. The first reviews have also started to appear in print and online. All are positive and all have good insights into the film. Here’s a round-up:

  • “Mr. Price,” a Virginia-based critic writing at the Strasburg Film website, concludes his review by noting, “Superb writing, backed up by standout performances against the gorgeous visual backdrop of the titular city, make this film an experience unlike any other.” You can read his full review here.
  • Pamela Powell, writing at her Reel Honest Reviews site, calls it “Refreshingly fun” and notes “the strength of the women in the first and third stories.” Her full review is here.
  • Leo Brady, at his A Movie Guy site, appears taken aback by the lighthearted tone (after my previous film Mercury in Retrograde) but still writes that “Rendezvous in Chicago is the perfect escape.” Check the full review here.
  • In a print article that appeared in the Glens Falls Post Star, film writer Kathleen Phalen-Tomaselli recommended our Saturday screening as one of the day’s “offbeat” highlights and praised Rendezvous‘ “beautiful” cinematography. She also has a few quotes from me and producer Layne Marie Williams in her story, which you can peep online here.

Finally, I recently made Newcity Chicago‘s annual “Film 50” list for the first time. A lot of talented friends and colleagues have been on this list over the past seven years and it’s a huge honor for me to be in their company. You can read Ray Pride’s write up of me in the October edition of this great alternative monthly – physical copies of which are currently all around Chicago, or you can check out the expanded write-up online here. Thanks so much to Ray for the words and photographer Sally Blood for the photos (one of which I’m posting below):

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September 30, 2018

Talking FRANKENSTEIN in Wilmette / RENDEZVOUS IN CHICAGO at the Adirondack Film Fest

By michaelgloversmith

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I’ll be giving a talk about cinematic adaptations of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein from the early sound era through the present day at the Wilmette Public Library next Sunday, October 7. Here’s the description I wrote for their website:

Mike at the Movies Presents: Frankenstein on Film
Sunday, October 7 at 2:00
In all of literature Frankenstein is one of the novels most frequently adapted into other mediums. In this special Halloween edition of “Mike at the movies,” filmmaker and scholar Michael Glover Smith will spotlight some of the most popular and enduring cinematic interpretations of Mary Shelley’s masterpiece – from James Whale’s iconic Boris Karloff vehicle from 1931 and Hammer’s lurid color version in 1958 to classic parodies such as Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein and Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein.
The presentation will focus on how different filmmakers have managed to explore different aspects of the same well-known formula and, in the process, continually revive a story that refuses to die.
Auditorium; Free and Open to the Public – http://www.wilmettelibrary.info

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My new film Rendezvous in Chicago will be screening TWICE at the Adirondack Film Festival, which is hosting our World Premiere, in Glens Falls, New York next month. Both screenings will be preceded by Clare Cooney’s great short film Runner. The first show will be Friday, October 19 at 3:15pm, the second on Saturday, October 20 at 3:30pm. I will be there to introduce the screenings along with producer Layne Marie Williams and other members of the cast and crew. For more info, including the full festival schedule, ticket info and showtimes, check out the festival’s website: http://www.adkfilmfestival.org/

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January 2, 2018

New Year, New Film: RENDEZVOUS IN CHICAGO

By michaelgloversmith

I’m excited to announce I will be directing a new feature film this summer based on a new original screenplay. Full production announcement/summary below!

RENDEZVOUS IN CHICAGO: Three Tales of Love in the Windy City
by Michael Glover Smith

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Artwork by Loren Greenblatt

RENDEZVOUS IN CHICAGO is a short comedic feature film comprised of three vignettes corresponding to the beginning, middle and end stages of a relationship:

Part 1: THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV. Paul, a charming young man, attempts to pick up Delaney, a bookish grad student, in an otherwise empty wine bar. She turns the tables on him in a most unexpected manner.

Part 2: CATS AND DOGS. Rob and Andy are enjoying the bliss of newly formed couplehood. Rob has planned to propose marriage as they walk from their apartment to the lakeshore nearby, but has he made the right decision?

Part 3: THE END IS THE BEGINNING. Julie comes home from work early to find her boyfriend, Wyatt, in bed with another woman. After violently ejecting them from her apartment, Julie begins to fall in love with . . . you the viewer!

Written and directed by Michael Glover Smith

Starring: Clare Cooney, Chelsea David, Nina Ganet, Kevin Wehby, Sophie the Shih Tzu and more talented thespians to be announced soon.

Produced by: Layne Marie Williams for Women of the Now.

Filming in 2018.

 

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