From hosting various filmmakers to making creative lineups of movies around a set of criteria, the Gene Siskel Film Center asserts itself as an accessible location for fans of art house movies.
As one of Chicago’s premiere art house theaters, the film center shows collections of movies both classic and new. The theater screens films that find a balance in popularity and obscurity to bring fans of the classics out of the shadows and into the theater.
Last month marked the conclusory screenings for the collection “Cinema Unbound: Powell and Pressburger,” a stockpile of 12 films directed by the acclaimed filmmaking duo Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.
The pair of British directors were behind revolutionary set design and color correction throughout the 1940s and early 1950s, inspiring portions of works from Greta Gerwig, Martin Scorsese and Wes Anderson.
On top of featuring the movies that have inspired generations of filmmakers, the film center also welcomes guest filmmakers and stars for audience Q&As and screenings.
Three-time Oscar-winning editor Thelma Schoonmaker paid the theater a visit the weekend of October the 5th, answering audience questions after a screening of “The Red Shoes.” The freshly-finished digital restoration honors Schoonmaker’s late husband, Michael Powell, compliments of Schoonmaker herself and director Martin Scorsese.
The film center is known for their collections and lineups of restored features. Collections from directors Federico Fellini and Sidney Lumet have appeared throughout the past few years, as well as actor collections, like the credits of Judy Garland.
These schedules and screenings are organized by Rebecca Fons, director of programming at Gene Siskel and film festival professor at DePaul.
“Films, programs like that are really my favorite part of my role here,” Fons said. “Thinking of creative connective tissue to films and then doing some research and curating down, usually five to 10 films based on a theme or from a single auteur or single actor or director or something like that.”
Art theaters exchange 35mm celluloid prints of the films all around the world, often taking weeks to reach the theater if it comes from overseas. The 4K restoration of Shinji Sômai’s “Moving” (1993) was recently shown in August 2024, imported from Japan and relatively unknown in the U.S. Gene Siskel made it possible for the art-centric cityscape of Chicago to witness the film at last.
“My advice in any retrospective is pick a random one you’ve never heard of,” Michael Wawzenek, the assistant director of media technology at the Gene Siskel, said. “Odds are there’s gonna be something you really like in there, and it can be exciting to go in cold not knowing what to expect and be pleasantly surprised.”
The film center also helps to host the Chicago International Film Festival (or CIFF), the Chicago Palestine Film Festival and the Chicago Underground Film Festival. Visitors like director Tsai Ming-Liang from Taiwan and Apichatpong Weerasethakul from Thailand accompanied their respective films in the summer, when they were showcased at the film center.
DePaul student and CIFF programming intern Lily Bacon said her experience at the festival continues to be informative and helpful, involving watching up to 10 films a week from all over the world. Bacon has helped curate movies for CIFF audiences for multiple years.
“When I first moved here, volunteering with the festival was one of the first things I did to get involved with Chicago’s film community, and I’ve been coming back every year since,” Bacon said. “So now I know not only about how the screening process works for programming, but also how they keep everything running smoothly behind the scenes once it’s time for the festival to start!”
As far as upcoming collections, Gene Siskel plans far in advance in order to get screening rights and to ensure a good amount of fan favorites.
Early December’s “Based in Heartland” collection will feature 10 movies set in the Midwest, like “Fargo” and “Meet Me In St. Louis.” January will mark the “Settle In” collection: screenings of movies that run a minimum of five hours apiece — including the entire “Godfather” trilogy, shown one after the other.
The complete directorial archive from renowned documentarian Frederick Wiseman will be shown in early 2025. Shortly after, there will be a dive into the films of New Hollywood director Robert Altman.
“The main thing for me, with any of these series, is to take a chance on something you’re unsure about,” Wawzenek said. “There’s a reason why Thelma Schoonmaker and Martin Scorsese spent so much time helping the restorations of them in the film foundation and all these organizations worked to restore them and preserve them. They’re good films. I feel like you can’t go wrong.”
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