John Gavin Malkovich is an American actor. He is the recipient of several accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards.
William Louis Petersen is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Gil Grissom in the CBS drama thriller series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000–2015), for which he won a Screen Actors Guild Award and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award; he was further nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards as a producer of the show. He reprised his role as Gil Grissom in the sequel CSI: Vegas, which premiered on October 6, 2021.
Steppenwolf Theatre Company is a Chicago theater company founded in 1974 by Terry Kinney, Jeff Perry, and Gary Sinise in the Immaculate Conception grade school in Highland Park, Illinois and is now located in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood on Halsted Street. The theatre's name comes from Hermann Hesse's novel Steppenwolf, which original member Rick Argosh was reading during the company's inaugural production of Paul Zindel's play, And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little, in 1974. After occupying several theatres in Chicago, in 1991, it moved into its own purpose-built complex with three performing spaces, the largest seating 550.
Miles from Home is a 1988 American action thriller film starring Richard Gere and Kevin Anderson. It is about two brothers who, after being forced off their farm in the debt stricken Midwestern United States, become folk heroes when they begin robbing the banks that have been foreclosing on farmers. The movie was directed by Gary Sinise and written by Chris Gerolmo. The film uses many members of Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company of which Sinise is a co-founder.
Francis V. Guinan Jr. is an American film, television and stage actor who is perhaps best known for his role as Edgar Teller the patriarch in the short-lived series Eerie, Indiana.
The Grapes of Wrath is a 1988 play adapted by Frank Galati from the classic 1939 John Steinbeck novel of the same name, with incidental music by Michael Smith. The play debuted at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, followed by a May 1989 production at the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego and a June 1989 production at the Royal National Theatre in London. After eleven previews, the Broadway production, directed by Galati, opened on March 22, 1990 at the Cort Theatre, where it ran for 188 performances. The cast included Gary Sinise, Kathryn Erbe, Terry Kinney, Jeff Perry, Lois Smith, Francis Guinan, and Stephen Bogardus. The play was adapted for television in 1990 for the PBS series American Playhouse.
Tracy S. Letts is an American actor, playwright, and screenwriter. He started his career at the Steppenwolf Theatre before making his Broadway debut as a playwright for August: Osage County (2007), for which he received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play. As an actor, he won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for the Broadway revival of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (2013).
Journey from the Fall is a 2006 independent film by writer/director/editor Ham Tran, about the Vietnamese re-education camp and boat people experience following the Fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975. This drama was released on March 23, 2007, by ImaginAsian to sold-out screenings. The film is notable for having been financed entirely by the Vietnamese American community.
The Midwest Film Festival is the USA's only film festival solely dedicated to Midwest films. Only films from the eight-state Midwest region of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin are considered for screening.
Sean Baker is an American filmmaker. He is best known for directing independent feature films about the lives of sex workers, including Starlet (2012), Tangerine (2015), The Florida Project (2017), Red Rocket (2021), and Anora (2024), the last of which won the Palme d'Or at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. He is also known for creating the Fox/IFC puppet sitcom Greg the Bunny (2002–2006) and its spin-offs.
Anne B. Real is a 2003 coming-of-age drama film directed by Lisa France and starring Janice Richardson, Carlos Leon, Ernie Hudson, and Sherri Saum. The film follows an aspiring rapper in Spanish Harlem who finds inspiration in reading The Diary Of Anne Frank. The film won a Black Reel Award for Outstanding Independent Film.
The Beloit International Film Festival (BIFF) is an annual film festival in Beloit, Wisconsin, usually held in mid-February. The first edition of the festival took place in 2006. BIFF has evolved from a single weekend to now span 10 days and seven venues. Most venues are in downtown Beloit and within easy walking distance between each. With more than 300 volunteers, it is a community-wide effort, welcoming filmmakers from across the nation and around the world.
Wendy Robie is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Nadine Hurley in David Lynch's television series Twin Peaks (1990–1991) and the prequel film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992). She also starred in two of Wes Craven's films: The People Under the Stairs (1991) and Vampire in Brooklyn (1995). In 2017, Robie reprised her role as Nadine in David Lynch's revival series Twin Peaks: The Return.
Gasparilla International Film Festival is an annual independent film festival that takes place in Tampa Bay, Florida. The festival is run by the Tampa Film Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing film education and supporting filmmakers in the Tampa Bay area. The first Gasparilla Film Festival took place in 2007.
Carrie Alexandra Coon is an American actress. In television, she has starred as grieving mother Nora Durst in the HBO drama series The Leftovers (2014–2017) and as Gloria Burgle in the third season of the FX anthology series Fargo (2017). She won a Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actress for The Leftovers and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress for Fargo. She also starred in the second season of the anthology drama series The Sinner (2018), and has played aspiring socialite Bertha Russell in the HBO series The Gilded Age since 2022.
Mercury in Retrograde is a 2017 American drama film written and directed by Michael Glover Smith, and starring French actress Roxane Mesquida. The film follows three couples from Chicago as they navigate personal challenges while vacationing together for a weekend in southwestern Michigan. The film premiered at the 2017 Full Bloom Film Festival in Statesville, North Carolina where it won the Best Narrative Feature award.
Rendezvous in Chicago is a 2018 American romantic comedy film written and directed by Michael Glover Smith. The film consists of three vignettes that examine Chicago couples at different stages in their relationships. The film premiered at the 2018 Adirondack Film Festival in Glens Falls, New York where it won second place in Audience Choice voting. It is notable for containing a cameo by French actress Haydée Politoff, her first screen appearance in 37 years.
Lapsis is a 2020 American dystopian science fiction film written, directed, edited, and scored by Noah Hutton. It stars Dean Imperial as a delivery man who turns to quantum cabling, a strange new corner of the gig economy, and faces a pivotal choice to either help his fellow workers or to get rich and get out. It also stars Madeline Wise, Babe Howard, Dora Madison, Ivory Aquino, Frank Wood, James McDaniel, and Arliss Howard.
Catherine Caylee Cowan is an American actress. She is best known for her roles in Sunrise in Heaven (2019), Willy's Wonderland (2021), Spinning Gold (2022), and Frank and Penelope (2022).
