Roger Joseph Ebert was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. Ebert was known for his intimate, Midwestern writing style and critical views informed by values of populism and humanism. Writing in a prose style intended to be entertaining and direct, he made sophisticated cinematic and analytical ideas more accessible to non-specialist audiences. Ebert frequently endorsed foreign and independent films he believed would be appreciated by mainstream viewers, championing filmmakers like Woody Allen, Spike Lee, Werner Herzog and Errol Morris, as well as Martin Scorsese, whose first published review he wrote. In 1975, Ebert became the first film critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. Neil Steinberg of the Chicago Sun-Times said Ebert "was without question the nation's most prominent and influential film critic," and Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times called him "the best-known film critic in America."
Eugene Kal Siskel was an American film critic and journalist for the Chicago Tribune. He is best known for co-hosting various movie review television series with colleague Roger Ebert.
Richard E. Roeper is an American columnist and film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times. He co-hosted the television series At the Movies with Roger Ebert from 2000 to 2008, serving as the late Gene Siskel's successor. From 2010 to 2014, he co-hosted The Roe and Roeper Show with Roe Conn on WLS-AM. From October 2015 to October 2017, Roeper served as the host of the FOX 32 morning show Good Day Chicago.
At the Movies was an American movie review television program produced by Disney–ABC Domestic Television in which two film critics share their opinions of newly released films. Its original hosts were Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel, the former hosts of Sneak Previews on PBS (1975–1982) and a similarly titled syndicated series (1982–1986). After Siskel died in 1999, Ebert worked with various guest critics until choosing Chicago Sun-Times colleague Richard Roeper as his regular partner in 2000.
Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, collectively known as Siskel & Ebert, were American film critics known for their partnership on television lasting from 1975 to Siskel's death in 1999.
Sneak Previews is an American film review show that ran for over two decades on Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). It was created by WTTW, a PBS member station in Chicago, Illinois. It premiered on November 26, 1975, as a monthly local-only show called Opening Soon...at a Theater Near You and in 1977 was renamed Sneak Previews. In 1978 it became a biweekly show airing nationally on PBS. It grew to prominence with a review-conversation-banter format between opinionated film critics, notably for a time, Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel. By 1980, it was a weekly series airing on over 180 stations and the highest-rated weekly entertainment series in the history of public broadcasting. The show's final broadcast was on October 4, 1996.
A Simple Plan is a 1998 American neo-noir crime thriller film directed by Sam Raimi and written by Scott B. Smith, based on Smith's 1993 novel of the same name. The film stars Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton, and Bridget Fonda. Set in rural Minnesota, the story follows brothers Hank (Paxton) and Jacob Mitchell (Thornton), who, along with Jacob's friend Lou, discover a crashed plane containing $4.4 million in cash. The three men and Hank's wife Sarah (Fonda) go to great lengths to keep the money a secret but begin to doubt each other's trust, resulting in lies, deceit and murder.
Michael Phillips is an American film critic for the Chicago Tribune newspaper.
Theater Oobleck is a theater troupe in Chicago. It began in the 1980s in Ann Arbor, Michigan as Streetlight Theater, so named to indicate the itinerant nature of the troupe, "The idea being that it could be performed anywhere, even under a streetlight" according to co-founder Mickle Maher. Theater Oobleck was co-founded by Jeff Dorchen, Mickle Maher, David Isaacson and Danny Thompson. The name "Oobleck" came from the 1949 Dr. Seuss book Bartholomew and the Oobleck. The troupe moved to Chicago in 1988, where it has continued to produce original scripts.
Brian Sidney Bembridge is an American scenic, lighting, and costume designer for theater and film. His work has been seen on stages and screens throughout the country and Internationally in Australia, Germany, Prague, Ireland, and Great Britain. Mr. Bembridge has also taught and lectured at many universities across the country. He holds a BFA from University of North Carolina School of the Arts.
The Horse Thief is a 1986 Chinese film by director Tian Zhuangzhuang. It follows one of Tian's favorite topics, Chinese minorities, a topic he touched upon in 1984's On the Hunting Ground and would return to in 2004's documentary, Delamu. Like these other films, The Horse Thief shows Tian's fascination with China's ethnic minorities, and in particular the Buddhist ceremonies that these peoples practice.
Newcity is a media company based in Chicago, founded in 1986 by Brian and Jan Hieggelke." It started as the Newcity independent, free weekly newspaper in Chicago. Effective March 2017, the founders changed the newspaper into a glossy monthly free magazine, using the same Newcity name. As of March 2018, the firm also "publishes a suite of content-focused web sites", also under the Newcity name, and creates custom publications to order.
Haydée Politoff is a Russian-French actress born on May 25, 1946 in Paris.
The Writer with No Hands is a 2017 British documentary feature film, which follows unemployed academic Matthew Alford as he tries to establish that the accidental death of Hollywood screenwriter Gary DeVore was, in fact, an assassination by the United States government.
Strive is a 2019 American independent coming-of-age drama film. Set in Harlem, the film tells the story of Kalani Johnson (JoiStaRR), a driven 18-year-old high school student who dreams of getting accepted into Yale University while facing the challenging life in the projects and streets of Harlem - with her only ally being college counselor Mr. Rose.
Jackie Taylor is an American actress, director and theater producer. She is the founder and CEO of the Black Ensemble Theater in Chicago.
Heidi Johanningmeier is an American actress. She has a recurring role as Charity in the HBO television series Somebody Somewhere, which premiered in January 2022. She was nominated, along with the rest of the show, for a Peabody Award for Season 1. She has appeared in recurring roles on the television series Chicago P.D. and Proven Innocent, and was a lead in the film 100 Days to Live she also had a main role in the film One Small Hitch.
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.
Relative is a 2022 American drama/comedy feature film written and directed by Michael Glover Smith. The film is about a family reunion centered on a college graduation party in Chicago. It premiered at the 2022 Gasparilla International Film Festival in Tampa, Florida where actor Cameron Scott Roberts won the Grand Jury award for Best Performance.
Sergio Mims was a film critic, journalist, historian, co-founder of the Black Harvest Film Festival (Chicago), and a classical music commentator. In 2019, Mims received the Legacy Award from the Gene Siskel Film Center. He was also the host/producer of the weekly Bad Mutha’ Film Show on WHPK-FM and the station's classical music format chief.
