One of the city’s biggest film events, the Chicago Latino Film Festival opened last night and continues through Thursday, April 23, with most programs at River East 21. Our roundup of week one is here; check back next week for the sequel. Also in this week’s issue, I take a look at Beloved Sisters, a German drama about the menage a trois between the poet and philospher Friedrich Schiller, his wife, Charlotte von Lengefeld, and her married sister, Caroline.
New movies reviewed this week include: Cheatin’, the latest from cult animator Bill Plympton; Bosnia in Our Hearts, screening as part of the weekend-long Chicago Festival of Bosnian-Herzegovinian Film; Desert Dancer, a Footloose knockoff about the Tehran art student who riled the Iranian authorities by starting a modern dance group; and Marfa Girl, the new movie from rabble-rouser Larry Clark (Kids, Bully).
Best bets for repertory: Peter Davis’s Hearts and Minds (1974), Tuesday with Davis in person at the University of Chicago Social Sciences Research Building; Buster Keaton’s Sherlock Jr. (1924), noon Saturday at Music Box with Reader contributor Drew Hunt leading an audience discussion afterward in the theater’s well-upholstered new lounge; Stanley Kubrick’s Spartacus (1960), Friday through Sunday at University of Chicago Doc Films; Michael Powell’s Tales of Hoffman (1953), all week at Music Box in a new restoration; Orson Welles’s Touch of Evil (1958), Wednesday at Doc; and Frederick Wiseman’s Welfare (1975), Tuesday at Doc.
And don’t forget these special events: Dennis Clancy discusses his film Chasing Red, about the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Wednesday at Showplace ICON; Tommy Heffron attends a screening of his experimental videos, Sunday at Roots & Culture; Brock Riebe talks about his horror comedy Incall, Friday at Nightingale; and video maker Marisa Olson attends a screening of her work next Thursday at Film Center.
