Film Schedule

Wednesday, June 17

6:00 pm: BEST OF JUST FOR LAUGHS SHORTS PROGRAM #1
90 minutes of the best comic short films submitted to the Just For Laughs Film Festival and the Christopher Wetzel Award For Independent Film Comedy. Featuring: Sleeping Beauty (Isabelle au bois dormant) by Claude Cloutier, 20 min.; About Face by Chad Maker, 6 min.; Below the Law by Richie Keen, 19 min.; Bŏru (Ball) by Russ Wharton, 1 min.; John and Karen by Matthew Walker, 5 min.; Psyche On Melrose by Doug Van Bebber, 12 min.; Small Things by Matt Bloom, 8 min.; Sigh! by Sacha Baylin-Stern, 5 min.; The Hidden Life of the Burrowing Owl by Mike Roush, 5 min.; and Operator by Matthew Walker, 2 min.
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8:00 pm: Chicago Premiere! THE BABY FORMULA
Dir. Alison Reid, Canada, 82 min.
With Angela Vint, Megan Fahlenbock
Two adventurous women in love are desperate to have their own biological child. They take a chance on an experimental scientific process and make sperm from their own stem cells. Pregnant with humor and unexpected twists, their journey ultimately confirms that all life is a gift and all families are crazy.
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Thursday, June 18

6:00 pm: Chicago Premiere! GOODBYE BABY (2nd place feature winner) + CURSING HANLEY (2nd place short winner)
GOODBYE BABY
Dir. Daniel Schechter, USA, 87 min.
With Christine Evangelista, Alan Ruck, Gerry Adler
When Melissa Brooks (Evangelista) discovers she can't afford college she moves to New York City and gets a job as a waitress at a comedy club. Living with her eccentric, older brother (Sandomire), she enters an unlikely love triangle while trying to raise the nerve to get on stage and perform.
CURSING HANLEY
Dir.Kelly Harms, Canada, 2007, 16min
When a man suspects his ex-fiancé of placing a curse upon him, he seeks the advice of a charismatic psychic to break the spell.
Director Daniel Schechter of GOODBYE BABY, and director Kelly Harms of CURSING HANLEY will introduce the Thursday screening.
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8:00 pm: Chicago Premiere! VISIONEERS (1st place feature winner) + FCU FACT CHECKERS UNIT (1st place short) + award presentation
VISIONEERS
Dir. Jared Drake, USA, 94 min.
With Zach Galifianakis, Judy Greer
George Washington Winsterhammerman lives an ordinary life. He has a wife, a kid, a house, and a boat. Everyday George gets in his minivan and goes to work as a Level Three Tunt at the Jeffers Corporation, the largest and most profitable corporation in the history of mankind. It is an utterly comfortable life, but when people around George begin exploding, he fears he might be next. George visits his doctor and learns that the dreams he’s been having are a symptom of impending explosion. Unfortunately, George can’t stop dreaming, and as the explosion epidemic worsens, he is forced to question the life he’s been living.
FCU FACT CHECKERS UNIT
After being assigned to check a bizarre fact about Bill Murray, two magazine employees break into Bill's house to spy on him.
Director Jared Drake and screenwriter Brandon Drake of VISIONEERS, and director Dan Beers of FCU: FACT CHECKERS UNIT, will be present on Thursday for audience discussion. The audience is invited to congratulate the winners and special guests in a reception in our Gallery/Café following the Thursday screening.
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Friday, June 19

6:00 pm: BEST OF JUST FOR LAUGHS SHORTS PROGRAM #2
90 minutes of the best twisted comic short films submitted to the Just For Laughs Film Festival and the Christopher Wetzel Award For Independent Film Comedy. Featuring: Next Floor by Dennis Villeneuve, 12 min.; What’s Virgin Mean? by Michael Davies, 3 min.; Love Does Grow On Trees by Bevan Walsh, 11 min.; Dirty Words: The Letter C by T. Arthur Cottam, 3 min.; Matumbo Goldberg by Rob Pearlstein, 4 min.; The Fetish Education (Comme une lettre à la poste) by Filippo Fillinger, 15 min.; The Outlaw Emmett Deemus And The Porno Queen by Alex Ferrari, 8 min.; Reality Check! by John Martin, 7 min.; Manoj by Zia Mohajerasbi, 12 min.; and Girl Parts by Erik Gernand, 5 min.
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8:00 pm: Chicago Premiere! MR. ART CRITIC
Richard Brauer, USA, 90 min.
With Bronson Pinchot, Toni Trucks
M.J. Clayton is a high profile Art Critic in Chicago. He is known throughout the country for his heartless and angry reviews, and is often scolded by his publisher. After a particularly mean-spirited batch of reviews, he takes a vacation to his small cottage on Mackinac Island. At a local pub, he awkwardly meets up with Frank, one of the angry artists who had been bashed by one of Clayton's recent reviews. The beers and hard liquor start to take hold, and before he knows what hit him, Clayton makes an impulsive and sloppy proclamation that any idiot can make art, and bets that he can prove it. The next morning, hung over, using supplies happily furnished by Frank, he finds himself struggling to fulfill his wager with no particular talent. Downtown is an annual art festival, and because of his notoriety and rantings at the bar, M.J. Clayton painfully finds himself featured prominently in festival literature. His connection to the national art scene makes him some kind of a local hero. He really just wants to hide and not deal with these people. Then he gets the bad news, he's fired. When he finds out that the first place prize is $10,000, he puts a last minute entry into the festival using a particularly striking painting he quietly purchases from Lisa, a genuinely gifted local artist. Ghost painting he calls it. No big deal. His efforts turn mostly to bluffing, and the patrons of the festival are amazed at his 'talent'. He tries to stay modest. In the end, the truth is painfully revealed, and M. J. Clayton finds his arrogance grinding into humility. He discovers the hard way that the ability to create art is indeed a gift and that he is not among the chosen few. Screening to be followed by a Q&A with the director and some of the local Chicago cast members!
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Saturday, June 20

4:00 pm: Chicago Premiere! EATING BUCCANEERS
Dir. Bill Keenan, Canada, 88 min.
With Peter Keleghan, Leah Pinsent
Buccaneers could be described as The Office meets Lord of The Flies. It’s a feature film comedy about four self-absorbed advertising executives and one officious client who crash-land their charter plane into the north woods. They survive the crash, but can they survive each other? There’s Doug, the irreverent, hot-shot copywriter with writer’s block; Vanessa, the new-age art director with a knack for picking the wrong men; Jerry, the A-type VP of Account Services with a secret agenda; Andrea, his perky junior account executive with wilderness survival training; Stewart, the brand manager who can’t make a decision without a focus group; and the mortally wounded Pilot who refuses to die. With nothing more than a box of Buccaneer chocolate bars, the group sets out to rescue themselves with dubious survival skills and even worse team-building abilities. As days pass, surprising revelations begin to mount as the Buccaneer bars begin to disappear. Unknowingly, each person has embarked on a third-class journey through hell that will help them to discover what’s really important in their lives—that is, if they don’t kill each other first. Director Bill Keenan will be on hand to present the film!
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6:00 pm: Chicago Premiere! CAPERS
Dir. Julian Mark Kheel, USA, 86 min.
With Danny Masterson, Leon, Aysan Celik
Three teams of criminals share the same Brooklyn block, but each exists in a separate genre of film. The Amateurs are trapped in a 1970's anti-hero movie. The Sputniks live in black and white. The Moolies can't escape their rap video life. But they all share a hatred of Connie, a racist local pawn shop owner and mafia widow. So when Connie has a heart attack, each team decides it's time to find out what's inside her legendary safe. Unfortunately they all plan their big score for the same night.
Film director Julian Mark Kheel will be on hand for audience discussion following the screening!
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