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Boasting both a national championship and a Heisman trophy winner, Syracuse was at the center of the college football universe in 1960. But by 1970, their national glory was replaced by national scandal, as eight Orange players put their futures on the line to battle racism. Using previously sealed records, The Syracuse 8 Project (working title), chronicles the heroism of these men who lost everything while changing the future for everyone.
Creative Producer: Amir George
Director: Donald Conley
Executive Producer: Larry Weitzman
Burning Sage follows a former con artist turned creative writing teacher finally on the straight and narrow who is forced to run scams on the Chicago elite to save her community's art center. Our story highlights discrepancies in the distribution of wealth, how that affects the decisions of people in dire need and touches on how we might be the one thing that we’re afraid of. Think White Collar, Snowfall, and The Blacklist with a sprinkle of some Black Girl Magic.
Creator/Writer/Producer: Kimani Whitsey-Gully
Director/Producer: Imanne Mondane
Producer: Dashawna Wright
An Account follows Luis and Avery's crumbling marriage in the face of a child abuse investigation. This series blurs the line between reality and fiction as it incorporates domestic drama, news headlines, and autobiography.
Writer/Director/Producer: Josue Turcios
Actor: Katherine Vazquez
Project overview: The Cabinet Maker chronicles the life and work of Chicago native, Lawrence D’Antignac. A lifelong woodworker, D’Antignac reflects on his childhood and formative years; his introduction to woodworking; his time stationed in North Korea; and his South Side art gallery, The Woodshop.
Drawing from memory, personal photographs, and archival materials, this story paints a revealing portrait of family, community, labor, and loss.
Director & Producer: Adewole A. Abioye
Executive Produce: Aderemi Abioye
Executive Producer: Skylah Sensahrae
Associate Producer: Ife Olatunji
Unit Production Manager: Rahim Branch
Director of Photography: Dan Scotti
Sound: Kevin Vicks
Editor: Meg Walsh
Project overview: Fortified follows a 30-something couple having a rare day off together at home. As the day goes on it’s clear that there are deep-seated problems within their relationship that neither of them possess the emotional intelligence to tackle head-on. Instead, they engage in their usual routine of jokes and games and it devolves into a role play that gradually consumes their entire existence. However, it is through this experience that they are finally able to genuinely communicate with each other and determine whether or not they should even be a couple at all.
Producer/Director: Jake VanKersen
Producer/Writer/Actor (Hector): Ross Compton
Producer: Tyler Core
Producer: Scott Cupper
Executive Producer: John Otterbacher
Actor (Penny): Stevie
The 6th edition of the Cinema Femme Short Film Fest runs from April 26 – May 2, 2024. This one-of-a-kind festival emphasizes the importance of supporting emerging female and non-binary filmmakers by connecting them to seasoned industry members through the Breaking Down Walls mentorship program and retreat. The hybrid film festival will screen 20 short films at the Music Box Theatre in Chicago and online with panel discussions on relevant industry topics and a tribute event honoring a seasoned industry member.
Festival Director: Rebecca Martin Fagerholm
When night terrors start impinging on her reality, a fragile woman named Nelly must fight her inner demons to save her decades-long marriage to Pete, a seemingly doting but manipulative husband. Is love enough to overcome?
Director: Patricia Frontain
Executive Producer and Writer: Sylvie Sadarnac
Welcome to the world of Wizdom, a neon-lit colony where daylight is scarce and humans live with bionic implants. Eos, a professional thief, is saved by a strange character, Carbon, who has a higher purpose for Eos and her younger sibling Vayle.
Director: Layne Marie Williams
Executive Producer, Writer: Ashton Swinford
Writer: Zack Sievers
Producer: Grace Hahn
Producer: Aimy Tien.
Tree Huggers Comedy melds stunning visuals, unexpected humor, and the odd person in an animal costume to create nature documentaries that explore America’s wild wonders—and the issues facing them. Our 5th film, Funeral for a Glacier, centers around a farcical funeral that we hold for the glaciers that the park is losing at an alarming rate. Tonally it is a cross between planet earth, the daily show, and Calvin and Hobbes; a little bit John Muir, a little bit Jon Stewart and a lotta bit John Cougar Mellencamp (assuming he was an actual cougar).
Series Creators: Brad Einstein & Kyle Niemer
Producer: Linsey Miscato
Writer & Actor: Lisa Burton
Puppet Fabricator & Associate Producer: Megan Burbour
Editor: Dave Thomas
A hardened criminal robs a gas station and takes the first vehicle he finds by force. As he makes his escape, he realizes that he has an unexpected passenger. The man is left to make a difficult choice as he faces the consequences of his actions and discovers how seemingly insignificant decisions can devolve into chaos. With the clock running out on his time to escape, the man is left to contemplate his past and whether redemption is possible. What is the point of no return?
Directors: Matt Miller & Michael Pancico
Producer: Devon Gulati
Director of Photography: JP O'Rourke
It’s 1986 and Noor is a customer service representative at Jockey’s Frozen Dinners and Jockstraps— where the “Manliest Men Come First”. When she is not dealing with eccentric food and/or jockstrap related calls, she’s having awkward encounters with her cubicle neighbor Andy... Encounters that lead her to use many, many stress balls.
Her home life is never quite as eventful. She spends most nights alone with a frozen dinner and her two best friends, Harold and Dr. Happi. Except, Harold is a cat and Dr. Happi is the host of My Desires With Dr. Happi, a late night tv show where people express their strangest desires. These desires include, for example, sexual fascinations about Jesus...but who doesn’t desire that?
This is Noor’s happy place, until she sees an ad for 1-800-GET-SEXY, a phone sex operation company. Though at first she quickly changes the channel, things get weird when Dr. Happi himself starts to persuade her to become a phone sex operator through her own television set.
Noor must decide what she truly desires, even if it goes against everything she’s ever known.
Director: Sade' May
Producer: Madelyn Cardarelli
K and Mira, a queer couple living out of their van, hatch a plan to get some cash by robbing a bank. But when their automotive homestead breaks down in a small conservative town, the two are forced to look at what this plan really means for them.
Directors: Carol Brandt, Meredith Johnston
Producer: Suzanne Jurva
Indie Soul Journeys is a fresh, inspiring docuseries profiling independent artists who have overcome an extraordinary personal adversity in their pursuit of musical stardom.
Through intimate testimonials, first-hand narratives, and electrifying performances, Indie Soul Journeys answers the people’s call, by bringing to life the incredibly aspirational stories of musician mavericks who dared—despite unsettling fears and troubling trials—to persevere and live out their wildest dreams.
In today’s tough, fearful, and often divisive times, people embrace hope and seek out role models or blueprints for success despite seemingly impossible odds. They also desire meaningful, motivating connections, minimized feeling of divisions, and nourishment for their souls. We believe great music and profound storytelling does all three.
Director: John C. Jointer
Executive Producers: Seneca Lester, John C. Jointer
Lead Writer, Producer: L. Michael Gipson
Host/Narrator: Will Downing
Discover the untold stories of D-Day from the men, women, and children who lived through German occupation and Allied liberation of Normandy, France. Powerful and deeply personal, THE GIRL WHO WORE FREEDOM tells the stories of an America that lived its values, instilling a pride in a country that is in danger of becoming a relic of the past.
Writer/Director/Executive Director: Christian Taylor
Producers: Michelle (Price) Coupey, Flo Boucherie
Founded in 1979, Screen Magazine is based in Chicago and is dedicated to spotlighting outstanding efforts in independent film, television, and advertising between the coasts.
Donations will be dedicated to fortifying the organization’s budget for the year and, specifically, to strengthening its efforts to raise awareness of upcoming film projects from Chicago and Midwest filmmakers.
Editor in Chief: Andrew Schneider
A study of three family members, each of which experiences a seemingly mundane birthday dinner incongruently. incongruently. Our slice of life shows how attunement, connectedness, understanding aren’t a given and don’t result from being in the same room or of the same bloodline. All the things that go unsaid and assumed. Through patient scenes reflecting on a nighttime ritual between partners, a dinner party, and watching a movie together, we look to meditate on the things we say to the people who love us the most.
Director: Connor Allen Smith
