EVERYONE IS ACQUAINTED with the tyranny of the multiplex: no matter which one you visit, it’s screening the same ten Hollywood movies, and eight of them suck. But here in Chicago you can shake off your chains: in a typical week the Reader lists more than 100 movies showing well within reach of public transportation. Even if 80 of them suck, you’re still way ahead of the game.
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The meaning of “independent film” has gotten fuzzy, as big studios have launched their own specialty divisions to acquire, market, and distribute offbeat movies like An Inconvenient Truth or Little Miss Sunshine. Like the movies themselves, the theaters that specialize in them—Pipers Alley in Old Town and Landmark’s Century Centre in Lakeview—are owned by big corporations. One exception is Lakeview’s independently owned Music Box (3733 N. Southport, 773-871-6604,
The city’s finest cinematic resource, bar none, is the Gene Siskel Film Center (164 N. State, 312-846-2800, siskelfilmcenter.org) in the north Loop. Funded by the School of the Art Institute and blessed with two excellent screening rooms, the Film Center offers just about everything: Hollywood retrospectives, foreign releases, truly independent features, experimental work, plus academic lectures and talks by visiting scholars, archivists, and artists. Facets Cinematheque (1517 W. Fullerton, 773-281-4114,
chicagofilmmakers.org) in Andersonville presents weekly programs of new experimental work (as well as frequent gay- and lesbian-themed programs). The University of Chicago Film Studies Center (5811 S. Ellis, 773-702-8596,filmstudiescenter.uchicago.edu) has more academically inclined programs that explore the history of American experimental cinema. Various art spaces also dabble in avant-garde cinema, notablyHeaven Gallery (1550 N. Milwaukee, 773-342-4597, heavengallery.com) in Wicker Park.
