Oak Park Film Festival Returns Sept. 18-19

The sixth annual Oak Park International Film Festival premieres this weekend. 

The event takes place Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Oak Park Public Library, 834 Lake Street.

The free event showcases two full days of short films and longer features from filmmakers of all walks of life – from students looking to carve out a name for themselves to established screenwriters and directors.

Each film features a tie to Oak Park, whether it's through the film's subject matter, where it was shot or where the film's creators currently reside or used to reside.

Oak Park resident Joyce Porter has been a part of the past three festivals, and she makes her return this year with a starring role in "The Place," directed by Frank Partipilo.

"The Place" tells the tale of a 12-year-old boy raised by his grandmother, played by Porter.The hour long film examines the boy's adjustments to life and finding his place in the world, she said.

Porter said Oak Park's flourishing arts community has not only bolstered her work, but the works of her peers, as well.

"It's great for everyone to have this reinforcement and exposure," Porter said. "I'm hoping that attendance will continue to grow with the festival as well as the awareness of it."

"The Place" screens 3:05 p.m. Sunday. Porter and director Partipilo will be on-hand to answer questions about the film afterward.

A full screening schedule is listed below. The schedule and accompanying film summaries are taken from the official Oak Park International Film Festival website. 

Saturday: Image and Implication of Oak Park filmmakers and subjects.

9:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. – "Hemingway: American Writer, 1899 to 1961" (30 minutes). Directed by Malcolm Hassick. Since Oak Park often seems to be a virtual museum to Ernest Hemingway, we thought we'd pay homage to the great, troubled, controversial writer with a bio-doc provided by the Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park and River Forest and the Hemingway Archives (located on the 3rd floor of the Oak Park Public Library).

10:05 a.m. to 10:27 a.m. – "I Dream of Jimi: An Art Exhibition on Video" (22 minutes). Directed by Turtel Onli. This former LaGrange resident, who worked on this film with former Oak Parker Elizabeth Burn, takes us on a painter's memory of rock great Jimi Hendrix.

10:33 a.m. to 10:47 a.m. – "Snare" (14 minutes). Directed by Patrick Russo. A short narrative whodunit shot in Western Springs that features Oak Park-based actor Bill Moor.

10:52 a.m. to 10:59 a.m. – "A Public View on the Media" (7 minutes). Directed by Lauren Widor. As part of a local professor's "Culture, Race and Media" class as well as Columbia College's Critical Encounters on "Image and Perception," this student filmmaker captures working-class and white-collar comments on what's NOT being viewed in the media & why.

11:05 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. - "Image and Perception" (10 minutes). Directed by Jillian Nettles. A classmate of Lauren Widor, Nettles also explored the topic in a more analytical way. The results are likely to shock you, amuse you or tick you off.

11:20 a.m. to 11:28 a.m. - "Underground Talent" (8 minutes). Directed by Corey Henderson and Brian Marzan. This recent Oak Park-River Forest High School graduate, now in his second year at Columbia College, provides a slick new look at Chicago's subway performers. While the more famous former subway musicians such as R. Kelly and Jean-Paul Bourelly are notably absent, we do see up close provocative poet Dr. Groove, a local legend. It should be noted that Henderson is the nephew of Dr. Groove and Donna "DW" Watts, the co-coordinator of the Oak Park International Film Festival. Watts is a casting director, too.

11:47 a.m. to noon. – "Stalling" (13 minutes). Directed by Brian Marzan and edited by Corey Henderson. This short satirizes college professors.

12:05 p.m. to 12:10 p.m. - "The Monster in Me" (5 minutes). Directed by Cheyenne Wise and Justin Kopcynski. A Columbia College "First-Year Seminar" class of critically thinking freshmen explores Frankenstein by creating clay "monsters" reflecting their own demons.

12:15 p.m. to 12:20 p.m. - "Who's the Fairest?" (5 minutes). Directed by Molly Mitchell, written by Sophie Amado, shot by Meagan Lee, and edited by Olinda Ayala. A quartet of awesome Trinity High School students examines society's preconceived ideas of beauty.

12:27 p.m. to 12:32 p.m. - "Armor" (5 minutes). Directed by Joy Jones. Special effects and spirituality envelope this faith-based film by a recent Oak Park-River Forest High School graduate now at Columbia College. Jones, an award-winning filmmaker and crowd favorite at the 2008 Festival, proves once again to cynics that it's cool to be a believer.

12:36 p.m. to 12:44 p.m. - "Synapse" (8 minutes). Directed by Hayden Yaussy. There are no words to describe this experimental work by this talented teen's third film in our festival.

12:47 p.m. to 12:53 p.m.- "Violence is Not Silent (So Why Are We?)" Directed by A.J. Michael and America Scores. Gregory Academy students speak about the "killing fields."

12:53 p.m. to 1:07 p.m. – Youth filmmakers chat about their work and their worlds.

1:10 p.m. to 1:13 p.m. – "A Search for Count Dante" (3 minutes). A work-in-progress by Floyd Webb. Round two of a trailer about a mysterious martial arts man who, some law enforcement officials claim, doubled as a bank robber. It's an intriguing window into a riddle.

1:15 p.m. to 1:20 p.m. – "Goon" (5 minutes). Directed by Veronica Kirkland. After a stirring debut at last year's festival with a music video, Kirkland returns with two shocking shorts.

1:23 p.m. to 1:29 p.m. - "You're the One" (6 minutes). Directed by Veronica Kirkland.

1:35 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. - "Eagle Butte" (10 minutes). Directed by the Four Bands Indian Support Group of Columbia College, "Okiciyapi Tipi" (Habitat for Humanity on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation), Columbia's Television Department and edited by Jillian Nettles. Using a 21st century medicine wheel method of telling a circular 19th century Native American story about oppression, repression and suppression, a trickster-poet weaves an indigenous tale of reconstruction and recovery in a South Dakota town called "Eagle Butte." Members of Four Bands, including one Oak Parker who recently built a roof for one Sioux family, will be present to answer questions from the Four Directions.

1:45 p.m. to 2 p.m. - "Cine Institute" (7 minutes). Directed by Cine Institute. Past festivals have paid homage to national filmmakers like Spike Lee and local ones like Floyd Webb. This year's festival pays special tribute to Cine Institute in Jacmel, a city in the southern part of Haiti. Their story is one of survival and courage. Locals with Haitian connections will introduce this work from Haiti's only film school and discuss in French and English what she and Columbia College students and faculty are doing to help rebuild this school demolished by the earthquake, and what you can do, too.

2:10 p.m. to 2:50 p.m. – "My Life in Black and White" (15 minutes). Oak Park-based filmmaker Natalie McCroy provides a humorous look at identity politics in this seemingly tolerant town. After the screening, McCroy's colleagues, who are also Columbia graduate students, will film audience's reactions in a candid question-and-answer. This should be red-hot! Meanwhile, Suburban Promised Land co-authors Stan West and Yves Hughes, Jr .,who co-coordinate the film festival, will be signing copies of their new book that chronicles the rich history of Blacks and Biracials in Chicago's western suburbs in the back of the room.

3 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. – "The Man Project" (30 minutes). Directed by Claudette Roper. A follow-up to last year's stunning debut of an ongoing work-in-progress documenting Black males in their own words about family, friends and relationships, The Man Project is an artistic and honest peek into the non-filtered lives of said subjects in Oak Park, Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago. A group of African-American men and boys featured in this film will be present to discuss what was said and not said on camera, and why we should care. There will be a panel discussion, moderated by Roper, who also teaches Television at Columbia College, on the process and product of this documentary, exhibit, web-based installation, and traveling road show countering mainstream portrayals of males of color.

Sunday: Image and Implication of Oak Park actors and actresses

1:30 p.m. to 1:40 p.m. – "Getting Directions." (10 minutes). This short features Oak Park actress Alice Brown in a cerebral flashback scene. The film centers on a young woman working through love and loss and lessons learned from an elderly couple she meets.

1:45 p.m. to 3 p.m. – "Where It Gets You" (85 minutes). Directed by Michael Fitzgibbons. Bill Moor plays "Moe" in this hilarious look at sexism and the historical silencing of women.

3:05 p.m. to 4:05 p.m. – "The Place" (60 minutes). Directed by Frank Partipilo. Joyce Porter, who has been on the board of the Oak Park Festival Theatre for 20 years, plays "Grandma" in this lovely short feature. Porter has appeared in more films in the Oak Park International Film Festival than any other local actress. She'll be on hand, along with Partipilo, to discuss The Place.

4:05 p.m. to 5:45 p.m. – "Sneak Previews"