Gene Siskel Film Center Celebratees Awards Season With Oscar Nominations Panel on January 14 and Hollywood on State: Where You’re The Star on February 28th

Gene Siskel Film Center of the School of The Art Institute of Chicago Showcases Black Cinema Year-Round With Black Harvest Presents, Including the Chicago Premiere of Sembene!, First Chicago Runs of My Friend Victoria and Horse Money, Return Engagements of a Ballerina’s Tale and 70 Acres in Chicago Cabrini Green, Plus a Week-Long Run of Rosenwald

Series
The annual series Stranger Than Fiction: Documentary Premieres (January 2-February 3) showcases the new and unusual in documentary filmmaking, including Sembene! (January 15 and 21), a portrait of Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembene, the father of African cinema. http://www.siskelfilmcenter.org/strangerthanfiction2016

Runs
Back by popular demand! A Ballerina’s Tale (January 2-7), the story of Misty Copeland, whose accomplishments have been compared to those of Jackie Robinson, as she became the first African American woman to be promoted to principal dancer in American Ballet Theatre in 2015. http://www.siskelfilmcenter.org/aballerinastale

Rosenwald (January 2-7), the story of Jewish philanthropist Julius Rosenwald, long forgotten except in the African American community and how his fortune running Sears, Roebuck & Co. ingeniously financed Rosenwald Schools, providing an unprecedented opportunity for black children in rural communities. The Gene Siskel Film Center Movie Club (January 6) explores Rosenwald with Peter Ascoli, biographer of Julius Rosenwald, as facilitator of the post-show discussion at Virgin Hotels Chicago (203 N. Wabash). http://www.siskelfilmcenter.org/rosenwald

First Chicago run! My friend Victoria (January 8-14), based on the Doris Lessing story Victoria and the Staveneys but relocated from London to Paris, concerns a young African French woman bedazzled by the life of a French affluent white family. http://www.siskelfilmcenter.org/myfriendvictoria

First Chicago run! Horse Money (January 8-13), by Portuguese director Pedro Costa, looks at protagonist Ventura’s eerie journey as he looks back on his life and how his memories coalesce with Portugal’s troubling colonial past. http://www.siskelfilmcenter.org/horsemoney

Back by popular demand! 70 Acres in Chicago: Cabrini Green (January 29-31), a documentary 20 years in the making that celebrates the housing development as a unique community and mourns its destruction. http://www.siskelfilmcenter.org/70acresinchicagocabrinigreen

Awards Season is Here!
Oscar Nominations Panel (January 14; free admission) features local film critics as they weigh in on predictions for the 88th Annual Academy Awards. http://www.siskelfilmcenter.org/oscarnoms2016

Chicago’s longest-running awards-viewing benefit, Hollywood on State: Where You’re the Star (February 28; tickets start at $100), is a memorable evening filled with glamour, gourmet food and libations, and the live Oscar telecast in two state-of-the-art theaters with Tommy Walton, MasterChef star, designer, and SAIC instructor, and Kate Pankoke, Project Runway designer, as the red carpet co-hosts. http://www.siskelfilmcenter.org/hollywoodonstate2016

All screenings and events are at the Gene Siskel Film Center of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, located at 164 N. State St. To learn more about Black Harvest Presents, visit: http://www.siskelfilmcenter.org/blackharvestpresents
Tickets to each screening–unless stated otherwise–are $11/general admission, $7/students, $6/Film Center members, and $5/Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) staff and School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) faculty, staff, and students. All tickets may be purchased at the Film Center Box Office. Both general admission and Film Center member tickets are available through the Gene Siskel Film Center’s website www.siskelfilmcenter.org/content/tickets or through the individual films’ weblinks on www.siskelfilmcenter.org. There is a surcharge of $1.50 per ticket. The Film Center and its box office are open 5:00 to 8:30 pm, Monday through Thursday; 1:00 to 8:30 pm, Friday; 2:00 to 8:30 pm, Saturday; and 2:00 to 5:30 pm, Sunday.

Note that for the return engagement of Misty Copeland documentary A Ballerina’s Tale (January 2-7), the Gene Siskel Film Center would like to extend the offer BALLERINA 2-FOR-1 for any parent-child, aunt/uncle-niece/nephew, and mentor-mentee. The code BALLERINA 2-FOR-1 is valid in-person-only at the Film Center box office during box office hours (note it’s not a day-of-show offer – tickets may be purchased in advance, if desired).

A Gene Siskel Film Center membership is a year-round ticket to great movies for only $6 per screening! Memberships are $50 (Individual) and $80 (Dual). For more information, call 312-846-2600 or visit www.siskelfilmcenter.org/content/membership.

Discounted parking is available for $18 for 10 hours at the InterPark SELF-PARK at 20 E. Randolph St. A rebate ticket can be obtained from the Film Center Box Office.

The Film Center is located near CTA trains and buses. Nearest CTA L stations are Lake (Red line); State/Lake (Brown, Green, Orange, Pink, Purple lines); and Washington (Blue line). CTA bus lines serving State St.: 2, 6, 10, 29, 36, 62, 144, and 146.
For more information about the Film Center, call 312-846-2800 (24-hour movie hotline) or 312-846-2600 (general information, 9:00 am-5:00 p.m., Monday-Friday), or visit www.siskelfilmcenter.org.
About the Gene Siskel Film Center of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago Since 1972, the Gene Siskel Film Center of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago has presented cutting edge cinema to an annual audience of 80,000. The Film Center’s programming includes annual film festivals that celebrate diverse voices and international cultures, premieres of trailblazing work by today’s independent filmmakers, restorations and revivals of essential films from cinema history, and insightful provocative discussions with filmmakers and media artists. Altogether, the Film Center hosts over 1,500 screenings and 100 filmmaker appearances every year. The Film Center was renamed the Gene Siskel Film Center in 2000 after the late, nationally celebrated film critic, Gene Siskel. Visit www.siskelfilmcenter.org to learn more and find out what’s playing today.

About the School of the Art Institute of Chicago
For 150 years, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) has been a leader in educating the world’s most influential artists, designers, and scholars. Located in downtown Chicago with a fine arts graduate program ranked number two by U.S. News and World Report, SAIC provides an interdisciplinary approach to art and design as well as world-class resources, including the Art Institute of Chicago museum, on-campus galleries, and state-of-the-art facilities. SAIC’s undergraduate, graduate, and post-baccalaureate students have the freedom to take risks and create the bold ideas that transform Chicago and the world—as seen through notable alumni and faculty such as Michelle Grabner, David Sedaris, Elizabeth Murray, Richard Hunt, Georgia O’Keeffe, Cynthia Rowley, Nick Cave, and LeRoy Neiman. Learn more at saic.edu.