Friday 8/1 – Thursday 8/7
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The lives of the leads in the two films that kick off the Black Harvest International Festival of Film and Video tonight revolve around food, drink, and romance. Short on Sugar stars Lynn A. Henderson (who also wrote and produced the ten-minute short) as the shy owner of a cafe who’s out to hook the man of her dreams. Musician, painter, and actor Moussa Sene Absa’s 2002 feature, Madame Brouette, focuses on an independent divorced woman who sells food from a cart in a Senegalese shantytown. She dreams of someday opening a snack bar, but her affair with a ne’er-do-well policeman throws her off track. Opening night festivities also include a tribute to V103 host and community relations director Bonnie DeShong, recipient of the first Deloris Jordan Award for Excellence in Community Leadership. At 6 the Muntu Dance Theatre of Chicago will give a free performance in front of the Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State. The screening starts at 7 and will be followed by a reception at Marshall Field’s, 111 N. State. Tickets are $8 and include the reception. (Both films will be shown again Sunday, August 3, at 3.) The Black Harvest festival runs through August 14; call 312-846-2800 or see www.siskelfilmcenter.org for more information. See Movies for a schedule and descriptions of the other films in the festival.
2 SATURDAY “We just wanted to do a series of creative fund-raisers that would not just be ways for us to make money, but give something cool to our listeners and potentially widen our audience,” says WLUW program director Shawn Campbell. The Loyola University community radio station, which is now under the stewardship of WBEZ, has raised $90,000 over the past eight months and must raise another $30,000 by the end of the fiscal year (August 31). Vendors at today’s WLUW Record Fair range from vinyl collectors and local labels and bands to artists and alternative book dealers. The live entertainment includes Plastic Crimewave, M.O.T.O., Tijuana Hercules, and Twang Bang, plus DJs and a live karaoke band, the Karaoke Dokies. It’s from 10 AM to 10 PM at 2156 W. Fulton; admission is $7, $5 with a coupon (available off the station’s Web site) or a copy of the ad in Section Three of this paper. For more information call 773-508-8080 or visit www.wluwrecordfair.org. On Sunday, August 10, the station will host an all-ages outdoor bluegrass fund-raiser from 2 to 8 PM at the Montrose Saloon, 2933 W. Montrose. Call 773-895-5433.
7 THURSDAY At the height of planning, there were at least 40 people working on Ladyfest Midwest Chicago, the woman-oriented extravaganza of music, art, film, performance, and workshops that took place in August 2001. This year’s Estrojam is much more focused, says filmmaker Tammy Cresswell, who helped organize both events. “Last time so many people had so many great ideas that we couldn’t say no to anything. It grew to the point where it was hard to get a handle on it. For this one we’re only having one thing going on at a time, unless it’s the workshops.” The organizers hope to make it an annual event–“We wanted to do something that women could look forward to and go to every year,” says Cresswell. The four-day festival, which benefits Women in the Director’s Chair and the Lesbian Community Cancer Project, kicks off tonight at 5 with an all-ages show featuring Bitch and Animal, Ember Swift, Girlush Figure, Panda Panda, Nomy Lamm, and DJ Mother Hubbard. It’ll be followed at 10 by an 18-and-over show with a lineup that includes Princess Superstar, Bahamadia, Lyrisis, P.M.S., and Amina. Both shows are at the Vic, 3145 N. Sheffield, and tickets to each are $12 in advance, $15 at the door. Estrojam runs through Sunday, August 10; for a complete schedule of events call 800-594-8499 or see Fairs & Festivals in Music.
