CHICAGO — Chicago International Film Festival founder Michael Kutza wants his event to take the city’s mind off last week’s loss of the 2016 Summer Olympics to Rio de Janeiro.

The 45th edition of the Windy City festival kicks off Thursday with Katherine Dieckmann’s high-energy comedy “Motherhood,” starring Uma Thurman, Anthony Edwards and Minnie Driver.

Kutza is hoping Dieckmann’s film, as well as Lars von Trier’s “Antichrist,” Russian director Valery Todorovsky’s “Hipsters,” Lee Daniels’ “Precious,” Ken Loach’s “Looking for Eric” and local favorite Brian Caunter’s “Chicago Overcoat,” fill seats and garner attention.

“We’ve searched out first- and second-time filmmakers for the past 45 years,” Kutza said. “We’re always looking for that brand-new director.”

Kutza is keen on Todorovsky’s musical “Hipsters,” which travels to 1955 Soviet Russia to glimpse young Russians getting a taste of American hype and greed. He wants it to be this year’s “Slumdog Millionaire.” He also points to Romania’s Corneliu Porumboiu-directed “Police, Adjective,” which carried home trophies from Cannes, along with John Woo’s “Red Cliff” and Daniels’ “Precious” as the top films he has secured.

The founder started the event in the mid-’60s — making it one of the oldest ongoing U.S. fests — with “Who’s That Knocking at My Door,” which helped launch the career of Martin Scorsese. The CIFF has since brought new films from Werner Fassbinder, Wim Wenders, Quentin Tarantino and Andy Davis, among others. Kutza also championed “Slumdog” last year, and the CIFF had a U.S. premiere of Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds” this summer.

This year, all 112 films will unspool at one of the Loews Complex downtown theaters, which Kutza said is something the audience wants.

Kutza also responded to criticism from Sony Pictures Classics co-partner Tom Bernard that the fest was not that aggressive in soliciting films from that company for inclusion.

“Chicago wasn’t banging on our door a lot,” Bernard told the Chicago Tribune.

Fest coordinator Mimi Plauche said she discussed taking several SPC titles, including “Broken Embraces,” which is closing the New York Film Festival, but the logistics didn’t work out.

Leading members of the film industry are speaking out against the group that opposes the Toronto International Film Festival’s spotlight on Tel Aviv. Judging films, they say, by their country of origin rather than the quality of the artistic product, is censorship.

“Empowered groups of people, deciding whose stories can, and cannot be told, does nothing but remind us of oppression that has no place in film-making.” Minnie Driver, Actor.

Source.

Rounder Records celebrates 40 years of making music with a special event to benefit NARAS’ Grammy in the Schools Programs. Grammy winning Rounder artists Alison Krauss & Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Bela Fleck and Irma Thomas will join in this momentous celebration along with musical host, Minnie Driver and special guests (yet to be announced) on October 12 at The Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, TN. “I am excited and honored to be a part of this stellar line-up and historic event that celebrates 40 years of great music while supporting a worthy cause” said Driver.

The show, which will include performances by Alison Krauss & Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas, Minnie Driver, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Bela Fleck, Irma Thomas and special guests will be filmed by High Five Entertainment for a PBS television special that will begin airing on the network in March 2010. A portion of the ticket proceeds will be donated to NARAS’ Grammy® in the Schools Programs to cultivate the understanding, appreciation and advancement of the contribution of recorded music to American culture. The Grammy® Foundation influences the lives of young people by opening the windows of opportunity that music can provide for their futures.

Rounder Records was founded in 1970 by Ken Irwin, Marian Leighton Levy and Bill Nowlin. With only their passionate enthusiasm for American roots music lighting the way, the three Boston area college students cast their lot into the perilous music industry. “Before founding Rounder, we were basically music fans,” says Rounder Records co-founder Ken Irwin. “None of us,” echoes co-conspirator Bill Nowlin, “had any record industry experience whatsoever.”

“I doubt that ‘industry experience’ is a term we would have comprehended at the time we started Rounder!” interjects the third member of the Rounder triumvirate, Marian Leighton.

This untested trio have gone the distance: from humble beginnings 40 years ago, to winning Album of the Year for Raising Sand at the 2009 Grammy® Awards. Rounder is now considered one of America’s premier independent record labels, and has emerged as the preeminent source for vital, uncompromised music of all genres.

“Rounder Records 40th Anniversary Celebration” Ticket Information:
Tickets go on sale August 28 at 10:00AM CT at all Ticketmaster locations, The Grand Ole Opry Box Office, The Ryman Auditorium Box Office, the Attractions Desk at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel, and by phone at 1-800-733-6779 (Ticketmaster charge by phone – 1-800-745-3000). The show is being produced in conjunction with AC Entertainment.

Jodie Foster is playing Sarah Jessica Parker in Uma Thurman‘s new movie.

Sorta.

Katherine Dieckmann, director of Thurman’s upcoming comedy Motherhood, tells me that a cameo by Foster in the flick was inspired by the Sex and the City star. In the scene, the double Oscar winner is being hounded in a New York City playground by overzealous paparazzi.

“I would go to that playground all the time and poor Sarah Jessica Parker would come with her son and she would be harassed!” Dieckmann said. “She literally could not push her kid on the swing set without a picture being taken. I just saw a picture of [pregnant] Heidi Klum…at that park. They come here and stalk people.”

And it was no different when Dieckmann was shooting in the same neighborhood with Thurman and her costar Minnie Driver, who was pregnant at the time.

How’d they get the pesky shutterbugs off their backs? Read on to find out…

“One day, Minnie was queasy, it was hot out and these guys would not leave her alone,” Dieckmann said. “She was so hormonal and started screaming at them and then they starting snapping her. I stepped between her and the paparazzi and go, ‘She’s pregnant!…Like f–king be a human being for one second. They all left except for one guy, who was like, ‘I just have to get my shot, man!’ ”

So Dieckmann struck a deal with him: “We actually let him be in that scene with Foster to leave Uma and Minnie alone.”

It worked.

“And then the night before [Foster's shoot], Jodie says to me, ‘You know, if you want to write me a line, you can write me a line,’ ” Dieckmann remembered with a laugh. “I was like, ‘OK, I will write you a line.’ So I wrote her, ‘Go work in a soup kitchen, you f–king parasites!’ “

Actress Minnie Driver is urging Americans to take better care of the planet as the new face of a wildlife conservation campaign.

The Good Will Hunting star is passionate about marine life and spent the month of June (09) looking after distressed seals and sea lions at the Marine Mammal Center in California.

The experience prompted her to lend her name to Everyday Wildlife Champions, an initiative aimed at rescuing marine wildlife launched by bosses at U.S. soap firm Dawn.

And as Dawn’s new spokesperson, she wants to use her name to encourage fans to support the cause by making donations to the centre or volunteering their time.

She says, “I was raised to believe that we are custodians of this planet.

“We just have to remember that we’re at the top of the food chain. And as Spiderman says, ‘With power comes great responsibility.’ I don’t know why I quoted Spider-Man there, but it seems quite appropriate. We’ve got to do stuff or our kids are not going to have animals left or any oceans that we can swim in.”

To say Minnie Driver is passionate about sea creatures is an understatement.

“Having my son and swimming with humpback whales were the two most religious experiences in my life,” says the actress, who gave birth to son Henry last September and dove in the open ocean with 50-ton whales for a documentary back in 2006.

So when the chance came up to volunteer and lend her name this summer to a new campaign aimed at rescuing marine wildlife, she dove right in. “I was raised to believe that we are custodians of this planet,” says the actress, 39, who spent time last month feeding distressed seals and sea lions at California’s Marine Mammal Center and is now acting as the spokesperson for Dawn’s Everyday Wildlife Champions.

“This opportunity … brought [together] something as everyday as Dawn [dish] liquid with this Marine Mammal Center that I have worked with and that I love,” says Driver. “It just seemed like a great marriage.”

“Celebrity is such a weird thing. It can really shine a light on stuff,” says Driver, who notes that money raised through the campaign will go towards both the MMC and the International Bird Rescue Research Center. People can make donations to the campaign by simply buying a bottle of Dawn. But awareness is what Driver is after: if someone just Googles one of the centers because of her involvement, she says, “That’s a good thing!”

While volunteering at the MMC, Driver discovered that harbor seals and sea lions are increasingly being treated for malnourishment. Apparently, she says, seaweed beds have become so polluted that the fish that feed in them have become tainted with toxic chemicals and disease. So sea lions and harbor seals have stopped eating the fish they normally depend on to live.

“These marine mammals are going, ‘You know what? I don’t want to get sick and die, so I’m just not going to eat them.’ This is a trend that they’ve seen growing, which I thought was sort of terrifying,” Driver says. “They are so beautiful. My god, these creatures. I see seals all the time when I’m surfing. I’m out there on the ocean appreciating and loving it. People love to walk by the ocean. But we’ve just forgotten that the stuff we pour down our sinks ends up in the sea.”

As part of the Everyday Wildlife Champions program, Driver is encouraging others concerned about the plight of marine wildlife to join a new Facebook page dedicated to connecting like-minded individuals.

“We just have to remember that we’re at the top of the food chain. And as Spiderman says, ‘With power comes great responsibility,’ ” says Driver, chuckling at herself. “I don’t know why I quoted Spiderman there, but it seems quite appropriate. We’ve got to do stuff or our kids are not going to have animals left or any oceans that we can swim in.”

And she’s honored to teach her little guy the importance of supporting wildlife and the environment. “What I feel so excited about is imparting that to my child,” says Driver. “We as parents can pass on this knowledge and get kids involved because for the most part, kids love animals.”

After swimming with whales, and feeding toxin-free fish to seals and sea lions, she says, “I wish I could do more. I don’t feel like I do enough.”

Actress Minnie Driver proudly showed off beautiful family photos of her first child Henry. “There’s my baby!” the new mum gushed as photographs of her 10-month-old were projected on a giant screen on U.S. TV’s The View. “It’s the greatest love affair of my life.” Although a single mum, Minnie says being a parent has changed her life for the better.

“He was a beautiful unplanned thing that happened,” Minnie says. “I’m a single mum but he’s dad is amazing and in his life. But I don’t feel alone. Babies attract love.” Minnie says she is “not together” with Henry’s father, whom she still refuses to identify. “It’s like my celebrity is not his celebrity. I don’t think you should have the attention dumped on an unwilling bystander even if he is the father,” she explained.

“It’s not his business to have paparazzi and people in his business. I chose to do this, not him. So I chose to protect him, and to protect Henry.” Minnie said she was “in labour for a week” as Henry kept starting to be delivered, then stop.

“It was completely insane – it was the longest journey ever,” she said, insisting that she would do it all again, though. “My dog loves him – he thinks it’s his baby. We all snuggle in the same bed in the morning.”

Rosamund Pike, Minnie Driver and Rachelle Lefevre are playing Paul Giamatti’s many wives in “Barney’s Version,” the adaptation of the Mordecai Richler novel being directed by Richard Lewis.

“Barney’s” tells the story of the politically incorrect, fully lived life of the impulsive, irascible and fearlessly blunt Barney Panofsky (Giamatti).

Lefevre will play Clara, Barney’s first wife, a wild, troubled artist. Driver plays Barney’s second wife, the annoyingly loquacious Mrs. “P.” Miriam, Barney’s third wife and true love, will be played by Pike.

Dustin Hoffman also is in the cast, as Barney’s father.

Michael Konyves wrote the adaptation. Robert Lantos is producing via his Serendipity Point Films.”

Driver (“The Riches”) recently wrapped the drama “Betty Anne Waters” with Hilary Swank.

Pike next appears in the Bruce Willis sci-fi action movie “The Surrogates,” being released in the fall.

Lefevre is best known for her work in the “Twilight” movies, where she portrays the evil vampire Victoria.

Freestyle Releasing will distribute “Motherhood,” starring Uma Thurman, Minnie Driver and Anthony Edwards. The comedy opens in October in theaters nationwide.

Written and directed by Katherine Dieckman, the film follows Thurman through one day as she prepares for her daughter’s 6th birthday party. Edwards plays her husband and Driver her best friend.

Shot in New York’s West Village, “Motherhood” was produced by Pamela Koffler and Christine Vachon for Killer Films and Jana Edelbaum and Rachel Cohen for the iDeal Partners Film Fund.

“From the outset, ‘Motherhood’ has been a labor of love for us,” the producing quartet said. “As a collection of female filmmakers, we immediately took to the humor and honesty of the project.”

An assistant professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of the Arts, Dieckman began her career making music videos for such bands as R.E.M. and Wilco. Her film credits include “A Good Baby” and “Diggers.”

“Motherhood” had its world premiere in January at Sundance.

Join actress Minnie Driver on Facebook and others as they connect with the DAWN “Everyday Wildlife Champions” program. The promotion contributes 50 cents to IBRRC if you buy and register your purchase.

“Marine wildlife preservation is a significant issue to me, and I’m always looking for ways to become more deeply involved,” says Driver. “I have partnered with Dawn® and Everyday Wildlife Champions™ to further raise awareness for wildlife rescue and rehabilitation.”

DAWN is continuing over 30 years of support for wildlife rescue efforts through their national program called “Everyday Wildlife Champions.” This program will allow consumers to become part of the movement to save and preserve our delicate marine ecosystem and the animals that call it home through their purchase of a bottle of Dawn.

With your help, IBRRC and the Marine Mammal Center in California can earn up to $250,000 each in this program to help save more animals.

So get involved and do a good turn. Join the Facebook page now: www.facebook.com/dawnsaveswildlife