'Step' filmmakers concur: arts are 'super-important'
<h3 class="briefHead">Arts 'Step' into limelight for educators</h3>
Filmmaker and Broadway producer Amanda Lipitz has invested nine years directing and producing the excellent documentary "Step," following inaugural members of a step club at Baltimore's Leadership School for Young Women, a charter school whose lofty goal is to get every graduate a college degree.
The doc, opening this weekend, covers the students - especially young step founder Blessin Giraldo - and school staffers, including Director of College Counseling Paula Dofat and Step Team Coach Gari "Coach G" McIntyre.
I interviewed Lipitz, Dofat and McIntyre at Chicago's Park Hyatt Hotel where I asked them all the same question: Exactly how important are the arts for students and education?
Lipitz: They are very important. Overall, it's something that keeps kids connected to school that is not academic. Whether it's music, theater, farming, gardening, glee club, Legos, fencing, whatever. Whatever it is that keeps kids connected to school, that is the carrot you can dangle when their academic grades aren't so good. It's super-important.
McIntyre: The arts are beyond important. I want the conversation about the arts to change. I want the higher-ups in education to see that there is no education without the arts. Those programs get cut first and it's terrible. They teach life skills. The. End.
Dofat: A student like Blessin? There is no way she would have been successful without the arts. Because that's the thing that reminds her of what she needs to do academically. There are millions of students like Blessin. By removing the arts and the extra-curriculars, we set them up for failure. We've got to stop putting our students in boxes.
Lipitz: If we make schools all about academics, with nothing else to sweeten the pot, that's when we fail kids because it's not just about memorizing. It's about stirring passion in them. It's not like students will become professional steppers, or even professional dancers. It's about the link that kept them connected to school, the thing that taught them leadership and discipline and teamwork. I don't know if math teaches kids that.
McIntyre: The arts seriously push students through the glass ceiling. You have something you look forward to. Who would have thought that stepping would have anything to do with college?
The arts help you see that you can do whatever you want. A little black girl from Baltimore started a step team. She told the director of this movie about her team - which she didn't ever know about - "Come and film our step team."
And look at what happened.
<h3 class="briefHead">Palatine's Blue Whiskey hits the Windy City </h3>
For seven years, the Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival has made Palatine's Cutting Hall Performing Arts Center its home.
No more. The fest, known as BWiFF, moves to the Windy City's historic Music Box Theatre. 3733 N. Southport Ave., Chicago, for its eighth installment, running Aug. 3 through Aug. 11. The festival offers 35 films from 16 countries.
The fest will have several filmmakers in person, along with others joining filmgoers through video conference calls. The fest is a judged event, and patrons vote on the Audience Favorite Award,
On Sunday, Aug. 6, BWiFF will honor writer/actor/director/producer Rory Uphold with the Independent Filmmaker Achievement Award, given to a person who has gone on to become accomplished in the independent film community since showing a work at BWiFF.
Online tickets cost $15 per night. Full festival passes cost $100. Go to bwiff.com for schedules and details.
<h3 class="briefHead">Meet 'Kidnap' star at Flashback horror con</h3>
"Walking Dead" actor and horror star Lew Temple, who plays the scary switchblade-wielding abductor in Halle Berry's new thriller "Kidnap" (opening this weekend), will be at the annual Flashback Weekend Horror Convention, Friday through Sunday, Aug. 4 through 6, at the Crowne Plaza Chicago O'Hare, 5440 N. River Road, Rosemont. Go to crowneplazaohare.com.
Guests include horror icon Robert Englund, Victoria Price (Vince Price's daughter), Ken Foree, William Forsythe, "Halloween" star Nancy Loomis, Heather Langenkamp and others who you can find out about at flashbackweekend.com.
A 4K restoration of the classic "Suspiria" opens the festival Friday night. On Saturday, star Robert Englund will host an outdoor screening of "A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Master" with key cast members. Most movies will be shown at the AMC Rosemont 18 Theaters.
Online ticketing has closed, but Friday and Saturday passes can be purchased on site for $35, $30 for Sunday. A weekend pass costs $70.
<i> Daily Herald film critic Dann Gire's column runs Friday in Time out!</i>