Indie Outlook Picks the 2018 Nominees
The more movies one sees during a given year, the more maddening one finds the conspicuous omissions during awards season, where voters’ memories fail to extend past the month of […]
Tag Archives: Shane Simmons
Indie Outlook: Sixth Anniversary
When people ask me for advice on how to be a writer, I always encourage them to find a way to write about what they love, regardless of what their […]
Clare Cooney on “Runner”
A year before the Harvey Weinstein scandal upended Hollywood by placing a glaring spotlight on its culture of sexual harassment, the career of a similarly revered-yet-notorious figure in the Chicago […]
Roxane Mesquida, Najarra Townsend, Kevin Wehby, Jack C. Newell, Shane Simmons and Michael Glover Smith on “Mercury in Retrograde”
Michael Glover Smith’s sophomore feature, “Mercury in Retrograde,” is a lyrical ode to the unspoken truths tucked between words. It follows three couples on a weekend vacation to a cabin […]
Michael Glover Smith on “Cool Apocalypse”
There is no foolproof guidebook on how to make a living as an artist. For Michael Glover Smith, his passion for film has taken him many places before he arrived […]
Sadie Rogers on “RPG”
I’ve often thought of Sadie Rogers as Stephen Cone’s good luck charm. She would always pop up in his early films, including “The Wise Kids,” which is one of the wisest […]
Stephen Cone and Stephen Cefalu, Jr. on “This Afternoon”
Two people meet in a sex addiction support group. One is a young housewife. The other is a repressed young man who mistakenly thought he was attending an info session […]
Ignatiy Vishnevetsky and Allison Torem on “Ellie Lumme”
Described by its director as a “ghost story without a ghost,” the 40-minute film “Ellie Lumme” is one of those mesmerizing mind-benders that plays differently every time you see it. […]
Marty Schousboe, Morgan Lord and Shane Simmons on “Party Time Party Time”
A legion of improv artists numbering over 50 have sunk their comedic choppers into “Party Time Party Time,” a Chicago-based “melanchomedy” from directors Marty Schousboe and Morgan Lord. Though production […]
Sadie Rogers on “The Wise Kids,” “The Skriker”
Sometimes an actor delivers a performance so vivid and indelible that it transcends the boundaries of screen time. That’s precisely what Sadie Rogers does in Stephen Cone’s masterpiece, “The Wise […]
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