Celebrate one hundred years of Black History Month with local film programming
Through February, the Music Box Theatre, Facets, and other institutions will host special screenings that feature Black filmmakers and culture.
FILM & TV
Review: Mercy
Timur Bekmambetov’s Mercy is a delightfully headache-inducing nod to screenlife.
Review: Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die
A charming ensemble cast can’t quite save this overstated and unoriginal satire.
Review: My Father’s Shadow
My Father’s Shadow is a visualization of saturated, subconscious recollection.
Latest Stories
Reader-recommended Black History Month events
A curated list of events from our February Reader Radar and beyond.
Jah Pool, hip-hop manager and promoter
“I wanted to come up with someone, be a part of history, and help in any way I could.”
It’s a pizza party with Billy Zureikat at the next Monday Night Foodball
Check out Billy Z’s tavern-style menu at the Reader’s weekly chef pop-up at Thattu.
No Sé Discos raises funds for a vinyl release of 80s postpunks Stations
Plus: Underground music festivals pack Valentine’s weekend wall-to-wall, and hardcore crew Sentenced 2 Life celebrate a new demo.
Review: A Poet
A Poet, Simón Mesa Soto’s second feature, is less than the sum of its parts.
Elsa Harris has followed gospel into the orbits of pop stars
The church will always be her home, but she’s carried that devotion into the music of Minnie Riperton, Paul Simon, and others.
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Southeast Spotlight
83 Years: From Fermi’s Pile to Quantum Campus
Chicago’s south side has reinvented itself before; knowing this history can change its future.
Chicago housing workers call the city’s encampment closures ‘unconscionable’
Public encampments provide resources and community for people experiencing homelessness, but city crews repeatedly evict residents and leave them with nowhere else to go.
Glenna Fitch, deep listening DJ
“Partying is not really something I do anymore, and dancing is a lot harder at 40. My emphasis now is listening.”
News & Politics
Pandora’s box
The science behind quantum computing—and what the U.S. military wants to do with it
Quantum leap or community crossroads?
A planned quantum computing campus and innovation district on the former U.S. Steel South Works site promises jobs and investment, but residents and organizers have concerns around how, and whether, the $9 billion project should move forward.
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83 Years: From Fermi’s Pile to Quantum Campus
Chicago’s south side has reinvented itself before; knowing this history can change its future.
Music
Singer-songwriter Jana Horn goes all in on her new self-titled album
Thu 2/12 at Judson & Moore Distillery
Two Piece Fest returns to Chicago after a decade with a huge lineup of the smallest bands
Fri 2/13 – Sun 2/15 at various location
The Palmer Squares celebrate their love of hip-hop at a pre-Valentine’s party
Fri 2/13 at Subterranean
Film & TV
The next iteration of the 400 Theater
The New 400 Theaters closed in 2023, leaving the far north side without a cinema. This year, the historic Rogers Park institution will reopen.
Fuck ICE
The Quick and the Dead (1995), Forty Guns (1957), and other physically and emotionally violent films
African film is art, not spectacle
The Siskel Film Center’s African Cinema: From Independence to Now Lecture Series “insist[s] on African cinema as a site of formal experimentation and critical thought.”
Theater, dance, comedy
Ghosts of Mississippi
Trial in the Delta: The Murder of Emmett Till meshes courtroom drama with a history lesson.
Natural disaster, personal traumas
Rising Water looks at the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina through one couple trapped in their house.
Comedy à la Karnataka
Indian improv troupe BBB makes a meal out of masala movies.
Visual Arts, books
The multigenerational group show ‘Talisman’ is filled with magic
The show, curated by Hindley Wang, gathers a selection of inscrutable two- and three-dimensional works.
Maggie Queeney reflects on a decade building the Poetry Foundation’s adult education programs
As the Poetry Foundation sunsets its adult education programming, the poet and educator remains committed to facilitating communal poetry spaces.
CITY LIFE
Mama African Marketplace forced to move
The beloved south side community anchor will be missed by local youth, families, and vendors.
‘When I’m voguing I just feel free’
From the office to the ballroom, Jahiem Jones brings realness to queer youth in Chicago.
COMMUNITY CALENDAR
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Southeast Spotlight: A Southeast Chicago Chamber Special
Shining a light on local businesses to support this holiday season
The season of giving and gratitude is here. To acknowledge and honor another busy year, the Southeast Chicago…
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Empower Illinoisans affected by breast cancer and reduce stigma with your purchase of a 7X Bingo Multiplier Instant Ticket from the Illinois Lottery
You could call it the Instant Ticket that started it all. In 2006, the Illinois Lottery launched the…
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An excerpt from TAXI GIRL, a novel by Maria Schreiber
“All About Yogurt,” a four-minute read.
“All about Yogurt” Four-minute read On Monday, June 3, 1974, Tania and Dan began selling cartons of yogurt…
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At the California Clipper, everyone is welcome
The newly relaunched Humboldt Park lounge champions community, inclusivity, and fair labor practices Since the 1820s, Chicago’s pubs…
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Support local students pursuing higher education with your purchase of a 7X Bingo Multiplier Instant Ticket from the Illinois Lottery
The Illinois Lottery is nationally recognized for its pioneering work with specialty lottery tickets dedicated to raising awareness…
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Demystifying Acupuncture provides answers for the curious skeptic
Acupuncture is a form of Traditional East Asian Medicine (TEAM) that involves the placement of hair-thin needles into…
