The Grand Illusion

25th anniversary of one of the greatest dance movies ever made!

A dozen adolescents begin their training at the renowned American Ballet Academy, where they encounter tremendous physical and mental stress while vying for a coveted spot in a celebrated dance company. Jody Sawyer (Amanda Schull) has talent but the wrong proportions, the fiery Eva Rodriguez (Zoe Saldaña in her feature film debut) can’t seem to get along with her instructors, and Maureen (Susan May Pratt) is having a hard time enduring the emotional highs and lows that accompany ballet school.

Along with Schull, the film features a bevy of real-life professional dancers, such as Ethan Stiefel and Sascha Radetsky, both of whom were principals with the American Ballet Company. And although it’s far from the first film one would think of when considering campy movies, CENTER STAGE could conceivably be described as camp-adjacent. Regardless of its camp credentials, our Summer Camp series provides as good an opportunity as any to showcase this cult classic for its silver anniversary.

Please note: Here-After is a 21 and over establishment. The entrance is via the alley in back of The Crocodile building. Get there early to order tasty beverages from the bar and delicious food from Tat’s Deli!

“…an irresistible mélange of teen movie, dance drama, and clog-stuffed ’00s-era time capsule.” Hillary Busis, Entertainment Weekly

“…has proven itself to be the greatest dance movie of our generation. Thanks to its intense rivalries, dramatic dance-offs, and a memorable soundtrack, Center Stage was granted a place by fans among canonical dance films… It delivered camp… and incredible ballet sequences.” Ilana Kaplan, Marie Claire

After 43 horrific days working round the clock under constant bombardment in the emergency rooms of Gaza's Al Shifa and Al Ahli hospitals, British-Palestinian reconstructive surgeon, Dr. Ghassan Abu Sittah, emerged to find himself as a face of Palestinian resistance. With news footage of him pale and shell-shocked reverberating around the world, he spoke of a catalogue of horrors from amputations without anesthetics to orphaned children with no surviving family, and the deliberate targeting of medics and hospital facilities.

This was the sixth and most horrific Gaza “war” during which Ghassan had traveled to provide critical medical aid. Why does he do it? Where does he find the strength to face it again and again? How does it impact his family? How do they process the risks he takes? The answer lies simply in their shared passion: Palestine; a passion they articulate through their support of his perilous humanitarian work.

In Arabic with English subtitles.

A portion of the proceeds from this screening will be donated to The Ghassan Abu Sittah Children’s Fund, providing medical attention to the children who need it the most and helping to relieve the medical sector in Gaza and Lebanon.

“…an important piece of work… Some of what it has to say will echo for decades, and nobody who watches it will forget what they have seen.” Jennie Kermode, Eye For Film

Directed by 9th-degree black belt/philosopher/author/inspirational speaker Grandmaster Y.K. Kim, the one-of-a-kind MIAMI CONNECTION is one of the most entertaining martial arts films made in America that you will ever see.

The year is 1987. Motorcycle ninjas tighten their grip on Florida’s narcotics trade, annihilating anyone who dares move in on their turf. Multi-national martial arts rock band Dragon Sound have had enough and embark on a roundhouse wreck-wave of crime-crushing justice in the streets of Orlando. It’ll take every ounce of their blood and courage, but Dragon Sound can’t stop until they’ve completely destroyed the dealers, the drunk bikers, the kill-crazy ninjas, the middle-aged thugs, the “stupid cocaine” . . . and the entire MIAMI CONNECTION.

Tickets are pay-what-you-will with a $5 minimum. All money from ticket sales will go to the Grand Illusion’s relocation fund. Please note that this movie is rated R and is not appropriate for the young’uns.

The movie will start at approximately 8:30 pm, but be sure to come early to hang out and get great drinks and good food from the brewery. The fine folks at Dirty Couch will also be cooking up some brats with sauerkraut, peppers, and onions for fixings.

“Clearly the greatest film ever made — at least on whatever planet it came from.” Matt Singer, ScreenCrush

“Sincerely, powerfully, supernaturally, unbelievably entertaining.” Zack Carlson, Wired

Robert Zemeckis’s riotous, vicious black comedy, which features innovative and Academy Award-winning early employment of CGI, unforgettable performances from Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn, and has since been adapted to a hit Broadway musical.

Fourteen years ago, aspiring writer Helen Sharp (Hawn) found herself chucked aside by her plastic surgeon fiancé (Bruce Willis) after his wandering eye landed on her narcissistic actress frenemy, Madeline Ashton (Streep). But today, Helen appears to have gotten the last laugh, not having aged a day when she finally reappears in their lives, thanks to a magic potion (courtesy of Isabella Rossellini) that offers immortality—something that comes in handy when this acrid love triangle turns into all-out war.

Part of our Summer Camp series at Here-After.

Please note: Here-After is a 21 and over establishment. The entrance is via the alley in back of The Crocodile building. Get there early to order tasty beverages from the bar and delicious food from Tat’s Deli!

“Insistently grotesque, relentlessly misanthropic and spectacularly tasteless, Death Becomes Her isn’t a film designed to win the hearts of the mass moviegoing public. But it is diabolically inventive and very, very funny.” Dave Kehr, Chicago Tribune

“Death Becomes Her is clever, different and dementedly entertaining, while commenting on our unhealthy obsession with youth and beauty.” Jeff Menell, The Hollywood Reporter

2195CE: Tune in to your compound’s public access channel for a 90-min collection of short films & video art. Feels like candy and whippets at the end of the world. Tastes bloody and tender. Smells like hot fax machine, mouse pad, mac carcass, and tattered wire.

CYBERSLIME is a touring short film anthology curated by Chicago filmmaker Henry Hanson (curator of CYBERGRIME and DISORDERLY CONDUCT) and produced by Full Spectrum Features, a Chicago-based non-profit dedicated to supporting underrepresented filmmakers.

This program will be presented with open captions. Click here to read more about the films and their filmmakers.

Independent to the bone and shot fully on gritty 4:3 Mini-DV in the backwoods of New Jersey, writer/director Robbie Banfitch’s (THE OUTWATERS) sophomore feature, TINSMAN ROAD, takes the audience on an emotionally winding voyage into the wilderness of death and sorrow. The story centers on a young man as he navigates the serpentine mystery surrounding his long-missing sister and their family home.

Please note: Here-After is a 21 and over establishment. The entrance is via the alley in back of The Crocodile building. Get there early to order tasty beverages from the bar and delicious food from Tat’s Deli!

“Banfitch’s film plays out like a clenched fist around the viewer’s throat, tensing with the moonlight and releasing with the sunrise, over and over again until, eventually, the night and day meld together.” Richelle Charkot, Rue Morgue

“Tinsman Road builds upon a typical found footage foundation to bring the subgenre to new heights with a deeply moving story about the unbreakable bonds of family, even in the face of true evil… [it] is a harrowing journey into the shuddering soul of a dark mystery, one with its bloody heart on its sleeve, begging you to connect within the sorrow. Begging you to walk down the road alongside it. I hope you’ll take its hand.” Lex Briscuso, Dread Central

Adapted from actress and musician Christiane Felscherinow’s harrowing account of her teenage years, CHRISTIANE F. depicts the impact of West Berlin’s mid-to-late-70s heroin epidemic on one of its youngest and luckiest survivors. On the cusp of fourteen, David Bowie-worshipping Christiane (Natja Brunckhorst) begins slipping out from under the watch of her divorced mother and spending time at hip discotheque Sound. There she falls in love with Detlev (Thomas Haustein), whose recent experiments with heroin soon have her hooked.

Working with first-time actors and shooting on location with real-life regulars of Zoo Station’s notorious drug cruising scene, director Uli Edel unflinchingly captures the degradation of each phase of junkie life, from underage prostitution to brutal withdrawals to the seemingly endless vows to “go straight.” Bowie himself appears in a concert performance of “Station to Station”; the film’s soundtrack is a virtual compendium of the epochal musician’s celebrated “Berlin period” and a perfect sonic evocation of nightclubbing’s dark side.

In German with English subtitles.

“One of the most horrifying movies I have ever seen… the images are so powerful, the horrors so strong and the performances (by a cast of young unknowns) so utterly, bleakly, realistic. This is a movie of hell.” Roger Ebert

The pinnacle of 1980s heavy metal horror movies, TRICK OR TREAT tells the story of Eddie Weinbauer, a hard-rocking geek who is picked on at school but finds solace in metal music. After his hero, rock musician Sammi Curr, dies in a hotel fire, Eddie is gifted an acetate of Curr’s last recording by local radio personality, Nuke (played by Gene Simmons of Kiss). Eddie soon discovers – through backward messages hidden in the grooves of the record – that the spirit of Sammi Curr is planning to return through the airwaves to exact a terrible revenge, and the students of Lakeridge High School are in for one HELL of a time at the Halloween Ball.

Featuring kick ass original songs by the band Fastway and Ozzy as a televangelist, TRICK OR TREAT is heavy metal horror at its finest.

Be sure to arrive early to claim your seat, grab a tasty beverage from the bar, order delicious food from Tat’s Deli, and enjoy a pre-show full of Ozzy music videos, live performances, and various other clips of the Prince of Darkness, all beginning soon after doors at 6:30pm. OZZY FOREVER!

Please note: Here-After is a 21 and over establishment. The entrance is via the alley in back of The Crocodile building.

“This movie is 80’s as all f**k and I loved every minute of it.” Mike Sprague, Dread Central

What if the devil was a VJ? What if MTV broadcasted from hell? GHOST ALMANAC features the best scenes from classic horror films soundtracked live by the vintage synthesizer enthusiasts of Montopolis. Tales from the Crypt meets VH1 in this 80-minute roller coaster ride of terror and old school beats.

Included in this program are excerpts from the following: The Skeleton Dance (1929); Haxan (1922); The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920); Buster Keaton’s The Haunted House (1921) (the complete short film); L’Inferno (1911); Betty Boop’s Halloween Party (1933); The Vanishing Lady (1896); Nosferatu (1922).

Please note: Here-After is a 21 and over establishment. The entrance is via the alley in back of The Crocodile building. Get there early to order tasty beverages from the bar and delicious food from Tat’s Deli!

Montopolis is an indie chamber music group from Austin, Texas that performs the works of composer Justin Sherburn. Their genre-busting music uses inventive instrumentation to create “stunning and transcendent” (The Austin Chronicle) concerts. Their programs are audience-engaging, multi-media events that combine live music with film and interactive storytelling. The Montopolis musicians include members of the Austin Symphony, Okkervil River, Tosca String Quartet, and The Polyphonic Spree.