Bradley Bischoff, a staff commercial editor at agency McGarryBowen’s in-house facility, has been steadily producing notable short films — leading up to his first feature this fall — with the ultimate goal of being a full-time filmmaker.
The independent filmmaker will be the focus of the first Filmmaker Spotlight collaboration between IFP Chicago and the Music Box Theatre, Wednesday, March 16.
John Otterbacher, IFP Chicago board member and Tribeca Flashpoint professor, will host the screening seven of of Bischoff’s shorts, that have played at major festivals around the world, and the post-screening discussion.
One of the shorts, “Where the Buffalo Roam,” was a Vimeo Staff Favorite in 2013 and an official selection of the Chicago International Film Festival in 2012.
“It takes place on the day when I moved out of our family home in Buffalo Grove and had a cathartic conversation with my older brother, Tyler, who was still living at home,” Bischoff says.
Topping the screening will be a mini- preview of his first feature, “The Grasshopper,” for which he seeks to raise $40,000 towards a $125,000 budget through a crowd-sourcing campaign.
Bischoff says he wrote the screenplay for actor / filmmaker Malik Bader (“Street Thief”)”who inspired me as an actor and we became friends.”
The drama is about an enigmatic man, Ray, who ditches his work as a contractor to spend an afternoon daycation honeymooning with his wife, Lisa, in their suburban paradise home.
Calling it “a grass roots community project,” Bischoff plans on filming between 17-23 days in October in Chicago and North Shore suburbs where many scenes of “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” took place, “but will be repurposed for a darker movie.”
Bischoff will direct; Jack Zalutky is DP and filmmakers Olivia Curry and Phil O’Neil are producing. “Most likely we’ll be looking for an editor,” he says, and he’s still looking for an actress to play Lisa.
At the Music Box Theatre, 3733 N Southport. Tickets, $9 for IFP and Music Box members; $12, non-members and may be purchased here.
