Governor's veto effectively kills incentives

Chicago celeb show starts talking July 3

Chicago celeb show starts talking July 3

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CLAIRE CONNELLY, IFP board president, is producer of Josh Hyde’s debut feature “Postales,” which was one of 10 films selected to participate in IFP Narrative Film Lab’s week-long incubator earlier this month in New York.

The Film Lab is designed for first-time feature directors with films budgeted under $1 million. When finished, “Postales” will screen during Indie Film Week in New York in September.

“Postales” is about an American businessman and his family whose lives become intertwined with a struggling local family in Peru. It’s based on the same story as Hyde’s short film “Chicle,” which won best local short at the 2005 Chicago International Film Festival.

Hyde and cinematographer Dan Fischer head Lo Fu Productions. Connelly is producing with Fischer, Maxim Holland and PJ Fishwick. Hyde is editing with Evan Smith.

Connelly is also working as coordinator on the first season of a reality TV show shooting here that features Julianna and Bill Rancic of “The Apprentice” fame.

See www.postalesmovie.wordpress.com.

John Burgess

JOHN BURGESS of Principle Entertainment begins production in August on his debut feature, the romantic comedy “One Small Hitch,” shooting in Los Angeles and Chicago.

A former publicist for Lucasfilm and producer for RPD Entertainment, Burgess got his MFA from USC in 2006.

His short film “The Powder Puff Principle,” starring Clint Howard, Richard Gilliland, Kevin Kilner, Art Lafleur, and Linda Blair won the $10,000 grand prize fro the Haydenfilms On-Line Film Festival. See www.principleentertainment.com.

Melissa Thornley

MELISSA THORNLEY of Wholesome Midwestern Girl Productions was elected president of Women in Film Chicago. “I am thrilled and honored to lead Women in Film Chicago,” Thornley, former managing director of Whitehouse Post, said in an announcement.

“Being a part of a global network that supports both women and men in a multitude of creative fields is what inspired me to take on the role of president of Women in Film Chicago.”

She succeeds producer Jeannette Beauregard, who had served two terms.

“Our specific stake is that women are an integral part of the film/TV/advertising/media industries and that we can support each other and raise the bar of our industry as a whole,” Thornley said.

The new board of the nonprofit includes VP Kathleen Ermitage, co-owner of Stepping Stones Media Productions; secretary Marianne Greco, a freelance producer/coordinator; treasurer Vail Romeyn, production supervisor of the NBC pilot “State of Romance;” and networking chair Lydia Krupinski, designer and production manager at Pierogi Picnic. See www.wifchicago.org.

VINCE McALEY of Let It Build Productions begins shooting his feature, “The Only Picture of Us,” a dark romance about star-crossed high school sweethearts, this August. DP is Anthony Cox. See www.theonlypictureofus.com.

Jeremy Kruse

JEREMY KRUSE is in postproduction on the mockumentary “Flüffenhaus: The Comeback of a Pop Culture Icon.” Script is by Emily Skyle, publicity director for the Midwest Independent Film Festival. See www.fluffenhaus.com.

CLARA ALCOTT, video curator of Wicker Park’s Heaven Gallery, is in pre-production on the short “Kick,” “about two women's anxiety over contemporary technology and their creative way of overcoming it,” she says. Email clara@heavengallery.com.