Chicago-based screenwriter Erin Dalian has taken the leap. A leap of faith, in a sense, but also a leap as a filmmaker. She decided rather than just write her new film, “Broken & Beautiful,” she would make it herself. A year and a half later, it has finally started making festival rounds and premieres in [...]

A girl doesn’t know anything about her father and resents her mother for it. It’s a common source of familial tension explored in film, but it’s the pure, clear focus of the short film “The Last Hug” from Chicago Talkies Limited, and there’s a certain genuineness and moral warmth in the approach of writer/director Raza [...]

Anyone who believes they’re meant to do something creative for the rest of their life (I’d raise my hand if I weren’t typing), will identify with the simple wish fulfillment of “NightShift,” a new short film from Chicago’s Derptastic Entertainment that you can check out at a free screening on Wednesday, Aug. 22 at Stage [...]

Introducing the brand spanking new “Chicago Film Scene” section of Movie Muse! In my nearly three years writing, I’ve realized that there’s plenty of good filmmaking happening in this fair city in which I reside despite what they say about New York and L.A., and I’ve launched this section to help give hard-working filmmakers and [...]