Why?

A lot of these dispatches include previously unpublished work as well as longer, older pieces that aren’t otherwise available online. The bulk of film reviews I have written since late 2006 can be found here.

I write a movie column and newsletter, “Talking Screens,” covering a selection of what’s playing in Chicago, a mix of new releases and repertory . The film section holds over 3,000 reviews, interviews and features, an archive that begins in 2006.

You’ll also see proof of life on the progress on “Chicago Ghost Signs.”

I aggregate cultural news from Chicago and the Midwest as a column and newsletter for Newcity, “Today in the Culture.” It’s about 3,000 words each weekday, with as twenty or thirty entries on any given day.

“Chicago Ghost Signs” peeks above the surface. There are Instagram and Twitter accounts. Twitter for Chicago Ghost Signs here. Instagram for Chicago Ghost Signs here.

The 2024 FILM 50, in its tenth edition, which I chose, conducted interviews for and wrote is here. Fifty key leaders behind the scenes of Chicago film, in about 18,000 words. “Even in our moment of universal cultural and economic upheaval, film in many, many permutations, thrives in Chicago,” the introduction begins. “We don’t mean just the economic driver of high-profile production of movies and series set here—you know their names—but in the sustenance of a collaborative community of storytellers. Filmmakers, exhibitors, archivists, historians, producers, all of them unstoppable all-around artisans and, yes, enthusiasts. The studio system is escaping Los Angeles, and with it, artists and workers who can no longer afford the costly coast. Chicago and the state of Illinois remain havens for stories, and for those who look and listen to them, and for those who capture the unlikely tales that make the Midwest unique. There’s a groundswell of human-scale innovation as well as an attention to the working class that courses through these profiles.”

People

Ray Pride

@raypride

Writer-Curator-Photographer.