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Gene Siskel Film Center
Rating Details »
Neighborhood: The Loop
164 N State Street
(between Benton Pl & Couch Pl)
Chicago, IL 60601
(312) 846-2600
164 N State Street
(between Benton Pl & Couch Pl)
Chicago, IL 60601
(312) 846-2600
- Nearest Transit:
-
Lake (Red)
State/Lake (Orange, Brown, Purple Express, Green, Pink)
Washington (Blue, Red)
- Good for Kids:
- No
76 reviews for Gene Siskel Film Center
This is a theater for people who are very passionate about indie films, documentaries, and the like. I appreciate that the film was only $9, and the space was comfortable.
I was there to see "A Wink & A Smile" a documentary about first time burlesque performers under the tutelage of Indigo Blue (Seattle). I was there on "opening night" so the writer/producer Deirdre Timmons was present and did a small Q&A after the film (along with a performance by the graduating class of Studio L'Amour!). I enjoyed the theater, the film, and the performance a lot (especially for the price!)
But I have to knock it down a star for the organization. The line for the show, concession, and box office kept getting mixed up. They had tension barriers but they weren't up and there was no staff direction people. Once a box office attendant came out and moved people around but once he left the lines quickly dissolved into one another again. Another complaint was that the bar/concession was CASH ONLY but they didn't have an ATM.
All in all, I will definitely be back to the Gene Siskel Film Center....it was a great night out (and something more unique) for a great price!
The admission just went up to $10 per person, for the privilege of sitting in a tiny theater listening to arm chair film critics air out all of their dirty laundry with their outside voices.
The theaters are small, as well as the screens. I want to like this place, I really do, but this is my second time going here, and I am twice disappointed.
The only reason they get 2 stars is because the popcorn is FRESH!!!
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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4/23/2009
The fact that it is across the street from my condo, makes it a convenient place to see an obscure… Read more »
I'd like a Perrier lime, espresso, beer, and popcorn to go with my documentary thank you.
State/Lake is such a convenient location to get your short run unique movies.
From the Singing Revolution to Objectified last night, this is my go-to place for movies not involving stars or wars.
Make sure you see the upcoming ones you want, limited run is no joke (though it may return).
Cash at concession stand: Minus star.
Places like the Gene Siskel Film Center remind me why I'm a "city person". The fact that a documentary on the role of the Grande Duchesse Charlotte of Luxembourg during the Second World War can draw and entire theatre-full of people truly warms my heart.
First, the price - so many foreign films, documentaries, and lecture series for only $9! Comparable to (if not cheaper than) your local multiplex. The decent prices extend to the concession stand where you can buy wine and beer (what movie isn't enhanced by wine and beer?) for a mere $5.
Beverage temptations sated, I head into the theatre itself. At this point, my brain runs through a mental checklist by which all movie theatres are judged:
- Stadium seating? Check!
- General feeling of cleanliness? Check!
- Armrests generous enough that I won't be playing grabsy with my neighbor throughout the entire film? Check!
- Cupholders in said armrests? Check!
The film was followed by a brief Q&A session with the producers, enabling me to leave feeling as though I'd hobnobbed with the intellectual glitterati.
I am a member of Spertus so I got a 2 for 1 price to see Being Jewish in France. I had never been to this theater before so I was excited to check it out. Not your typical Showplace cinema by any means. A very neat little theater with an array of interesting films going on. Not mainstream if you are looking for regular movies look elsewhere.
Specific to the recent EU film festival---
Do they employ ushers? What is management doing?
Why is it tyranny of the elderly? Where are the all the people under the age of 60, and not white?
So, so, tacky Gene Siskel audience members--pretending that you are saving seats for multiple people but really, you are saving them for your coats and purses!
At the gay Swedish couple adopts a child movie, with its lessons on tolerance, a gay elderly male hissed and yelled at the woman next to me when she looked at her cell phone. This emboldened an elderly woman to yell at my seatmate that she was rude. There was more hissing. Ahh, yes, tolerance...
Management' s response--if a fight breaks out we would break things up.
Really, it is just too bad. Siskel woud have wanted more than one generation and race to enjoy a film center established in his honor.
Look, if you want to see "weird" or foreign films or documentaries, this is the place to go! (Facets also has some great stuff, but the Siskel Center gets points for better advertising -- I know what's going on at the Siskel Center more than Facets -- sorry, Facets.) Ticket prices are in-line with what you would pay to see "Spiderman" so you think you would pay that much to watch something specialized, such as a film on wiener dog racing or death metal or the life of Beethoven. It's art, people! It's variety! It's the spice of life. Enjoy your popcorn and beer (oh yes, you can also drink here).
Easy to get to, great films, appropriate pricing, comfy seating, the possibility to buy coffee or tea (looseleaf!) or beer or wine to take into the movie with you: in short, awesome. Love it.
I loved this place so much the first time I was there that I became a member, which gets you as many reduced ($5) showings as you can attend (but just for whoever the membership's for).
I saw one film that will never show anywhere else, followed by a Q&A session with the director, one of the subjects of the documentary, and a WGN host. Amazing opportunity.
Plus foreign films that I'd never get a chance to see in the theatre otherwise.
Great location, great programming, great theater. I'm deducting one star, however, due to the fact that they do online ticketing through Ticketmaster, meaning a $10 movie ticket costs $16 if you buy in advance! Skip online ticketing and go straight to their box office.
I should have become a member but I had no idea how much I'd be going to the Gene Siskel Film Center. They just keep drawing me back in with great films, most that you really cannot see anywhere else so well worth the $9.
My new favorite discovery is the back lounge area where there are tables and you can sit and watch the Joffrey Ballet rehearsing. It's an absolutely beautiful prelude show in itself. And who doesn't love the juxtaposition of ballet with shoppers at Loehmann's a couple floors below. It's like a live Hopper painting.
Be aware that, though they take cards for the movie tickets, they only take cash at the concessions. I never have cash so I always have to run around the corner.
This is the reason people live in cities. When you put 2.8 million people in the same city, there's gotta be at least 20 that want to go see the random documentary that I want to see on a Thursday night. And that's how and why places like the Gene Siskel are so wonderful and so important to my survival.
Clean floors at a Film House? Wow, this is the antidote to the local Spin-a-plex!
Every once and awhile, it's nice to see an "art" film in a comfortable setting. I love the Music Box & Facets, but the projector and sound here are State of the Art. And good concessions (VINO! - melikes me Adult Beverage with a film!)
I checked out the Palestinian Film Festival (http://www.palestinefi...) to see a couple of flicks. The total running time was about 1.5 hours for two films. It cost $9, which was reasonable since the theater was really nice: very modern and amazingly comfortable seats.
The entire place is gorgeous, a lot of private donors helped to pump a lot of money into this place. It reminded me of MoMA in NYC or something. The cafe is a nice touch, large with nice seats, moderately expensive theater fair (but cheaper than most corporate theaters). Plus, you can order beer or wine with your Snowcaps and Gummy Worms here!
My only complaint is that the cafe didn't offer Wi-Fi... not really sure why. Also, if you happen to bring your laptop to wait for a film to start, make sure your battery is charged since the outlets are few and far between.
Saw my all-time favorite movie here: 2001: A Space Odyssey (Respectful Moment of Silence for Mr. Kubrick and Mr. Clarke, Please and Thank you). Gave me a whole new appreciation for the magnitude of this work- and that is saying something, as I am already obsessed.
I love that there is an alternative to the flopbuster of the weekend where you can go, view beloved classics with an educated, respectful, considerate audience that doesn't text or loudly yak on cell phones thruout a film. No kids left unattended here!
The seating is comfortable, clean and well organized.
The staff have always been charming and helpful- mostly art students.
The website is kept updated so that you can keep checking what to see.
Bonus that you can buy a glass of wine, though I ordered coffee and some luscious dark chocolate to enjoy.
Obscure movies, sure. Upscale theater feel, definitely!
We went there to a special showing of an infertility presentation (courtesy of Fertility Centers of Illinois). The employees at the film center were so nice and courteous and helpful when we walked in there late and didn't know where to go. They helped us find the theater, offered us refreshments for purchase and were just genuinely friendly and helpful. I would definitely go back to watch another movie. The seats are so comfortable, I think hubby fell asleep a few times! This just reminds me of European theaters where the drinks are more than just coke and the food items are more than just popcorn. The Hong Kong: The Next Generation is now playing though the end of the month, I'd like to go back since I love foreign films and they look really good. Check this place out! Tickets to movies are $9 general admission, $7 students so this is not that much more than your typical movie theater. Not bad.
Its sick. They are film nazis. Everything is handled professionally from my amateurish standpoint, my projectionist friend says they are up to professional nazi standards and then some so I am sure I am getting my meager money's worth. There are all sorts of benefit plans and membership things and they have school tie ins as well as supporting screenings for developing artists, which rocks.
If you are reading this wondering about it as a theater, here it is. The movies you see here you won't see anywhere else. They are fantastic local, regional, international, possibly interplanetary films (and movies to my understanding, pretty sure they have some digital projectors).
Its named after Gene Siskel, you know, Siskel and Ebert? Two thumbs up? Siskel kicked it and this sort of commemorates that. Not him kicking the bucket, but sort of, in that "hey we miss you buddy" way.
Trivia: The last movie he reviewed was Simply Irresistable. Apparently, his body didn't take to well to it.
Gene Siskel Film Center does so much, even if it's not always good, and even if they're bound to lose money on some things. But they provide options, and I think that's suggestive of the type of work they do in a city like Chicago that doesn't lack smaller and independent theatres. It's not that options don't exist elsewhere, but to have so much, all the time--and to show films that generate dialogue is a pretty precious thing. And it's cheap for students! And you can get alcohol! But a word to the long-legged--snag an aisle seat if you can.
Thanks to the film center for hosting the Asian American Film Festival. One certainly doesn't see AMC doing that.
January was an orgy of Kieslowski, a thoughtful, subdued, occasionally dryly ironic orgy, but an orgy nevertheless. I had to become a member.
The theater is clean, the cafe well lit, the popcorn buttery, the beer and wine plentiful, the patrons polite. They play the audio from the movies in the bathroom (which would be great if I could understand French and Polish without subtitles, but I still appreciate the effort). It's the place to see classics you thought you'd only get to see on DVD, films only otherwise available at festivals or simply something to odd to make it to the Landmark or the Musicbox.
A $45 membership gets you $5 movies and 4 free popcorns.
First of all, my thanks to fellow Yelper V C. for alerting me to the Asian American Arts Showcase. I had heard of it before, but had never checked it out. The showcase features visual, cinematic, musical and literary art by or about Asian Americans. My review today concerns my experience of part of the film festival, being held at the Gene Siskel Film Center.
*** * *** * *** * *** * *** * *** * *** * *** * *** * *** * *** * *** * ***
My 15 year old daughter and I had the joy and privilege of viewing two films today that were part of the Asian American Arts Showcase: "The Cats of Mirikitani" and "Owl and the Sparrow".
"The Cats of Mirikitani" is a documentary about a Japanese-American artist, Jimmy Mirikitani, born in California, and who was imprisoned in one of the internment camps here in the U.S. during WW2. I wanted my daughter to see it, so that she could understand a bit more of what her grandfather, my father, endured when he was about her age. He was put in one of these relocation centers in 1942 at the age of 16. The film is quite powerful, as we witness the parallels between the experiences of Jimmy Mirikitani and the events of and following 9/11. The film won't be shown again during the festival, but if you ever have the chance to see it, I highly recommend it.
"Owl and the Sparrow" is a film directed by an Asian American; it's set in Vietnam. It's a sweet story, often funny, but poignant in that it shows how vulnerable street children in Saigon are. It will be shown again on Monday, April 2.
There are many other fine films that will be shown as part of the Showcase. I urge all those who love film, who have an interest in Asian American culture, or who just enjoy learning about humanity, to attend.
The 12th Annual Asian American Arts Showcase continues through Thursday, April 12, 2007.
This theater shows films unlikely to be seen on more commercial screens. Be careful however, I have inadvertently ended up watching a silent documentary that consisted of only single frame shots, no zoom, no pan, no camera movement what so ever. I was unaware of this until the director delivered his pre-film comments in which he said "I hope you knew that this was a silent film", no I didn't. He later described the film as "kind of weird" and yes it really was.
Since then I have seen many quality films here, having the director and/or producer(s) comment and do a Q&A after can be a strong addition to this venue. The website however doesn't always tell the whole story, so as they say caveat emptor.
i bought the membership in april of 08 for $75. me & my spouse pay $5 to see unlimited films, we get 8 free boxes of popcorn. it paid for itself during a run of first time ever shown japanese nikatsu action films that we attended in it's full. this place is for serious film lovers only. it's beautiful and features coffee, beer & wine you can take in with you during viewings-all movie theatres should be like that.
the gene siskel film center is a wonderful new landmark film center for serious film buffs and one hell of a bargain when you become a member. it's also in a good location for public trans, as well as easy parking in the early evenings and late weekend afternoons.
Where else on earth could I go to fraudulently use a student ID to ogle David Bowie's package in Labyrinth on the big screen? My sister was spitting with jealousy. Rocking seats were comfy though my horrible urge to slam back and forth in my seat against the legs of the person behind me had to go unfulfilled. I am not a total bitch. All in all, a good experience, comparable prices for excellent programming, beer and wine served at the concession, student discount, they sometimes show Matthew Barney's Cremaster series if you want to destroy your entire sense of being, and did I mention David Bowie's package?
This is a relatively inexpensive and fulfilling place to go. Gene Siskel Film Center has great documentaries and unique movies. I like it because its not mainstream and you can drink wine while watching the film. Great atmosphere and a fun way to expand your mind:)
I admittedly hate going to the movie theater. I'm a film snot a times (okay, a lot of the time) and I'm a cheap bastard to boot. However, I like this theater a lot.
It's a beautiful, immaculate theater. They show great films, and it's not insanely expensive. I didn't experience the standard "annoying kids in the back row who talk during the film" or anything else I hate about going to see a movie. It was a cool experience.
Great place to see films you won't see anywhere else. Plus, the place is clean, comfortable and I'd be willing to bet you a dollar that you won't ever hear any cell phones ringing in the theatres.
They even serve wine and beer! And depending on what's playing, you may even be able to chat with the director after the show.
This is just another one of the many great urban cultural offerings that make Chicago a fantastic, rich place to live.
The Siskel Film Center offers a cool selection of up and coming films , with Q &A with many of the directors after the shows.
Obscure stuff sometimes, documentaries of both local and international importance as well as a pretty cool music series.
Good popcorn too.
How could I not have reviewed my favorite place yet? This movie theater is one of the reasons I want to live in Chicago forever!! I always feel so culturally enriched when I go there, the kind of feeling you get from going to an art exhibition or visiting a new country. I don't know how any brainy worldly person would not get addicted to this place. As if the wonderful films they show are not enough, they sell wine by the glass to top it off!! They charge same as any other movie theater, but the experience is incomparable!
Easily the best and most accessible art/revival house in the city with overall outstanding and diverse programming, occasional and usually excellent guest speakers, and top notch projection.
This is the place for any true lover of cinema.
There is no better location in the Chicagoland area to view foreign and independent film than the Siskel Film Center. SFC is a clean, well-run, establishment that offers $5 movies ($9 for non-members) on a pair of movie screens. There's ample bicycle parking out in front and excellent access to public transporation. Several eateries nearby can round out your movie-viewing experience.
Once you visit SFC, you'll never look at Hollywood movies the same.
i went for the EU Film Festival as well. i think this place is romantic...on the busy street, people everywhere, and then you go up this huge set of stairs, and it's this clean, quiet lobby.
your date is waiting for you by the large windows overlooking state street, and she turns when you approach her...
"ready to go in?" you say.
"yes," she says.
and, then there's a film.
then, when it's over, everyone leaves. and you walk down the stairs together, knowing that you're about to enter back into the windy, pedestrian-filled world.
Nice place to see a film. This was the only place showing Darkcon at the time. Went right after work with some friends and it was awesome. I couldn't think of a better place to see this film.
It's downtown so very easy to get to, a quick walk from the clark/lake shop. And yes beer or wine with you movie that is pretty great.
the best theater in the city bar none. very modern, very clean, with relatively cheap ticket prices, interesting movie selection, occasionally even great movie selection. However, the screen I've been to was rather small, but I was told they have a bigger screen, so I'd like to check that one out.
overall, the is probably better than Musicbox, but I don't care much for a lot of it's repertoire. Unfortunately they don't show as many new releases as Musicbox, but at least they provide some variety in the small art house scene in Chicago.
Best cinema I've been to.
i went here for the first time just a while back to see Truffaut's 'L'Enfant Sauvage' and i must say, first of all, that the film was not impressive and that second, Siskel Film Center is a very classy joint. it's all very pretty. the vestibule and stairway, the ticket office, and the screening rooms themselves. lots of space and it doesn't have sticky floors and torn up seats and i actually felt smarter/artsier just sitting in there. i'd love to sneak in some food on my next visit.
Mr. Siskel, you will be missed.
p.s.--i loved your appearance in that episode of The Critic.
I saw a film there last summer that some friend's of mine were in. A great place to go see films that often don't play elsewhere.
I appreciate having this Film Center in Chicago, it's classy and named after a truly wonderful man who had a huge impact on Chicago and the way we judge movies.
Going to see good/interesting films with people who appreciate that it's a good movie is a really nice experience. In average movie theaters, you're lucky if you have an enjoyable experience- people forget to turn off their cell phones, the 'annoying guy who likes kicking chairs and talking' is in full effect, a baby is crying in the middle of an R rated movie- you know, the standard stuff.
The Gene Siskel Film Center doesn't seem like the type of place where that would happen too often, if at all. I don't know if it has more to do with it being a more cultured crowd, or more snobby, or if there's even a difference between the two, but whatever it is- it works.
It's also great being able to see independent movies and documentaries that you wouldn't see at an AMC or a place of that ilk. Plus, looking at movie showtimes on the website, it looks like they have a prime selection of older movies that you may just want to see on a bigger screen.
While the price of food/beverages is on the pricey side here, the admission to the show is relatively cheap. 9 bucks for a regular ticket, 7 for a student, and 5 if you buy a yearly membership for 45 bucks(which would probably add up quickly if you see a lot of flicks).
Good to see places like this still exist in the city.
They have a really good selection ot foreign films each month. I try to get to at least one, even though I'm interested in a zillion of them.
Went here for the first time about 2 weeks ago, it is a very nice place and a great alternative for something to do in the evenings.
Went here the other night to see Dear Zachary. Read the reviews and it looked pretty good. The theater isn't very big at all. More like a screening room so the show sold out pretty quickly, though I did get there early enough to have a ticket and good seats. The show was great and the venue well kept and very comfortable seats, you can rock in them (which I'm sure was nice for the people behind me). I'll definitely be back again. Well worth it.
I think it's pretty cool that a theater like this could exist, even in a big city like Chicago. The building front is so tall and narrow, you hardly even notice it's there sometimes. Wouldn't it be funny if when Roger Ebert died they dedicated a film center to him next door? Except his would be short and fat.
Ha-ha.
