My Account
My Schedule
Shopping Cart
Checkout
|
|
2008 BLACK PERSPECTIVES TRIBUTE
The 44th Chicago International Film Festival will honor Academy Award® - winning actor Sidney Poitier in person with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Black Perspectives Tribute to be held at Chase Auditorium, 10 S. Dearborn, on Saturday October 18, 2008. Fox News Chicago’s Robin Robinson will host the special Tribute event.
The event at Chase Auditorium will begin with a cocktail reception and red carpet arrivals at 6:30 p.m., followed by the Tribute presentation from 7:30 – 9:00 p.m. Poitier’s extraordinary career will be celebrated with a selection of film highlights and an intimate one-on-one conversation with special guest interviewer Linda Johnson Rice, President and CEO of Johnson Publishing, Inc., publisher of Ebony and Jet magazines. Immediately following the Tribute, guests are invited to a reception with live entertainment by Terisa Griffin.
Evening Program:
6:00PM Cocktail Reception
6:30PM Red Carpet Arrivals
7:30PM Tribute and Lifetime Achievement Award Presentation to Sidney Poitier
9:00PM - 11:30PM Dinner Reception with live entertainment by Terisa Griffin
Tickets for the Black Perspectives Tribute Event, which include the post-Tribute reception at Chase Auditorium, are priced at $150 per ticket.
TICKETS ON SALE NOW!. To purchase tickets, please click
here.
TICKETS WILL BE MAILED OUT BEGINNING OF SEPTEMBER!
About Sidney Poitier
As an Academy Award®-winning actor, director, producer and best-selling author, Sidney Poitier’s career of more than 50 years has garnered him innumerable honors and awards, including being knighted by H.M. Queen Elizabeth II in 1968.
In 1963, Poitier became the first African American to win the Academy Award® for Best Actor for his powerful performance in Lilies of the Field. A second Oscar® was presented to Sidney Poitier in 2002 for his “extraordinary performances and unique presence on the screen and for representing the industry with dignity, style and intelligence”. His extensive filmography as an actor includes such classics as: Cry, the Beloved Country; A Raisin in the Sun; To Sir, with Love; In the Heat of the Night; Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, and They Call Me MISTER Tibbs, among many others. He has also directed and starred in many notable films such as Buck and the Preacher and Uptown Saturday Night.
Other film awards include a BAFTA®, three Golden Globes®, the American Film Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award, the Kennedy Center Lifetime Achievement Award, the Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award, five NAACP Image Awards, and two Golden Bear Awards from the
Berlin Film Festival. Poitier has written three best-selling autobiographies: This Life (1980); The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography (2000); and Life Beyond Measure - Letters to My Great-Granddaughter (2008). The Measure of a Man was chosen to be an Oprah's Book Club selection.
About Common
A Grammy® Award-winning artist, actor and author, Common made his debut on the big screen in 2006 in Dave Chappelle's Block Party. In January 2007, he made his acting debut in writer/director Joe Carnahan's Smokin' Aces where he co-starred opposite Jeremy Piven, Ben Affleck, Alicia Keys and Ryan Reynolds. In November 2007, he co-starred with Denzel Washington in director Ridley Scott's American Gangster. Common has most recently appeared in Street Kings, Wanted and is currently filming the Warner Bros. film Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins starring Christian Bale and directed by McG.
Prior to his acting career, Common made a name for himself as one of the most acclaimed recording artists, recording over six albums including: Can I Borrow a Dollar?, Resurrection, One Day it’ll All Make Sense, Like Water for Chocolate, and Electric Circus. He was nominated for two MTV Video Music Awards in July 2006 for the video to his single “Testify” off the album BE, an album produced by Kanye West. In 2007, he released his 7th album, Finding Forever, also produced by West, which debuted at #1 on the Billboard Album Chart and also earned him a Grammy® award. He is currently recording his next album, Invincible Summer, which is set to be released in September 2008. Additionally, he’s recently launched his Common Ground Foundation (www.commongroundfoundation.org), an organization dedicated to the empowerment and development of urban youth in the United States.
About Black Perspectives
Since it’s founding in 1997 through collaboration with acclaimed director Spike Lee, the Black Perspectives Program has been a mainstay of the Chicago International Film Festival. Each year, Black Perspectives showcases a wide range of films by Africans, African Americans, and filmmakers of African descent from around the world and exposes Chicagoans to culturally enriching cinema. A Tribute is held during the Festival to recognize outstanding achievements in the cinematic arts. Past honorees include Jeffrey Wright, Ruby Dee, Morgan Freeman, Laurence Fishburne, Terrence Howard, and Halle Berry.
About the 44th Chicago International Film Festival
Now in its fifth decade, the Chicago International Film Festival, October 16-29, 2008 brings red carpet premieres, appearances by legendary international actors and directors, and exclusive access to the latest and best films from around the world to Chicago audiences. In 2007, the Festival showcased more than 160 films from 44 countries and presented the work of both established masters and dynamic new filmmakers.
|
