The Normal Theater and Prairie Rivers Network are excited to bring one of the largest environmental film festivals to Illinois. Now in its second year, the Wild & Scenic Film Festival focuses on 11 films which speak to the environmental concerns and celebrations of our planet. Join us and get energized to work to protect clean water, wildlife habitat, and our rich natural landscapes! The Films: A Letter to Congress A Ghost in the Making 2017 During the Drought Lost in Light Irreparable Harm (unofficial) HISTORY OF THE NATIONAL PARKS Great Lakes, Bad Lines 2017 Wildlife and The Wall Biomimicry Wild Olympics Plus a PRN original short film on the Middle Fork of the Vermilion River, Illinois’ only National Scenic River (Films suitable for all ages — Recommended 11+)

Starring Academy Award winner Jean Dujardin and award winner Mélanie Laurent, RETURN OF THE HERO is the hilarious and charming confrontation between two imposters. She's straighforward, serious, and honest. He's a coward, crafty, and unscrupulous. She detests him. He despises her. But by making him a hero of an operetta, she has become, despite herself, responsible for a fraud that will quickly overtake her. NR / 90 min.

In her own words, comedienne Gilda Radner reflects on her life and career. Weaving together her recently discovered audiotapes, interviews with friends (Chevy Chase, Lorne Michaels, Laraine Newman, Paul Shaffer and Martin Short), rare home movies and diaries read by modern-day comedians inspired by Gilda (Bill Hader, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph and Cecily Strong), LOVE, GILDA opens up a unique window into the honest and whimsical world of a beloved performer whose greatest role was sharing her story. NR / 86 min.

A cultural phenomenon, Tommy Wiseau's THE ROOM has become a cult classic since its release in 2003. The film itself is hard to describe; the basic synopsis barely does it justice:

Johnny is a successful banker who lives happily in a San Francisco townhouse with his fiancée, Lisa. One day, inexplicably, she gets bored with him and decides to seduce his best friend, Mark. From there, nothing will be the same again. R / 99 min.

What is so fascinating about THE ROOM is how beguilingly "off" it feels. Dialogue seems almost intentionally unnatural, moments escalate out of nowhere and can settle almost as quickly, and scenes play out in confounding fashion. But in a weird way, it kinda works. Because of this, audiences approach the film with the same fervor as a ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW crowd, complete with callouts and the occasional props. It is a film everyone should experience once.

The Late Show: Because Awesome Movies are Awesome.

In her own words, comedienne Gilda Radner reflects on her life and career. Weaving together her recently discovered audiotapes, interviews with friends (Chevy Chase, Lorne Michaels, Laraine Newman, Paul Shaffer and Martin Short), rare home movies and diaries read by modern-day comedians inspired by Gilda (Bill Hader, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph and Cecily Strong), LOVE, GILDA opens up a unique window into the honest and whimsical world of a beloved performer whose greatest role was sharing her story. NR / 86 min.

In her own words, comedienne Gilda Radner reflects on her life and career. Weaving together her recently discovered audiotapes, interviews with friends (Chevy Chase, Lorne Michaels, Laraine Newman, Paul Shaffer and Martin Short), rare home movies and diaries read by modern-day comedians inspired by Gilda (Bill Hader, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph and Cecily Strong), LOVE, GILDA opens up a unique window into the honest and whimsical world of a beloved performer whose greatest role was sharing her story. NR / 86 min.

On September 23rd the Normal Theater joins art house theaters all across North America in celebrating independent film-making with Art House Theater Day. All films are $5.

Camille, an introverted teenage skateboarder (newcomer Rachelle Vinberg) from Long Island, meets and befriends an all-girl, New York City-based skateboarding crew called Skate Kitchen. She falls in with the in-crowd, has a falling-out with her mother, and falls for a mysterious skateboarder guy (Jaden Smith), but a relationship with him proves to be trickier to navigate than a kickflip.

Writer/director Crystal Moselle immersed herself in the lives of the skater girls and worked closely with them, resulting in the film's authenticity, which combines poetic, atmospheric filmmaking and hypnotic skating sequences. SKATE KITCHEN precisely captures the experience of women in male-dominated spaces and tells a story of a girl who learns the importance of camaraderie and self-discovery. R / 106 min.

On September 23rd the Normal Theater joins art house theaters all across North America in celebrating independent film-making with Art House Theater Day. All films are $5.

Starring Academy Award winner Jean Dujardin and award winner Mélanie Laurent, RETURN OF THE HERO is the hilarious and charming confrontation between two imposters. She's straighforward, serious, and honest. He's a coward, crafty, and unscrupulous. She detests him. He despises her. But by making him a hero of an operetta, she has become, despite herself, responsible for a fraud that will quickly overtake her. NR / 90 min.

On September 23rd the Normal Theater joins art house theaters all across North America in celebrating independent film-making with Art House Theater Day. All films are $5.

A special advance screening, part of Art House Theater Day 2018.

In this new drama / dark comedy, a police officer comes to grips with the death of his mom when giving a heartfelt eulogy at her funeral. NR (Mature) / 92 min.

Following the film there will be an exclusive pre-recorded Q & A with filmmaker Jim Cummings, made specifically for Art House Theater Day audiences.

On September 23rd the Normal Theater joins art house theaters all across North America in celebrating independent film-making with Art House Theater Day. All films are $5.

See the story of President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives, a man confronting a problem greater than any other world leader has ever faced – the literal survival of his country and everyone in it, as the most low-lying country in the world, a minor rise in sea level would submerge the 1200 islands of the Maldives. PG / 101 min. Free to attend. Presented by Illinois State University's Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning.

The trouble with Harris is that he's dead, and everyone seems to have a different idea of what should be done with his body in this Tuesday Night Classic from director Alfred Hitchcock. PG / 100 min.

Six Week Film School: Classic Broadway Stage to Stylized Hollywood Screen

Based on the play by Tennessee Williams, this renowned drama follows troubled former schoolteacher Blanche DuBois (Vivien Leigh) as she leaves small-town Mississippi and moves in with her sister, Stella Kowalski (Kim Hunter), and her husband, Stanley (Marlon Brando), in New Orleans. Blanche's flirtatious Southern-belle presence causes problems for Stella and Stanley, who already have a volatile relationship, leading to even greater conflict in the Kowalski household. Directed by Elia Kazan. FREE to attend. PG / 127 min.

Join your professor, Dr. McBride, along with Dave Krostal for a discussion following the film.

The Six Week Film School is co-sponsored by Illinois State University's Department of English and the Normal Theater. Notes on this class screening can be found under Six Week Film School.

It’s true, Joan Jett became mega-famous from the number-one hit "I Love Rock n Roll," but that's only part of the story. Jett put her hard work in long before the fame, ripping it up onstage as the backbone of the hard-rock legends The Runaways, starting her record label out of the trunk of a car after being rejected by 23 labels, and influencing many musicians—both her cohort of punk rockers and generations of younger bands—with her no-bull**** style. Bad Reputation gives you a wild ride as Jett and her close friends tell you how it really was in the burgeoning ’70s punk scene and the difficult road to rock stardom decades on. Their interviews are laced with amazing archival footage. The theme is clear: Even though people tried to define Jett, she never compromised. R / 95 min.

In her own words, comedienne Gilda Radner reflects on her life and career. Weaving together her recently discovered audiotapes, interviews with friends (Chevy Chase, Lorne Michaels, Laraine Newman, Paul Shaffer and Martin Short), rare home movies and diaries read by modern-day comedians inspired by Gilda (Bill Hader, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph and Cecily Strong), LOVE, GILDA opens up a unique window into the honest and whimsical world of a beloved performer whose greatest role was sharing her story. NR / 86 min.

Summer, 1984: The perfect time to be 15 years old and free. But when neighborhood conspiracy theorist Davey Armstrong begins to suspect his police officer neighbor might be the serial killer all over the local news, he and his three best friends begin an investigation that soon turns dangerous. NR (Mature) / 105 min. The Late Show: Because Awesome Movies are Awesome.

The trouble with Harris is that he's dead, and everyone seems to have a different idea of what should be done with his body in this Tuesday Night Classic from director Alfred Hitchcock. PG / 100 min.

In her own words, comedienne Gilda Radner reflects on her life and career. Weaving together her recently discovered audiotapes, interviews with friends (Chevy Chase, Lorne Michaels, Laraine Newman, Paul Shaffer and Martin Short), rare home movies and diaries read by modern-day comedians inspired by Gilda (Bill Hader, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph and Cecily Strong), LOVE, GILDA opens up a unique window into the honest and whimsical world of a beloved performer whose greatest role was sharing her story. NR / 86 min.

In her own words, comedienne Gilda Radner reflects on her life and career. Weaving together her recently discovered audiotapes, interviews with friends (Chevy Chase, Lorne Michaels, Laraine Newman, Paul Shaffer and Martin Short), rare home movies and diaries read by modern-day comedians inspired by Gilda (Bill Hader, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph and Cecily Strong), LOVE, GILDA opens up a unique window into the honest and whimsical world of a beloved performer whose greatest role was sharing her story. NR / 86 min.

Summer, 1984: The perfect time to be 15 years old and free. But when neighborhood conspiracy theorist Davey Armstrong begins to suspect his police officer neighbor might be the serial killer all over the local news, he and his three best friends begin an investigation that soon turns dangerous. NR (Mature) / 105 min. The Late Show: Because Awesome Movies are Awesome.

In her own words, comedienne Gilda Radner reflects on her life and career. Weaving together her recently discovered audiotapes, interviews with friends (Chevy Chase, Lorne Michaels, Laraine Newman, Paul Shaffer and Martin Short), rare home movies and diaries read by modern-day comedians inspired by Gilda (Bill Hader, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph and Cecily Strong), LOVE, GILDA opens up a unique window into the honest and whimsical world of a beloved performer whose greatest role was sharing her story. NR / 86 min.

In her own words, comedienne Gilda Radner reflects on her life and career. Weaving together her recently discovered audiotapes, interviews with friends (Chevy Chase, Lorne Michaels, Laraine Newman, Paul Shaffer and Martin Short), rare home movies and diaries read by modern-day comedians inspired by Gilda (Bill Hader, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph and Cecily Strong), LOVE, GILDA opens up a unique window into the honest and whimsical world of a beloved performer whose greatest role was sharing her story. NR / 86 min.