(MeetUp) with the Filmmakers with special guests Michael Glover Smith and producing partners Layne Marie Williams and Aaron Wertheimer.

This event is FREE to all and will be held online via ZOOM.

Click this link to join via ZOOM at 7:00PM on Thursday, March 26.

We are thrilled to host our first ever virtual filmmaker Meetup featuring local indie filmmaker, Michael Glover Smith. Smith and production partners, Layne Marie Williams and Aaron Wertheimer, will talk about their new film in production, RELATIVE, followed by questions and comments from participants.

Michael Glover Smith is a Chicago-based filmmaker, author and film-studies instructor. His award-winning work as writer/director includes the narrative feature films COOL APOCALYPSE (2015), MERCURY IN RETROGRADE (2017) and RENDEZVOUS IN CHICAGO (2018). This character-based "Chicago Relationship Trilogy" has received rave reviews by, among others, the Sun-Times' Richard Roeper who noted, "Smith creates characters who look and sound like people we know." He is also the producer of Rob Christopher's forthcoming documentary ROY'S WORLD: BARRY GIFFORD'S CHICAGO, narrated by Willem Dafoe, Matt Dillon and Lili Taylor. He is currently in pre-production on his fourth feature film, the Wendy Robie-starring RELATIVE. Smith received the Gene Siskel Film Center's Star Filmmaker award in 2017 and made Newcity's Film 50 list in 2018 for being "one of 50 individuals who shape Chicago's film scene.

RELATIVE is a comedy/drama about three days in the life of a modern dysfunctional family. David and Karen Frank have lived in the same house on the north side of Chicago for 35 years. It’s where their four children grew up and where two of their adult children, sons Benji and Rod still live. On the eve of Benji’s graduation from college, daughters Evonne and Norma return home for a weekend’s celebration.  Evonne brings her daughter, Emma, and newly separated wife, Althea, in tow. Rod, an unemployed burnout, still pines for Sarah, the ex who left him years ago. And all Benji wants to do is escape the party to meet up with Hekla, an actress he met the night before. As David and Karen use the graduation party as an occasion to announce the sale of their beloved home, each member of the family finds their bonds being tested, and strengthened, in surprising ways.

Layne Marie Williams is an award-winning director and producer based in Chicago, IL. She is Founder and Executive Director of the womanist film collective, Women of The Now, and Co-Founder of the six year running The Women's Film Festival in Philadelphia, PA. From indie to big budget filmmaking, to commercial spots, to episodic work, Layne Marie approaches every endeavor with truth, grit, and a surreal sensibility.

Aaron Wertheimer is a filmmaker, freelance writer, and video editor. He has written and directed two feature comedies: Wedgerino (2015) and Skippers (2018), which won Best Feature Film at three fests, including the Adirondack Film Festival. He is producing Michael Glover Smith's upcoming feature Relative. Wertheimer grew up in Calgary and Skokie, and spent over a decade in Brooklyn, where he worked as an assistant director and production manager on features, shorts, and commercials, and as a production coordinator for Vice Media's Viceland TV channel. He now lives in Skokie with his wife and two kids.