PLAYER, directed by Poland’s Alina Szpak in her feature debut, from an original screenplay by Robert Fleet (Last Mountain, My Best Friend’s Deception) follows the noir-romantic story of a gambler and a younger woman who fall in love — then risk everything on a dangerous bet. * Feature stars Fleet in the leading role of “Sam,” a Vegas-fringe gambler who’s messed up his marriage while “always winning when it counts,” teamed with actress Natalie Avital as “Princess,” a desert-girl hitchhiker who may be playing a double game because she, too, needs to win. Filmed on locations from Las Vegas through the high desert, Indian casinos, nightclubs and rough places of southern California, PLAYER is also notable for its stylized color palette and unique “dream” sequences, designed by Warsaw-born Stephan Szpak-Fleet (VFX for Knight Rider, Castle, Weeds, Joe Dante’s THE HOLE 3-D).
PLAYER will have two scheduled screenings at the Siskel Center – Saturday, July 31st and Thursday, August 5th, both at 8 PM. The Siskel Center is located at 164 North State Street, Chicago, IL 60601 – with full information at www.siskelfilmcenter.org and (312) 846-2800 for tickets. PLAYER’s trailer can be seen at www.playerthemovie.us. The Gene Siskel Film Center is a public program of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
“The Gene Siskel Film Center is the perfect venue for PLAYER —“ says director Alina Szpak “— a cinema whose programming values the combination of art and entertainment that we’re shooting for in this movie. It’s a drama, but you’ve got to have fun, too. I’m proud to be shown there with the likes of Kurosawa, Hitchcock, Rodriguez – and, of course, my countryman friend, Roman Polanski.” Sounds like a slate of movies the famed film critic Gene Siskel championed all his life.
PLAYER is preceded by the short film LAST DANCE, by Poland-born Chicago filmmaker Alexandra Hodowany: a beautiful miniature in 7 minutes about death and a widow’s grief transformed into a beautiful memory.