The black experience up on the big screen; Harvest Film Fest

16TH ANNUAL BLACK HARVEST FILM FESTIVAL

When: Tonight through Sept. 2

Where: Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State

Admission: $10; members,$5; pass, $50. Higher prices for special events

Info: siskelfilmcenter.org/blackharvest2010

The 16th annual Black Harvest International Festival of Film and Video kicks off tonight at the Gene Siskel Film Center with an appearance by Chicago rapper Common. Emcee LeeAnn Trotter of WMAQ-Channel 5 will present the popular singer and actor with the Deloris Jordan Award for Excellence in Community Leadership. This special event, followed by a reception, benefits the Film Center's educational programs.

The five shorts that will be screened are reviewed below. Tickets are $25; $20 for students.

Running through Sept. 2, the festival offers 42 features and shorts, and includes dramas with such diverse characters described by the fest as an "irascible Nigerian cab driver," an "unemployed young intellectual," a "Black Muslim leader new in town" and "a runaway slave boy and his dog."

"How to Get a Movie Made," a free panel at 3 p.m. Aug. 15 and moderated by festival consultant Sergio Mims, will feature filmmakers offering tips on their craft.

On Aug. 17 the Black Harvest Community Council will host a preview screening of the upcoming Warner Bros. comedy "Lottery Ticket," starring Bow Wow and Ice Cube. The pre-party at 6:30 p.m. is included with admission to the 8:15 p.m. screening. Tickets are $15 for individuals or $25 per couple.

"Night Catches Us," the closing-night film screening on Sept. 2, stars Anthony Mackie as a former Black Panther. The Philadelphia group the Roots supplies music. Whole Foods Market is sponsoring a post-screening reception.

A program of five short videos, titled "A Black Harvest Feast" and screening at 7:30 tonight, shows couples in the process of change. Characters in these five dramas hook up via the Internet, call off a wedding, seek premarital privacy and end an interracial marriage. Each film will be rescreened in other programs of shorts.

"BFF": Best of the batch is directed by Rosalyn Coleman Williams. Screenwriter Andrea Celina Coleman co-stars as a best friend not invited to a wedding. She meets the bride by chance outside the church. There's a lot of catching up, lashing out and getting over it to do, as the wedding videographer rolls on this emotional encounter. (Repeat screenings: 8:15 p.m. Aug. 27 and 8:15 p.m. Aug. 31)

"Loose Change": Writer-director- editor Sandrel "Sanicole" Young shows a creative hand in interlacing serendipitous meetings on south State Street. A silent boy seeking change is the catalyst for three adults changing their paths. (Repeat screening: 8:15 p.m. Aug. 21)

"Online": Keith Purvis invents an Internet dating site that fast-forwards to predict where your first date might lead. The virtual future is staged by pantomining steps to the altar and beyond. Or not. (Repeat screenings: 8:15 p.m. Aug. 14 and 8:15 p.m. Aug. 19)

"The Mattress Hustle": Susan Watson Turner's slight comedy depicts two New Yorkers who find apartments to spend nights together in exchange for looking after pets. (Repeat screenings: 8:15 p.m. Aug. 14 and 8:15 p.m. Aug. 19)

"Son of America": Raymond A. Thomas directs a simplistic story of a biracial gymnast in Chicago. (Repeat screening: 8:15 p.m. Aug. 21)

Bill Stamets is a locally based free-lance writer and critic.

Photo: "Night Catches Us"