‘CRIME & PARODY’
‘Crime and Parody’
About the Work-in-Progress Screening
The AfterImage Film Festival’s Work-in-Progress screening brings together industry mentors, and a select AIFF audience directly into the creative process before a film is "locked." It is a first-hand experience to help shape the narrative directly with the filmmaker. Before the film is completed, audiences and industry mentors watch the film together, with the filmmaker, and engage in a moderated discussion after the screening.
The Work-in-Progress event will run roughly three hours total. It consists of a feature length film screening followed by a talk-back with our panel and audience participation. Please attend only if you’re able to stay for the duration.
About the Film
In 2016, amateur comedian Anthony Novak created a parody Facebook page mocking his local police department. The page was satire, but the police took it VERY seriously. They raided Anthony’s home, jailed him for four days, and charged him with a felony punishable by up to 18 months in prison…all for a joke. His ensuing legal battle, which reached the U.S. Supreme Court, would ultimately shed light on the importance of free speech and police accountability—two pillars essential for upholding democracy in America.
Crime & Parody is a feature documentary directed and produced by Will Thwaites in association with Kartemquin Films (producers of Hoop Dreams and Minding the Gap). The film will premiere in 2026.
About the Panel
Melika Bass
Filmmaker Melika Bass makes atmospheric docu-fables. Named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film,” recently the International Film Festival Oberhausen in Germany showcased her work in their Profile series, and Cineaste Magazine called her “an artist whose films are remarkably (and excitingly) difficult to pigeonhole…Bass’s sensibility is very much her own.” She is the recipient of an Artadia Award, 3 Media Art Grants from the Illinois Arts Council, an Experimental Film Prize from the Athens International Film Festival, the Kodak/Filmcraft Imaging Award from the Ann Arbor Film Festival, and a USA Artist Nomination in Film.
Rebecca Fons
Rebecca Fons is Director of Programming at the Gene Siskel Film Center, a public program of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and serves as the Development and Programming Director for the historic Iowa Theater in her hometown of Winterset, IA. Rebecca previously served as Programming Director for FilmScene in Iowa City, IA; Director of Film at the John and Nancy Hughes Theater in Lake Forest, IL; and as Education Director for The Chicago International Film Festival for nearly a decade. Rebecca received her MA from Columbia College Chicago and BA from the University of Iowa, and is co-founder of the Chicago event series Destroy Your Art. In 2022 she was named Chicagoan of the Year in Film by the Chicago Tribune.
Miranda Yousef
Miranda Yousef is an accomplished documentary editor whose work has screened at major outlets including Sundance, SXSW, PBS and HBO. A graduate of Harvard College and UCLA, Miranda studied documentary filmmaking with Marina Goldovskaya, and is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. ART FOR EVERYBODY is her directorial debut.
SCREENING:
Sunday, April 13 at 12:00pm
Genre: Documentary
Run Time: 180 min
Filmmakers: Will Thwaites
Language: English
Rating: Unrated
