CHICAGO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL FOUNDER MICHAEL KUTZA TO RELEASE STARSTRUCK, SPIRITED NEW MEMOIR CULLED FROM FIVE DECADES OF DELIVERING DREAMS, DEALS AND DISCOVERIES TO CHITOWN
Featuring a Rich Collection of Photographs, the Book Follows Kutza’s Rollicking Journey Heading the World-Class Film Festival That Predated Sundance, Tribeca, and Toronto
(Chicago, IL) – Coming in September some 57 years after launching the Chicago International Film Festival, the event’s founder and longtime artistic director Michael Kutza has written Starstruck: How I Magically Transformed Chicago into Hollywood for More Than Fifty Years, his provocative, sexy, colorful, irreverent memoir that details his wild ride that transformed Chicago into an essential cinematic destination.
Published by Bear Manor Media, the tome traces Kutza’s journey as the child of doctors growing up on Chicago’s West Side who decided in his early 20’s that his town desperately needed a truly international film event to call its own. With essential assists from silent screen star Colleen Moore and the legendary director King Vidor, he launched the festival in 1965.
As described in vivid detail in Starstruck, Kutza presided over an annual gathering that would over the next half-century host a veritable Who’s Who of the film world – from Harold Lloyd to Clint Eastwood, Bette Davis to Viola Davis, Steven Spielberg to Spike Lee, Guillermo del Toro to Jodie Foster, Lauren Bacall to Al Pacino. At the same time, the festival helped introduce a plethora of new talent that would go on to revolutionize the movie business, including Martin Scorsese, Oliver Stone and Helen Mirren.
STARSTRUCK is available via all the usual online platforms, including Amazon and Barnes & Noble, as well as at select bookstores in Chicago and around the country. The author is available now for interviews both electronic and print. The cost of the book is $29.00 for the paperback and $39.00 for the hardcover.
Review: Chicago Sun-Times Writer Michael Sneed
Michael Kutza, who masterminded the creation of Chicago’s legendary Film Festival on a “cold and snowy” night on Nov. 4, 1965 — when no one initially showed up — has written a memoir about what he called “The Greatest Show on Earth.”
An interesting tell all … sometimes naughty, sometimes nice … littered with names, names, names and pix of Kutza with the great and the glam he lured to Chicago to attend a major film festival he would place on Chicago’s road map: Orson Welles, Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg are among the glitterati nestled in the pages of Kutza’s memoir entitled: “Starstruck: How I Magically Transformed Chicago into Hollywood for more than 50 years.”
Review: Daily North Shore Bill McLean https://jwcdaily.com/2022/09/28/kutza-pah/
Review: Brian Tallerico editor of rogerebert.com https://www.rogerebert.com/features/michael-kutza-details-legacy-of-chicago-international-film-festival-in-starstruck?fbclid=IwAR2hrlfTky9NEqQitgDBYbjpPhSkoA01ZXYxRAz8SlWCKNeVLqQdCl2laxM
Review: ABC 7 Chicago https://abc7chicago.com/chicago-film-festival-2022-international-michael-kutza-roger-ebert/12325332/
Review: Laurent Brocato Modern Luxury CS https://mlchicagosocial.com/michael-kutza-interview-starstruck-book
Review: Michael Kutza on Deprogram with Michael Parker https://tntradiolive.podbean.com/e/michael-kutza-on-deprogram-with-michael-parker-10-december-2022/
Review: Floyd Sullivan https://chicagoliteraryhof.org/blog/entry/chicago-film-festival-founder-michael-kutza-pens-a-rollicking-memoir
Available at the following locations:
Amazon.com
Barnes&Noble.com
Target.com
Walmart.com
Chicago Lit Bookstore
Lake Forest Bookstore
Book State in Winnetka
Unabridged Book Store in Chicago
The Book Bin in Northbrook
Barbara’s Bookstore