The 22nd annual Chicago Underground Film Festival presents five days of devastating celluloid provocations on May 13-17 at the Logan Theatre.
The fest kicks off on May 13 with the incredibly haunting short film Echoes by Jaimz Asmundson and the Filipino romantic crime drama Ruined Heart: Another Lovestory Between a Criminal and a Whore by the single-named director Khavn.
Highlights of the fest include the new slacker-ific comedy by Lev Kalman and Whitney Horn, L for Leisure; the Spanish socio-political documentary Speculation Nation by Bill Brown and Sabine Gruffat; the pastoral friendship drama For the Plasma by Bingham Bryant & Kyle Molzan; and the joyful pop doc Living Stars by Gastón Duprat and Mariano Cohn.
There are also loads of un-missable short films, such as the gritty modern film noir Bite Radius by Spencer Parsons; and amazing new films by Jennifer Reeder (Blood Below the Skin), Zachary Epcar (Under the Heat Lamp...
The fest kicks off on May 13 with the incredibly haunting short film Echoes by Jaimz Asmundson and the Filipino romantic crime drama Ruined Heart: Another Lovestory Between a Criminal and a Whore by the single-named director Khavn.
Highlights of the fest include the new slacker-ific comedy by Lev Kalman and Whitney Horn, L for Leisure; the Spanish socio-political documentary Speculation Nation by Bill Brown and Sabine Gruffat; the pastoral friendship drama For the Plasma by Bingham Bryant & Kyle Molzan; and the joyful pop doc Living Stars by Gastón Duprat and Mariano Cohn.
There are also loads of un-missable short films, such as the gritty modern film noir Bite Radius by Spencer Parsons; and amazing new films by Jennifer Reeder (Blood Below the Skin), Zachary Epcar (Under the Heat Lamp...
- 5/11/2015
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
The Ann Arbor Film Festival, having survived their half-a-century blowout in 2012, is back with another rip-roarin’ 51st edition in 2013, which will run from March 19-24, screening a mind-boggling amount of experimental short films and a few features.
Highlights of the fest include:
Special presentations by this year’s jurors, including Marcin Gizycki round-up of Polish animation from the 1950s to the present; Laida Lertxundi’s selection of some of her films as well as her biggest influences; and Kevin Jerome Everson’s mini-retrospective of his own films.
There’s also special tributes to Pat O’Neill, including a retrospective of his short films from the ’70s to the present as well as a screening of his 1989 35mm experimental epic Water and Power; Suzan Pitt, with selections of short films from her career; and a screening of Ken Burns’ latest doc The Central Park Five, co-directed with his daughter Sarah Burns and son-in-law David McMahon,...
Highlights of the fest include:
Special presentations by this year’s jurors, including Marcin Gizycki round-up of Polish animation from the 1950s to the present; Laida Lertxundi’s selection of some of her films as well as her biggest influences; and Kevin Jerome Everson’s mini-retrospective of his own films.
There’s also special tributes to Pat O’Neill, including a retrospective of his short films from the ’70s to the present as well as a screening of his 1989 35mm experimental epic Water and Power; Suzan Pitt, with selections of short films from her career; and a screening of Ken Burns’ latest doc The Central Park Five, co-directed with his daughter Sarah Burns and son-in-law David McMahon,...
- 3/19/2013
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
The mighty and all-powerful Chicago Underground Film Festival has done the absolute unthinkable: Reached their 20th year of operation! How many underground festivals have accomplished that feat? None, until now! Well, “now” being March 6-10 at the fest’s new location: The Logan Theatre.
Obviously, there are a lot of people who have worked with the fest over the years to help make it last for exactly two fantastic decades, but, truly, there is one special person who has to be specially lauded for his tireless dedication to the advancement of underground film and its makers. Especially because Cuff hasn’t just been around for 20 years: It’s been fucking awesome for 20 years.
That person, of course, is Artistic Director Bryan Wendorf, who has been with the fest for the very first edition to it’s most recent, mind-blowing one. Year after year, Wendorf has guided Cuff into defining, challenging,...
Obviously, there are a lot of people who have worked with the fest over the years to help make it last for exactly two fantastic decades, but, truly, there is one special person who has to be specially lauded for his tireless dedication to the advancement of underground film and its makers. Especially because Cuff hasn’t just been around for 20 years: It’s been fucking awesome for 20 years.
That person, of course, is Artistic Director Bryan Wendorf, who has been with the fest for the very first edition to it’s most recent, mind-blowing one. Year after year, Wendorf has guided Cuff into defining, challenging,...
- 2/13/2013
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
The 19th annual Chicago Underground Film Festival, which just ran for the entire first week of June at the Gene Siskel Film Center, have announced their award winners. Picking the winners this year was a jury composed of Julia Gibbs (University of Chicago’s Film Studies Center), Dan Koretzky (Drag City Records) and Jonathan Marlow (Fandor).
Awards were given in seven categories, each of which have a singular winning film and several honorable mentions. Taking home the coveted Made in Chicago Award was Jesse McLean‘s experimental short film Remote, a haunting meditation on nature and technology.
Other short films winning awards were Ben Russell‘s ethnographic film River Rites for Best Documentary Short, Bryan Boyce‘s hilarious Walt Disney’s Taxi Driver for Best Film Using Appropriation or Pre-existing Material and Peter Jessien Laugesen’s Nature’s Voice for Best Animation/Experimental Short.
On the feature film front, Daniel Schmidt...
Awards were given in seven categories, each of which have a singular winning film and several honorable mentions. Taking home the coveted Made in Chicago Award was Jesse McLean‘s experimental short film Remote, a haunting meditation on nature and technology.
Other short films winning awards were Ben Russell‘s ethnographic film River Rites for Best Documentary Short, Bryan Boyce‘s hilarious Walt Disney’s Taxi Driver for Best Film Using Appropriation or Pre-existing Material and Peter Jessien Laugesen’s Nature’s Voice for Best Animation/Experimental Short.
On the feature film front, Daniel Schmidt...
- 6/8/2012
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Having been around for eighteen years, the Chicago Underground Film Festival has continually changed what it defines as “underground.”
So its 19th annual edition, which will be held on May 31 to June 7 at the Gene Siskel Film Center, feels like its most experimental edition in recent years.
While things kick off on the 31st with the Vice-produced anthology film The Fourth Dimension by Alexsei Fedorchenko, Harmony Korine and Jan Kwiecinski, the rest of the fest is packed with feature-length and short experimental work, documentaries and alternative narratives.
Some of the experimental feature highlights include the vastly prolific Robert Todd‘s Master Plan, which examines theories of modern housing from private residences to prisons; Australia’s two-person art collective Soda_Jerk’s epic rip on media piracy, Hollywood Burn; Michael Kosakowski’s compendium on murder fantasies, Zero Killing; L.A. filmmaker Daniel Martinico’s meditation on the acting process, Ok, Good...
So its 19th annual edition, which will be held on May 31 to June 7 at the Gene Siskel Film Center, feels like its most experimental edition in recent years.
While things kick off on the 31st with the Vice-produced anthology film The Fourth Dimension by Alexsei Fedorchenko, Harmony Korine and Jan Kwiecinski, the rest of the fest is packed with feature-length and short experimental work, documentaries and alternative narratives.
Some of the experimental feature highlights include the vastly prolific Robert Todd‘s Master Plan, which examines theories of modern housing from private residences to prisons; Australia’s two-person art collective Soda_Jerk’s epic rip on media piracy, Hollywood Burn; Michael Kosakowski’s compendium on murder fantasies, Zero Killing; L.A. filmmaker Daniel Martinico’s meditation on the acting process, Ok, Good...
- 5/8/2012
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
In today’s economic climate, when owners find their houses are “underwater,” it’s not quite as literally as in the above short film. Directed by Reynold Reynolds and Patrick Jolley, The Drowning Room is one of the most astonishing short films ever seen by Bad Lit: The Journal of Underground Film, having first experienced it way back at the 2000 New York Underground Film Festival. So, we’re thrilled that Reynolds has finally put it online.
The Drowning Room is still pretty incredible to watch after being transferred to digital and seen on the small screen, i.e. a computer monitor. However, it doesn’t quite compare to the claustrophobic intensity of experiencing it while trapped in a movie theater and on the big screen.
Most underwater scenes in movies are reserved for action sequences and, while Reynolds and Jolley do stage a fist fight, The Drowning Room is most...
The Drowning Room is still pretty incredible to watch after being transferred to digital and seen on the small screen, i.e. a computer monitor. However, it doesn’t quite compare to the claustrophobic intensity of experiencing it while trapped in a movie theater and on the big screen.
Most underwater scenes in movies are reserved for action sequences and, while Reynolds and Jolley do stage a fist fight, The Drowning Room is most...
- 1/9/2012
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Getty A visitor at the Armory Show last week.
When it comes to honoring film, there are four big award shows between January and March: Oscars, Globes, SAG awards and the Independent Spirit Awards. Fortunately they all don’t take place during the same week. Not the same in the art world. No, there weren’t a bunch of awards handed out, but last week there was not one but a plethora of art fairs going on at the same time.
When it comes to honoring film, there are four big award shows between January and March: Oscars, Globes, SAG awards and the Independent Spirit Awards. Fortunately they all don’t take place during the same week. Not the same in the art world. No, there weren’t a bunch of awards handed out, but last week there was not one but a plethora of art fairs going on at the same time.
- 3/9/2011
- by Susan Michals
- Speakeasy/Wall Street Journal
Life is in decay in Reynold Reynolds‘ beautifully shot short film Six Apartments. Six strangers, unaware of each other’s existence, live their lives in isolation, passing their time on Earth listening to the radio, watching TV, scrubbing their feet, feeding their pet snake, etc. All the while they do not notice that their world is slowly decomposing all around them. Depending on your stomach for that kind of thing, some of the decay can be quite grotesque. But, the stunning camera moves and shot compositions are completely wonderful to behold.
This is a split-screen film with the action in the apartments split up between both sides. However, with the in-tandem camera moves on each side of the screen, Reynolds directs your eye to which is the more important action to be focused on. Plus, the split-screen is a good relief when one side offers up images that are tough to digest: Decomposing rodents,...
This is a split-screen film with the action in the apartments split up between both sides. However, with the in-tandem camera moves on each side of the screen, Reynolds directs your eye to which is the more important action to be focused on. Plus, the split-screen is a good relief when one side offers up images that are tough to digest: Decomposing rodents,...
- 1/20/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
The 9th annual Lausanne Underground Film Festival may just run for a mere five days in Switzerland on Oct. 20-24, but it hits with the force of a 10p-ton megaton bomb over that time period, packing in so much mind-boggling underground madness it’ll make your head explode.
Every year, the fest feels like 5 or 6 festivals crammed into one. There’s the fest that pays homage to the history of experimental filmmaking, there are the retrospectives of several cult festivals, a feature film competition section, a short film competition section and more.
Three filmmakers are especially getting major retrospective love this year. First, there’s legendary Canadian experimental filmmaker Michael Snow who will be in attendance at screenings of his classic films Wavelength, <–> and La région centrale, plus several of his other short films.
Also being feted are German extreme horror filmmaker Jörg Buttgereit, who will attend screenings of his classic Nekromantik,...
Every year, the fest feels like 5 or 6 festivals crammed into one. There’s the fest that pays homage to the history of experimental filmmaking, there are the retrospectives of several cult festivals, a feature film competition section, a short film competition section and more.
Three filmmakers are especially getting major retrospective love this year. First, there’s legendary Canadian experimental filmmaker Michael Snow who will be in attendance at screenings of his classic films Wavelength, <–> and La région centrale, plus several of his other short films.
Also being feted are German extreme horror filmmaker Jörg Buttgereit, who will attend screenings of his classic Nekromantik,...
- 10/18/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
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