Adam Khalil and Bayley Sweitzer’s EMPTY METAL is the Opening Night selection, and Nicole Brending’s DOLLHOUSE: THE ERADICATION OF FEMALE SUBJECTIVITY FROM AMERICAN POPULAR CULTURE is the Closing Night selection
Chicago, IL (May 22, 2019) – The Chicago Underground Film Festival, today announced the lineup for its 26th edition, taking place on June 5-9. Known for featuring an international slate of innovative, exciting and provocative films and videos, CUFF bookends this year’s film festival with two films that epitomize those three words. Adam Khalil and Bayley Sweitzer’s EMPTY METAL will screen as the Opening Night selection on Wednesday, June 5, and Nicole Brending’s DOLLHOUSE: THE ERADICATION OF FEMALE SUBJECTIVITY FROM AMERICAN POPULAR CULTURE is the Closing Night selection, screening on June 9 – both at Logan Theater (2646 N. Milwaukee Ave.)
In addition to the 12 features on its slate, CUFF will also screen 12 thematic shorts programs and additional programming featuring 104 films. Underlining the film festival’s draw as a place where new work and talent make their debut, as well as introducing Chicago and Midwestern audiences to new and exciting voices in cinema, this year’s slate includes 10 world premieres, 1 international premiere, 1 North American premieres, 9 U.S. premieres, and 34 Midwest premieres.
Artistic Director Bryan Wendorf, “This year’s exciting group of films came to us through our ever-growing number of submissions and films that truly struck us at other festivals. It is as diverse a slate as we have ever had, with films that will entertain in the purest sense, but also challenge and surprise our audiences whether it be through the stories told or the documentary subjects that are being focused on. As always, we want to introduce everyone to films and filmmakers that gave us a thrill when we first saw their films, and inspired us to re-think what we just saw and perhaps debate about it with our friends.”
Khalil and Sweitzer’s EMPTY METAL will make its Midwest premiere as the Opening Night selection on Wednesday, June 5. In the film, a punk band is ensnared in a murder plot by an indigenous family whose mother communicates telepathically with her meditation companions, a
Rastafarian hacker and a Buddhist whose son is a member of a secret militia. While this motley crew goes about their business, the drones fly overhead, seeing all. EMPTY METAL previously screened at Lincoln Center’s Art of the Real festival, and the screening at CUFF will mark a return to the film festival by Khalil, whose film INAATE/SE/ (which he co-directed with his brother Zack Khalil) won a jury award in 2017.
Closing Night will feature Nicole Brending’s puppet animation satire DOLLHOUSE: THE ERADICATION OF FEMALE SUBJECTIVITY FROM AMERICAN POPULAR CULTURE. The disturbingly entertaining feature film directorial debut of Brending recently won both Best Feature and The Spirit of Slamdance awards at the 2019 Slamdance Film Festival. DOLLHOUSE charts the rise and fall of fictional child pop star Junie Spoons as her life story (and the ensuing disasters) unfold, as told by those who knew her. From losing her virginity in a sex tape to 24-hour
marriages to a Patty-Hearst style kidnapping and bank heist to the murder of her mother, the film reveals the hypocrisies of an opportunistic society that preys on the talents and contributions of women, the film is a scathing look at what it means to be female in a modern world. Assaulted by men, women, the media, and a new era obsessed with identity and entitlement, Junie's fall from grace is a cautionary tale about the consequences of denying women their own voice and perspective.
Two notable premieres among the feature films include the North American premiere of Ian Haig’s THE FOAMING NODE, which tells the story of the last remaining observers who were members of a cult of sorts who followed the transmissions and evacuations of the mysterious Foaming Node, whose main project and mission was the distribution of the human body. The U.S. premiere of Marco Porsia’s documentary WHERE DOES A BODY END? focuses on the Swans, from their roots as a post-punk band through their ill-fated bid at mainstream in the 90s indie-rock goldrush, through breakups and chaos to their current status as one of the most accomplished bands in the world.
A number of feature films will be making their Midwest premieres at CUFF. Those films include; Adam Sekuler’s immersive verité 36 HOURS, about a woman’s pregnancy and birthing experience; Emmanuelle Antille’s music documentary A BRIGHT LIGHT – KAREN AND THE PROCESS, which focuses on the 60s enigma that was Karen Dalton; Aaron Schimberg’s CHAINED FOR LIFE, which stars Jess Weixler (TEETH) as an actress who struggles to connect with her disfigured co-star on a film shoot; Kavich Neang’s documentary LAST NIGHT I SAW YOU SMILING, which takes a look at Phnom Penh’s iconic housing block, the “White Building” and the history it has weathered prior to being demolished; Lonnie Martin’s THE LAST OF THE MANSON GIRLS, which follows a counterculture journalist as he investigates Manson followers Sandra Good, Brenda McCann, and Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme; and Peter Parlow’s THE PLAGIARISTS, about a young couple dealing with emotional fallout from a seemingly fraudulent yet unprovable act done to them. Stuart Swezey’s documentary DESOLATION CENTER, about the punk rock desert concerts and “happenings” during the Reagan-era, will make its Chicago debut.
Included in the impressive slate of shorts screening this year in the thematic shorts programs as well as accompanying features at CUFF are several short films making their world premieres. Those films include; Patrick Müller’s ACTUALLY, THIS IS NOT A FILM; Darrin Martin and Torsten Zenas Burns’ ARK 3: CROSSOVERCHRONICLES; Giuliana Foulkes’ BLACK BOX; Lina Sieckmann, Miriam Gossing, and Nicole Wegner’s CHINA LIGHT; Jake Hart’s COREDEMPTRIX; Robert C. Banks Jr., and John W. Carlson’s DON’T BE STILL; Kate Kapuza’s HUNKS; Ellery Chalmers’ JAMES L THOMPSON CENTER; Monica Panzarino’s MEMORY; and K$K’s WALKED IN.
Festival passes and tickets are on-sale now. For more information, visit www.cuff.org.
2019 Chicago Underground Film Festival Official Selections
FEATURE FILMS
Showing posts with label chicago. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chicago. Show all posts
Thursday, May 23, 2019
Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Let's Play Two (2017)
While this film is an absolute must see on the big screen thanks to its amazing cinematography(This is like the very best concert photography come to life), this is going to be tough slog after the first half hour for the non-Chicago Cubs or Pearl Jam fan
A beautifully shot film (this may very well be the best looking concert film I have ever seen) the film alternates between Eddie and friends talking about the Cubs and Chicago and some great music. The trouble is that unless you are a die hard Cubs fan there is a point where you turn off and stop caring. There is only so much gushing about the other guys team a fan can take. At a certain point I just wasn't interested. Additionally despite the best cinematic concert images I've ever seen the editing doesn't do anything to generate interest. Pearl Jam is not a big show group so there is no spectacle to watch and despite being glorious to look at the images never get inside the soul of anyone. Something is missing- a sense of life that the largely static images never convey.
This doesn't mean the LET'S PLAY TO is bad- it's not, it's simply that despite some glorious parts it never achieves the heights that it should be be as glorious a whole.
Recommended for Pearl Jam and Chicago Cubs fans as film. For everyone else think of it as a visual album.
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