Chicago Filmmakers Announces the Line-Up for The 25th Onion City Experimental Film and Video Festival
Taking Place September 5-8, 2013
At the Gene Siskel Film Center, Columbia College Chicago, and
The Music Box Theatre
Chicago Filmmakers is pleased to announce the complete line-up for the 25th Onion City Experimental Film and Video Festival, which will take place Thursday, September 5 to Sunday, September 8 at the Gene Siskel Film Center (Thursday), Columbia College Chicago's Ferguson Theater (Friday and Saturday) and the Music Box Theatre (Sunday).
For this special anniversary edition of the festival, Onion City has assembled a stellar array of experimental films and videos from around the world, with work from 14 different countries. Represented are the US, the UK, Canada, India, France, the Czech Republic, the Palestinian Territory, Argentina, Brazil, Portugal, The Philippines, Nigeria, Germany, and Italy.
The 62 shorts and two features include work by long-standing avant-garde film and video artists Lawrence Jordan, Phil Solomon, Mike Hoolboom, Stephanie Barber, Vincent Grenier, Diane Kitchen, Charlotte Pryce, Lewis Klahr, William E. Jones, Scott Stark, and James Benning. Local and recently-local artists include Deborah Stratman, Jodie Mack, Jennifer Reeder, Olivia Ciummo, Malic Amalya, Mariana Milhorat, Jake Barningham, JB Mabe, Alexander Stewart and Lilli Carré, and Kevin Eskew. Additionally, continuing Onion City's long tradition of supporting young artists and artists who often are not as widely known as they should be, nearly half of the artists showing this year are new to the festival.
With the extreme diversity of the works showing, another strong concentration of local artists but also with work from across the globe, a mixture of seasoned filmmakers and brand-new ones, and the overall quality of the work this year, this 25th edition of Onion City promises to be memorable.
Highlights include:
Opening Night Program
Features a stunning new film by collage animator Lawrence Jordan, a new film from British filmmaker Ben Rivers (whose feature Two Years at Sea was recently released by Cinema Guild), a beautiful and haunting film about film in 35mm from India, and Phil Solomon's alchemical reworking of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton footage.
Portraits, Queerly
A program of three experimental documentaries about art, artists, creativity, and queer identity, including Mariah Garnett's encounter with famed 1970's gay porn icon Peter Berlin, Mike Hoolboom's autobiographical portrait, and Matt Wolf's (director of the feature documentary Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell and the highly anticipated upcoming Teenage) look at artist, cartoonist, and author Joe Brainard.
The Way of All Flesh
A program primarily focused on recent experimental-narrative work from Portugal, including new shorts by João Pedro Rodrigues (O Fantasma, To Die Like a Man, The Last Time I Saw Macao) and Rodrigues' frequent collaborator João Rui Gerra da Mata.
The Realist & Empire
Scott Stark's The Realist is an amazing, strange, and surreal quasi-narrative about consumerism and the modern world with mannequins as protagonists; and Phil Solomon's Empire is a simple, but profoundly moving "landscape" film of the Empire State Building, with all of the imagery derived from the Grand Theft Auto video game.
Nightfall
Experimental film legend James Benning has embraced digital technology over the last few years and has been creating a steady stream of minimal explorations of landscape, infrastructure, industry, and institutions. Nightfall is a delicate and subtle real-time look at the slow darkening of a forest as day turns to night.
Closing Night Film
Double Play: James Benning and Richard Linklater
We are extremely excited to present local film writer and critic (and now filmmaker) Gabe Klinger's first film as our closing night selection, fresh off its World Premier at the Venice Film Festival (and prior to its official North American Premier at a major US festival that has not been announced yet). We are pleased to welcome Klinger for this special sneak preview screening. Double Play is a lively and fascinating portrait of two unlikely long-time friends, independent maverick Linklater and experimental film legend Benning, filtered through their mutual love of film and sports.
Plus, there are an additional four shorts programs: Talk about the Passion (Salvation Imminent); Wandering, Pausing; Illuminations; and System Overload.
Venues and Ticketing:
Thursday, September 5: The Gene Siskel Film Center (164 N. State St.)
Tickets: $11.00 general admission; $7.00 students; $6.00 Film Center members; $4.00 for students and faculty of the School of the Art Institute, and staff of the Art Institute
Friday and Saturday, September 6 and 7: Ferguson Theater, Columbia College Chicago (600 S. Michigan Ave.)
Tickets: $8.00 (per screening)
Sunday, September 8: Music Box Theatre (3733 N. Southport Ave.)
Tickets: $10.00 per show for the 2pm and 4pm shows; $12 for the 7pm Closing Night program
Advance tickets are available for the Opening Night Program at the Gene Siskel Film Center through their box office or through their Ticketmaster.
Advance tickets for the Sunday shows at the Music Box Theatre will be available online through Chicago Filmmakers' ticketing. Details will be available on the Onion City website shortly.
No advance sales for the screenings at Columbia College Chicago.
Website:
www.chicagofilmmakers.org/onion_fest