“New Protest” by Sherrie White. Color video. A documentary about the “Peace Walk” that took place in Chicago on April 10, 1982 to protest the proliferation of nuclear weapons. The tape features interviews with the participants and footage of the official speakers at Federal Plaza, including Studs Terkel, Ed Sadlowski, and Harold Washington.

“Banana Dupuy” by Davidson Gigliotti. Performed by Jean Dupuy and Olga Adorno. Color video.

Produced by The Public Interest Video Network. Terkel talks to Alice Peurala in South Chicago about the troubles steel mill workers are facing and the negative impact of Reagan’s presidency. Peurala stresses solidarity for workers. Terkel likens the current situation at the mill (it is refusing new applications) to the situation during the Great Depression. Peurala predicts disaster for the country if workers are further and further disadvantaged by Reagan’s policies.

“Pink Triangles Rising.” This tape is more documentary-style, and features the conflict between a gay and lesbian rights group and the American Nazis/Ku Klux Klan in a public rally in Lincoln Park. Images consist of the gays and lesbians on parade, while the audio is mainly racist/bigoted radio broadcasts by the American Nazi party.

LIMITED ENGAGEMENT (NOV ONLY)

Animations and videos of wilting plants among debris. Hybrid sculptures reminiscent of vehicles and measuring devices, as well as shelters or craters within damaged landscapes.

There is sand everywhere, visible or invisible: in the concrete walls, in the optical equipment, in the phone, in the landfill. The movements of the animated flowers flicker and accelerate. In between the images, there is nothing but emptiness, a mental absence.

In video footage, withering plants appear in a rotating installation that spins at different speeds. The arrangement circles mechanically through light and shadow, faster and faster until it becomes vague, leaving fleeting expressions of a fading time and space and fusing reality with desolation. The sculptures in the installation speak to a standstill of the status quo.

By Jim Ferguson. Color video. A short documentary that features Elaine Equi, who discusses her personal relationship to poetry and her commitment to enlarge the audience for poetry. Also features Jerome Sala.

“The Space Cadets” by Heather McAdams. B&W film. A comic short about space cadets training in a space academy. It was made using various audio and film clips from old newsreels, and movies.

‘Hard Bargain” by Michael Pack. Color film. The story of an old fashioned fabric store owner and two street thugs looking for a quick break. The thugs end up robbing the old man and tragedy ensues.

An experimental adaptation of winnie the pooh exploring mundane queerness, friendship and lingering.

I categorize this video as playground absurdism which is a term I created to describe my feature film work. It is an approach to filmmaking that is rooted in absurdist ideology and harnessed using the ethos of a child. Masked with silly plots and characters, time serves as a vessel for exploration of the imperfections, people and spaces I hold dear.

Ant Farm promotes their ideas for inflatable living and demonstrates how to construct inflatables using basic materials.

LIMITED ENGAGEMENT (OCT ONLY)

Dawn (25, dirty little imp, roaring hair) has troublesome sex with her lover and childhood friend Mike (25, dark fur, trans). They tumble in and out of dissonance by playing a game from their childhood. Runtime: 7 minutes, 22 seconds.

Director Statement
“AN ENTIRE ROOM IS OPENED BY PARTICULAR FEELINGS THAT SAY YOU’RE ON THE EDGE OF THE SPACE.” – Eileen Myles

Footage was shot on June 28, 2021, and records the various actions that build to a single performance. The work dialogues with the performance for camera tradition, but it is clearly edited and narratively stylized. There is no direct audience. The main recorded action is artist Laura Paolini sitting on bags of ice for several hours while they melt under her weight and temperature. A rudimentary microphone and speaker set up transmits noises from the hallway into her performance space. Runtime: 24 minutes, 29 seconds.

“Life is a Saxophone” by Saundra Sharp (now called S. Pearl Sharp). Color film. Performances by and interviews with African-American poet Kamau Daa’ood. Runtime: 9 minutes, 53 seconds

312-VANDAL is a feature length documentary that focuses on four prominent Chicago street artists. Runtime: 1 hour, 8 minutes 41 seconds