As you walk into the Logan Theatre for the Chicago Underground Film Festival, there’s an immediate feeling of intimacy. To the right is the lounge, where folks congregate in between films. This important to note, because it’s one of the most interesting things you’ll find at film festivals. Not only is it a place to view great films, it’s a place where you can talk about the great films you’ve viewed and ones you wish you had.
How CUFF has maintained the true feeling of what it means to be an underground film fest for 24 years is pretty impressive, especially with how much they’ve changed in the past 24 years. In 1993, indie film was in the midst of a total resurgence. Over the years, indie film has seen so many changes, including an increased commercialization. So, that a festival can thrive and still remain true to its form is pretty remarkable.
The feeling of intimacy isn’t limited to just the lobby and lounge, however. It extends into the films that were showcased. As CUFF would suggest, there’s nothing commercial about these films. What you see is off-the-beaten-path, beautifully constructed works that showcase cinema in a unique light.
Here are just a few of the highlights from this year.
Drifting Toward the Crescent
Directed by Laura Stewart
83 Minutes
Chicago Premiere
Drifting Towards the Crescent is shot in a day-in-the-life sort of way. You see how these people live, how they interact with each other. Even as an opening night film, in a city that couldn’t look farther from what is shown on screen, you cannot help but be taken by how these people live their day to day life, in a town that on the surface may not seem like it’s thriving as much as it once had. But that would be false. What keeps the town thriving today isn’t what had back in the 20th century. Today, it’s the people that are keeping it alive.
All The Rage (Saved By Sarno)
Directed by Michael Galinsky, Suki Hawley, and David Beilinson
94 Minutes
All the Rage is an incredible tribute to Dr. Sarno. Dr. Sarno has spent his life advocating the connection of mind and body, and encouraging people to take seriously the idea of a potential back pain epidemic on the horizon. This film explores that, and just how deep that connection can run. At the screening of this film at the festival, there was clearly an air of understanding. People were unified by this idea that had for years been thoroughly dismissed by medical professionals. Though there is still so much work that must be done, this film does a remarkable job at bringing light to the issue. It’s a film that simply has to be seen.
Mono Generation
4 Minutes
“In 2005, Lena Dunham starred in a film by Keil Troisi and A.W. Strouse. Endless problems plagued production—from the scatterbrained script to the cast’s partying to Strouse’s romance with Dunham. Now, this poetic short documentary reframes that footage into a commentary on celebrity, the War on Terror, and mononucleosis.” (Courtesy of CUFF.ORG)This is not only a case of utilizing and repurposing footage from a failed project, but it also gives you some great insight into a side of a celebrity that we don’t typically get to see first hand. Usually we only get to hear about the formative years in reflection from a first-hand account. Here, we get to bare witness to it.
Whatever Happened to Gelitin
Directed by Angela Christlieb
82 Minutes
Losing touch with someone is easy to do (albeit a bit harder in this day and age). But in the case of ‘The Gelitin,’ not only have they dropped off the face of the Earth, but no one seems to have any idea where they are. This film is a great piece of art in itself, through interviews and archive footage, you can see some of the art world’s most mysterious people. Intertwined is the public outcry and daring acts that come with being a performance artist, always having to find new territory and ground to break. That’s a lot harder than it seems. How can you top what has come before you, or even scarier, what you’ve already done? If anyone can answer this, surely it’s the foursome known as ‘The Gelitin.’
Man Life: The Last of the Lawsonians
Directed by Ryan Sarnowski
83 Minutes
Man Life is a wonderfully universal tale, with Merle as our leader. It shows one man who, at 90, just doesn’t quit. He keeps moving as if his life depends on it, because it does. In everything he does, there’s an extraordinary amount of passion. And even to this day, at 97, Merle has not stopped going to the one place that he considers home every year: The Air Show in Oshkosh.
There are six CUFF Jury Awards, three CUFF Honorable Mentions, one Made in Chicago Award, and one Audience Award. Below are all of the official award-winning films.
CUFF Audience Award:
Man Life: The Last of the Lawsonians – by Ryan Sarnowski
Made In Chicago Award:
How to have your / own television show / (you already do) – by Jesse Malmed
CUFF Jury Awards:
INAATE/SE [it shines a certain way, to a certain place/ it flies. falls./] – by Adam and Zack Khalil
As Without So Within – by Manuela de Laborde
The Pink Egg – by Jim Trainor
Indefinite Pitch – by James N. Kienitz Wilkins
Steven Go Get Me a Switch – by Jared Buckhiester
See A Dog, Hear A Dog – by Jesse McLean
CUFF Honorable Mentions:
Ark – by Lynne Siefert
Sea With No Name – by Emi Linnakoski
Luna E Santur – by Joshua Gen Solondz
Featured Image Credit: Chicago Patterns