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The Girls Are Alright Las chicas están bien
Synopsis
This playful meditation on love, art, and friendship follows a group of women who retreat to an idyllic, sunkissed village to rehearse a play. As they learn their lines and don their costumes, their personal lives—filled with summer flings and long distance loves—and those of their characters begin to merge to form a beguiling and poignant pastiche.
Screenings & Events
Wed, Jun 18 @ 6:30pm CDT
at Chicago History Museum
Tickets will be available starting June 11 @ 10:00am.
Media
Sponsors
Film Partner
CineYouth Program
Espressivo: Music and Dance
Synopsis
Let the sound waves move your spirit. Music and dance are at the core of these personal and innovative works exploring cultural identity, nostalgia, loss, and remembrance. Like a playlist on shuffle, music videos, documentaries, and narrative dramas from these 8 filmmakers coalesce into a gorgeous display of how music can connect us, no matter who or where we are.
Please note: Films in this program contain flashing lights and themes, images, and language that may not be suitable for all ages.
Films
Rabbit by Creeping Charlie
In this dreamy music video, two girls reminisce on their early childhoods, longing for the simplistic and innocent past. Set amidst a beautiful fall day and adorned with feminine playfulness, Rabbit explores how childhood notions evolve into contemporary creativity.
Las Mariachis
This documentary follows Maricella Martinez, the director of the all-female mariachi band Mariachis Lindas Mexicanas as she balances the band and motherhood. With a backdrop of lively and lilting tunes, Marcialla reflects on the ways in which Mariachi music has shaped her as a person.
Dis Feeling
In this stylish and atmospheric music video of his original song, Leif Ericson 7th grader Avant Spann speaks to both his past struggles and his dreams for his future. This piece was created as a part of The BASE Chicago’s Feel the BASE music video program.
Symphony ((SIN)FONÍA)
This abstract documentary simulates the experience of living with four distinct auditory conditions through the use of narration, instrumental music, unique sound design, and vibrant visuals. Two voices reflect on the uniqueness of the sense of hearing itself, and how it shapes our perception and emotions.
The Pact
This punchy music video takes a look at lost love through swirling memories of the past and features original music by Worry Club.
The Honey Trap
While at work, a young fan watches a video of his favorite musician on a talk show. Soon, he finds himself connecting with the superstar in ways he never expected.
The Delightful One (La Ravissante)
This experimental documentary is an ode to the rich culture and history of the Huron-Wedant Indigenous peoples. Mixing traditional music, spoken poetry, and footage of everyday life on their land, this work paints a picture of their past, present, and future.
Chiquita piconera
A grieving mother uses vibrant Spanish dancing to cope with the loss of her youngest daughter. However, the intensity of her grief and escapism threatens her relationship with her oldest daughter.
CineYouth Program
Pulling Focus: Documentary
Synopsis
Whether it’s a visual love letter to far away relatives, a detailed account of individuals’ experiences of colorism, or a behind-the-scenes look into the meticulous process of crafting authentic Lion Dance Heads, these seven personal documentaries shed light on lives, beliefs, and cultures.
Please note: Films in this program contain themes, images, language, that may not be suitable for all ages.
Films
Places Nowhere
While discussing the topic of unexplainable memories with his friends, Filmmaker Alex Chen recounts a childhood memory of going to a mall with an exterior that was “painted like the sky.” He always figured it was a figment of his imagination… except his friend remembers the same mall. Assembling many years’ worth of archival and personal footage, Alex Chen attempts to rediscover the feeling of being in this long-forgotten mall.
Memories of a new destination (Records d’un nou destí)
Told through postcards and first-hand experiences, this film is a touching tribute to those that have traveled away from home. This profound documentary provides an avenue for the filmmakers to have a deeper connection with their relatives, learn more about their lives, and comprehend the bravery it must have taken for each of them to start anew.
A-Okay
In the form of a letter to their past self, filmmaker J Fitzpatrick takes the viewer on a deeply intimate journey through their early experiences (or lack thereof) of crushes and discovery of asexual and aromantic spectrums. Told in the second person perspective, A-Okay examines the highly sexualized society we live in and explores harmful stigmas surrounding sexual orientations, while also giving a voice (and advice) to those within the underrepresented communities.
Epiphany
This colorful documentary follows the mother and daughter team of Master Li and Master Zhou as they work through all the steps of creating traditional Lion Dance Heads. The observational camera work captures the details of their craft as Li and Zhou share their family heritage and the cultural significance of the artform.
Tainted by the Visual
Through an immersive viewing experience, filmmaker Laura Calzada explores the subjective experiences of blind individuals and uses different techniques to express sound artist Andy Slater’s experience of how vision loss reshaped his perception of sound.
Stay Out of the Sun
This vignette-style multimedia documentary discusses the global cultural practice of colorism. Various women recount their individual experiences and opinions about this issue from childhood through adulthood.
Butterflies
In this celebration of love and resilience, high school sweethearts Quinn and Josh reflect on the prom night that turned a mother’s fears into a moment of triumph. Through heartfelt stories and reflections, Butterflies challenges perceptions of disability, demonstrating that love knows no boundaries and victories, no matter how small they may seem, are always worth celebrating.
Sponsors
Program Sponsor
Body of Christ [short film] Mi primera comunión
Synopsis
As Pablo falls in love with the altar boy Sebastián, he finds that God has become an obstacle to their relationship in more ways than one.
This film screens as part of the Best of CineYouth 2024 program.
Film Credits
- Roberto Mansilla
- Ángel Villahermosa
- Lara Rodríguez
- César Alejandro Pérez
- José Román
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Wander to Wonder [short film]
Nina GantzThe Netherlands, Belgium, France, United Kingdom
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Best of CineYouth 2024
Synopsis
CineYouth is Cinema/Chicago’s annual festival for filmmakers aged 22 and younger. This “best of fest” program showcases eight award-winning shorts from CineYouth 2024, and includes surrealist comedies, touching dramas, and boldly crafted stories from young people with impressive visions. Featuring work by Caroline Bates, April Aquino, Mitch Davila Armendano, Roso Pérez Bueno, Raine Yung, Nathan William Frost, Olivia Huilin Gao, and Ángel Villahermosa.
A group of friends come to terms with the end of childhood in a dying tourist town in Space Coast (United States). In Trigonometry’s Ultimate Method to Putting the Fun Back in Your Own Funeral (United States), a character’s untimely death inspires him to go out with one last hurrah by crashing his own funeral. Mitch, Jaden, and Stevie, three students with visual impairments at the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind, detail common misconceptions and their struggles for accurate representation in Blind Sighted (United States). As a toxic substance slowly ravages a celebrity’s body, he has to decide how far he will go for the advertising money in Too Much Sand (Sweden). I Can No Longer See (United States) is a self-portrait of trauma, objectification, and relief told through a collection of experimental shorts. Artist On The Go! (DS Advanced Unreleased Gameplay) (United States) is a surreal, nightmarish game in which the player (or viewer) is charged with completing abstract and frightening tasks. In The Damp Season (United States), a young girl comes across the teenaged version of her estranged immigrant mother. And as Pablo falls in love with altar boy Sebastián, he finds that God is obstructing their relationship in more ways than one in Body of Christ (Mi primera comunión) (Spain).
Screenings & Events
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Animated Family Shorts: Me and Magical You
VariousAustralia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Lithuania, South Korea
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Experimental Shorts: The Act of Seeing
Experimental Shorts: The Act of SeeingCanada, Chile, Cuba, France, Japan, Portugal, United States
Learn more...
212 W Van Buren St., Suite 400
