Film Venues Archives: Virtual/Streaming

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Collection of four film stills representing Shorts Program 4

Shorts 4: Traditions (Documentary)

  Various

  Canada, India, United Kingdom, United States     83 minutes

Synopsis

These powerful non-fiction shorts highlight ambitious missions, modern artistry, and regional heritage. Featuring works by Luchina Fisher, Christine Turner, Bafic, Jennie Williams, and Sohil Vaidya.

In Team Dream (US), Ann and Madeline prepare to competitively swim in the National Senior Games. Celebrated artists Amy Sherald and Kehinde Wiley provide insight into their creation of the Obama portraits in Paint and Pitchfork (US). Sub Eleven Seconds (UK) is a poetic imagining of track and field star Sha’Carri Richardson’s Olympic journey. In Nalujuk Night (Canada), an exhilarating and terrifying Labrador Inuit ritual takes place every January. Trees whisper tales of the Gods and the ancestors, spirits wander in the forest, and dark secrets buried in the time slowly emerge in Murmurs of the Jungle (India).

Screenings & Events

Virtual Screening

Available to stream Oct 13 @ 12:00pm CT through Oct 23 @ 11:59pm CT for a 48-hour watch window. Available to stream anywhere in the United States.

Sponsors

Shorts Sponsor (Team Dream)

Logo: William Blair 300x60

Documentary Sponsor

Logo: WTTW (2019)

Documentary Patron

Cynthia Stone Raskin

Cultural Supporters (for Nalujuk Night)

Logo: Canada 313x100Logo: CanadaNow 125x133

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Collection of four scary film stills representing Shorts Program 3

Shorts 3: Things Aren’t What They Seem (After Dark)

  Various

  Mexico, United Kingdom, United States     86 minutes

Synopsis

This spine-tingling collection of shorts feels like a fever dream, taking viewers on a harrowing journey of crisis and mischief. Questioning everything becomes a means of survival. Featuring works by Joe Williams and Charlie Edwards-Moss, Ethan Soo, Fabio Colonna, Alison Roberto, Alix Austin, Chris McInroy, Isaac Berrocal, and Matty Crawford.

A brother calls a doctor to an isolated country home to examine his sister Debroah, who he believes is losing her mind in O’Glory (United Kingdom). In Swept Under (U.S.), a Cambodian adoptee receives a rug with a dark history as a housewarming gift. A woman wakes up to find her house transformed into a terrifying maze of creatures and nightmares in Unheimlich (Mexico). A Girls Night In (U.S.) is abruptly interrupted by a home invasion with a comedic twist. In Sucker (United Kingdom), a giant, mind-controlling, leech-like creature takes over the brains of two sisters. A worker with exposed Guts (U.S.) struggles at the office. In La Ceremonia (United Kingdom), a new priest carries out an exorcism that goes off the rails, and he’s forced to deal with a strange, evil power. A grief-stricken Angela visits her parents for a meal where discussion of painful truths turn the evening into a nightmare in The Dinner After (United Kingdom).

Screenings & Events

Virtual Screening

Available to stream Oct 13 @ 12:00pm CT through Oct 23 @ 11:59pm CT for a 48-hour watch window. Available to stream anywhere in the United States.

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Collection of four animated film stills representing Shorts Program 2

Shorts 2: Expansions (Animation)

  Various

  Portugal, Switzerland, United States     73 minutes

Synopsis

This group of animated shorts stirs the imagination and offers heroic stories of rituals. Featuring works by Jeff Le Bars and Jérémie Balais, João Gonzalez, Ahmad Saleh, David Doutel and Vasco Sá, Jonathan Laskar, and Sara Gunnarsdóttir.

In New Moon (U.S.), inner city dreams are illuminated in this imaginative surrealist journey narrated by Colman Domingo. A father and son are a pair of Ice Merchants (Portugal), who parachute from their cliffside house to sell their wares to the village below. A sleepless mother searches for her missing child in war-torn Palestine with the help of the Night (Palestine) sky. Joel and his horse, working under the blazing sun, discover a man attempting to start a forest fire in Garrano (Portugal). In The Record (Switzerland), an antique instrument dealer receives a magical vinyl record from a traveler. In the early ’90s, an imaginative 15-year-old searches for her ultimate paramour but struggles to balance the real world and her grandiose fantasies in My Year of Dicks (U.S.)

Screenings & Events

Virtual Screening

Available to stream Oct 13 @ 12:00pm CT through Oct 23 @ 11:59pm CT for a 48-hour watch window. Available to stream anywhere in the United States.

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Collection of four film stills representing Shorts Program 1

Shorts 1: Dimensional (City and State)

  Various

  United States     82 minutes

Synopsis

These shorts reflect the makeup of Chicago in unique visual styles that together form a creative local landscape. Featuring works by Donald Conley, Karsten Runquist, Kelly O’Sullivan, and Laura Ann Harrison.

Legacy, life, and elderly motherhood is celebrated from the perspective of the filmmaker’s grandmothers in Matriarch (U.S.). In Dirtbag (U.S.), Harold is given a bag of dirt, and he needs to get rid of it immediately. An elementary school student, Cass, gives an unorthodox presentation on her summer vacation in Pompeii in My Summer Vacation (U.S.). Set in South London circa 1975, The Limits of Vision (U.S.) tells the story of Marcia, a woman trapped in a deadly domestic universe who is suddenly sprung free when she comes into contact with the king of dust, Mucor.

Screenings & Events

Virtual Screening

Available to stream Oct 13 @ 12:00pm CT through Oct 23 @ 11:59pm CT for a 48-hour watch window. Available to stream anywhere in the United States.

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Sweet As

  Jub Clerc

  Australia     87 minutes

Synopsis

Fed up with the destructive patterns of life at home, fiercely independent indigenous teen Murra seeks refuge from her mother’s incessant partying, fleeing to her uncle’s house. To help her channel her emotions, he enrolls Murra in a youth therapy excursion in the wilderness of Western Australia, where she reluctantly joins other adolescents, each battling their own demons. A pair of guides mentors the group, teaching them to use photography as a form of self-expression; Murra takes to the art form, finding a new lens through which to view not only the dramatic landscape but also her world, her dreams, and her future. Jub Clerc’s feature debut resonates as a profoundly personal and impassioned take on the coming-of-age story.

Screenings & Events

Virtual Screening

Available to stream Oct 13 @ 12:00pm CT through Oct 23 @ 11:59pm CT for a 48-hour watch window. Available in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin only.

Media

Film Credits

  •   Liz Kearney
  •   Jub Clerc, Steve Rodgers
  •   Katie Flaxman
  •   Emma Fletcher
  •   Katie Milwright
  •   Shantae Barnes-Cowan, Mark Coles-Smith, Ngaire Pigram, Carlos Sanson Jr, Pedrea Jackson, Mikayla Levy, Andrew Wallace, Tasma Walton
  •   David Williams
  •   Liliya Grigorova
  •   Robert Connolly, Robert Patterson
  •   Arenamedia