Limited runs and special events:
@ Women In The Director’s Chair, 941 W. Lawrence, 773.907.0610 or www, widc. org: The 22nd Annual Women In The Director’s Chair International Film & Video Festival – A multitude of titles, of varying lengths, of interest to the LGBT and women’s communities, by such diverse filmmakers as Su Friedrich, Yvonne Welbon, and Elisabeth Subrin. Venues including the WIDC Theater (941 W. Lawrence), LaSalle Theater (4901 W. Irving Park Rd.), Charles A. Hayes Family Center (4859 S. Wabash) and Columbus Drive Auditorium (280 S. Columbus). Some highlights below [more next week].
Included in the March 14 opening night selections is Yvonne Welbon’s educational and entertaining Sisters In Cinema. In this documentary, Welbon traces the rare, but rich, history of African American female filmmakers. On Saturday, March 15, Su Friedrich’s The Odds Of Recovery is being screened. This deeply personal documentary revolves around a series of ongoing health issues and subsequent surgeries experienced by the filmmaker, beginning in 1977 and continuing to the present day. Monday, March 15’s selections include the haunting Ghost Cities. Filmed in Chicago, Ines Sommer’s dramatic presentation stars Terri Reardon as Therese and focuses on the young woman’s descent into the fringes of society. As part of the ‘New Asian and Asian American Films’ series Haijiao Tianya/Incidental Journey. Set in Taiwan, Incidental Journey takes us on a daring journey shared by two lesbians, one of whom has just broken up with her girlfriend and the other who is about to visit the only woman she has ever loved—a straight woman.
The ‘Dyke Nite’ screenings include films of differing lengths, such as Elisabeth Subrin’s music video for the Le Tigre track ‘Well, Well, Well,’ and Slam Box (Untitled), Tane Ross’s animated poetry video representing ‘spoke word artist’ Tyger. Young, queer women are also given voices in two wonderful short films. Carolyn Caizzi and Laura Rodriguez’s delightful Camouflage Pink introduces us to high school aged dyke Rayna, who gets to take a cheerleader to the prom. You 2, is both the name of Pascale Simmons and Jenny Munhumer’s feature and the name of the lesbian bar where Sandra, a young woman who works at her mother’s hair salon, goes to explore her burgeoning interest in women.
Audre Lorde and Joan Nestle are featured in documentaries that close the festival March 23. – Screenings Mar. 14 – 23
@ Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington, 312/744-6630: Video Mundi: Video art and experimental films showcase – Selections from L’Alternativa Festival – Mar. 5 Random Acts of Fitness – Mar. 5 e-motional discharge (curated by Jan Schuijren, Amsterdam) – Mar. 6 Mismanaging my Image (curated by Alex MacKenzie, Vancouver, BC) – Mar. 6 Strategies of the Short Contemporary German Film and Video Art (curated by Ulrich Wegenast, Stuttgart, Germany) – Mar. 7 Corporeal Punishment: The Body of Evidence Lies Naked and Bruised (curated by Abina Manning, Chicago ) – Mar. 7
On TV:
WE: Women’s Entertainment – When I Was A Girl – From Linda Ellerbee’s Lucky Duck Productions comes this clever series of interviews with women about the part that the girls they were played in helping them to become the women they are. The second installment is focused on funny females, including Jane Kazcmarek, Teri Garr, Candace Bushnell, Sandra Bernhard, and Ellen DeGeneres. (C) – Mar. 10