CHICAGOLAND SHORTS VOL. 5
dir. Various. 78 minutes.

TUESDAY, JULY 2 – 7:30 PM
WEDNESDAY, JULY 10 – 7:30 PM
SUNDAY, JULY 21 – 5 PM
TUESDAY, JULY 30 – 7:30 PM w/Chicagoland programmer Raul Benitez in person for Q&A!
(This event is $10.)

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The fifth volume of Full Spectrum Features’ Chicagoland Shorts anthology offers a look into different worlds, with films spanning genres of narrative, experimental, and docu-fantasy, the collection will take you from an 8-year-old’s nightmares to the last remaining freed slave settlement. Artists in our collection include a Sundance Documentary Fellow, a Fulbright-García Robles Foundation Award recipient, and a Cannes award-winning director.

I MISS JAMIE WHEN SHE’S GONE
dir. Ashley Thompson
16 mins.

Two estranged sisters return to the suburbs of Chicago ten months after their father’s sudden death to clean out their childhood home.

SMART NIGHTMARES
dir. Marisa Tolomeo. 5 mins.

Hannah narrates her nightmares, while her family argues on who’s to blame for her creepy internet searches.

HALL OF FISHES
dir. Jennifer Boles. 9 mins.

An immersive archival film about the limits of visual knowledge and the webs of power and violence behind our desires to see, contain, and consume the ocean.

SHEEBOP! SHEEBOP! SHEEBOP!
dir. Jiayi Chen & Cameron Worden. 3 mins.

A trip to Florida spurs taxonomical speculation.

SCALING QUELCCAYA
dir. Meredeith Leich. 7 mins.

A surreal exploration of a melting glacier in Peru and an altered future in Chicago, weaving together 3D animation, satellite imagery, archival NASA footage, and speculative math about climate and snow.

EXODUS: SOUNDS OF THE GREAT MIGRATION
dir. Lonnie Edwards. 12 mins.

Told through live performance, dance and spoken word, Exodus looks into how the Great Migration gave birth to many artists that influenced and empowered black culture.

PALENQUE
dir. Sebastián Pinzón Silva. 25 mins.

Guided by motifs of life and death, PALENQUE is an ode to a small town that has greatly contributed to the collective memory of Colombia: San Basilio de Palenque, the first town in the Americas to have broken free from European domination.

Chicagoland Shorts Vol. 5 was curated by Raul Benitez (Comfort Station), Emily Eddy (Onion City) and Melika Bass (Creature Companion) and includes the latest films by acclaimed local filmmakers as well as debut works by emerging voices.

Full Spectrum Features is a Chicago-based 501(c)(3) nonprofitorganization committed to increasing diversity in themedia arts by producing, exhibiting, and supporting the work of women, LGBTQ, and minority filmmakers.

SATURDAY, JULY 13th – 7:30 PM w/discussion moderated by Sadie Benning & 10PM w/discussion moderated by Owen Kline
ONE NIGHT ONLY! NYC PREMIERE!
(These screenings are $10.)

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Spectacle is pleased to invite Uruguayan-born, NYC-based filmmaker and musician  Juan Wauters to the space for a one-night-only screening of recent short-form video works. ROMANE, JUIN 2016 builds a video portrait of the titular Romane, a 19-year-old postal service worker, living in a small village in France as she goes through her daily chores. BOLERO URUGUAY, DIC 2017 is a montage of images collected in Wauters’ homeland set to the tune of Maurice Ravel’s classic orchestral piece “Bolero”. Both videos portray life at its own pace; driven by curiosity, Wauters’ camera stares at people living their lives.

Having spent years in Jackson Heights, quotidian observation of people in their day-to-day environments has become central to Wauters’ life and artistic practice. This will be the first public screening of Wauters’ short films (which will include a few extra surprises) in New York, and Wauters will be in attendance for a discussion following the films.

Programmed in collaboration with Steve Holmgren and David Powell Steine. Special thanks to Captured Tracks, and Ivonne Sheen for Spanish translation.

SADIE BENNING is an American artist based in Brooklyn, New York. Benning’s work has been exhibited internationally since 1990. Over the last three decades, Benning’s work has taken the form of video, music, and more recently mixed-media works that trouble the distinctions between painting, photography, drawing and sculpture.

OWEN KLINE is a New York based film maker and cinema connoisseur. He is an actor, writer and director, known for THE SQUID AND THE WHALE (2005) and FOWL PLAY (2013), the later featuring Juan Wauters. Kline is currently in the final stages of completing his new film, TWO AGAINST NATURE.

JUAN WAUTERS has covered a lot of ground in the past few years, both artistically and geographically. The New York-based, Latin-American artist has been traveling Latin America extensively, taking time to pause and rethink his life, his art and his career after releasing two critically acclaimed albums on Captured Tracks: 2014’s N.A.P.: North American Poetry and 2015’s Who Me? Wauters originally planned to record his next album while traveling, seeking a break from his life in New York City, the city he has called home since moving from Montevideo in 2002. He settled in Mexico City in 2017 to focus on writing. However, shortly after, he was offered a role in an independent film being shot in Argentina. Never one to turn down a creative opportunity, Wauters packed up his 100 pound mobile recording studio into two suitcases and took off to Buenos Aires. When filming was complete, Wauters wound up writing and recording all over Latin America — from Argentina, Uruguay, Peru, and Chile to Mexico and Puerto Rico — seeking collaboration at every stop with local musicians who embody the traditions and energies specific to each region.

Puerto Rico was one of his first destinations. At a restaurant on the way to Charco Azul in Guavate – a natural swimming hole – Wauters heard a duo playing boleros, music he has been familiar with since his early childhood, but had never experienced in its original context. Those boleros would inspire the repeating melody that makes up the infectious love song, “Guapa.” Later, Mexico City was to become the home of “A Volar,” a beautiful, buoyant track about dreaming wildly that features multiple musicians that Wauters met in Garibaldi, a popular square in Mexico City where musicians for hire gather. Later, he would trek to Buenos Aires, Santiago and Montevideo, creating music and incorporating local traditions into his idiosyncratic, captivating yarns.

Until this point in his career, most of his songs had been sung in English, but revisiting his Latin roots inspired him to record songs in his native tongue. Thus, Wauters gives us the wonderful La Onda de Juan Pablo, the world of Juan Pablo Wauters. Wauters now calls Far Rockaway home, when he is not on the road making music or movies.

Juan Wauters: la vida a través de los ojos de Juan

SÁBADO, 13 DE JULIO – 7:30 pm con discusión moderada por Sadie Benning & 10PM con discusión moderada por Owen Kline
¡SOLO POR UNA NOCHE! NYC PREMIERE!
(Estas proyecciones cuestan $10).

Spectacle se complace en invitar al cineasta y músico uruguayo, establecido en la Ciudad de Nueva York, Juan Wauters, para una única proyección de sus últimos trabajos en video de formato corto .

ROMANE, JUIN 2016 – construye un retrato en video de Romane, una trabajadora de 19 años de edad del servicio postal, quien vive en un pequeño pueblo de Francia mientras realiza sus tareas diarias.

BOLERO URUGUAY, DIC 2017 es un montaje de imágenes recopiladas en la tierra natal de Wauters, acompañadas de la melodía de la clásica pieza orquestal “Bolero” de Maurice Ravel. Ambos videos retratan la vida a su propio ritmo; conducido por la curiosidad, la cámara de Wauters mira a las personas que viven sus vidas.

El haber pasado años en Jackson Heights y la observación cotidiana de personas en sus entornos cotidianos, se han convertido en un aspecto central de la vida y la práctica artística de Wauters. Esta será la primera proyección pública de los cortometrajes de Wauters en Nueva York, y Wauters estará presente para una discusión posterior a las películas.

Programado en colaboración con Steve Holmgren y David Powell Steine. Agradecimientos especiales a Captured Tracks.

SADIE BENNING es una artista estadounidense que vive en Brooklyn, Nueva York. El trabajo de Benning ha sido exhibido internacionalmente desde 1990. Durante las últimas tres décadas, el trabajo de Benning ha tomado la forma de video, música y, más recientemente, trabajos en medios mixtos que complican las distinciones entre pintura, fotografía, dibujo y escultura.

OWEN KLINE es un cineasta y conocedor del cine con sede en Nueva York. Es un actor, escritor y director, conocido por THE SQUID AND WHALE (2005) y FOWL PLAY (2013), el último con la participación de Juan Wauters. Kline se encuentra actualmente en las etapas finales de completar su nueva película, TWO AGAINST NATURE.

JUAN WAUTERS ha cubierto mucho territorio en los últimos años, tanto artística como geográficamente. El artista latinoamericano con base en Nueva York ha viajado extensivamente por América Latina, tomándose su tiempo para pausar y reconsiderar su vida después de lanzar dos álbumes aclamados por la crítica en Captured Tracks: 2014’s N.A.P.: North American Poetry and 2015’s Who Me? Wauters originalmente planeó grabar su próximo álbum mientras viajaba por la ciudad de Nueva York, la ciudad a la que llama su hogar después de mudarse de Montevideo en 2002. Se estableció en la Ciudad de México en 2017, para concentrarse en la escritura. Sin embargo, poco después, se le ofreció un papel en una película independiente que se filmó en Argentina. No pudo rechazar una oportunidad creativa, así Wauters empacó su estudio móvil de 100 libras en dos maletas y se fue a Buenos Aires. Cuando el rodaje terminó, Wauters continuó escribiendo y grabando a lo largo de Latinoamérica — desde Argentina, Uruguay, Perú y Chile hasta México y Puerto Rico — buscando en cada parada, colaboración con músicos locales que encarnan las tradiciones y la energía específica de cada región.

Puerto Rico fue uno de sus primeros destinos. En un restaurante de camino al Charco Azul en Guavate — un agujero natural para nadar — Wauters escuchó a un dúo tocando boleros, música con la que está familiarizado desde su infancia, pero que nunca había experimentado en su contexto original. Esos boleros inspirarían la melodía repetitiva que conforma la canción de amor infecciosa, “Guapa”. Más tarde, la Ciudad de México se convertirá en el hogar de “A Volar”, una pista hermosa y boyante, sobre soñar salvajemente, la cual cuenta con la participación de múltiples músicos que Wuaters conoció en Garibaldi, una plaza popular en la Ciudad de México donde se reúnen músicos de contrato. Luego, viajaría a Buenos Aires, Santiago y Montevideo, creando música e incorporando las tradiciones locales en sus idiosincrásicas y cautivadoras creaciones.

Hasta este punto en su carrera, la mayoría de sus canciones se interpretaron en inglés, pero el revisitar sus raíces latinas, lo inspiró para grabar canciones en su lengua materna. Así, Wauters nos regala la maravillosa La Onda de Juan Pablo, el mundo de Juan Pablo Wauters. Wauters ahora llama a Far Rockaway su hogar, cuando no está haciendo música o películas en el camino.

“It’s hard being a human, but being a common person in China is even more difficult.” – UP THE YANGTZE

Who gets left behind in the name of progress? In these two documentaries, low-income people struggle to stay afloat in the midst of China’s rapid economic growth and bold technological endeavors. In STREET LIFE, director Zhao Dayong offers a vérité portrait of migrants from rural China living in Shanghai who occupy Nanjing Street, an upscale shopping district, collecting and selling recyclables. In UP THE YANGTZE, directed by Yung Chang, a teenaged girl whose home will soon be flooded by the impending Three Gorges Dam finds herself working on a cruise ship offering tours of the river that will soon swallow all she knows. With these two films, the directors offer portraits of people who have no other option but to make way for progress- to bend to its will and hope that the future will be kinder.

STREET LIFE (南京路)
Dir. Zhao Dayong, 2006
China, 98 mins.
In Mandarin with English subtitles.

MONDAY, JULY 1 – 7:30 PM
SUNDAY, JULY 7 – 5 PM
THURSDAY, JULY 18 – 7:30 PM
SUNDAY, JULY 21 – 7:30 PM

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Zhao Dayong’s first nonfiction film is a colorful and honest portrait of a group of migrants who live and work on Nanjing Road, an upscale shopping district in Shanghai, collecting and selling recyclables. There’s “Big Fatty,” the wise fool who sings poems and rhymes referencing Chinese literature and politics; Ah Qiao, the dishonest entrepreneur who purchases cans off the other migrants; and “Black Skin”- the anti-hero of the story, whose innocence and hard-working nature leaves him susceptible to attack. After Ah Qiao betrays him, Black Skin spirals into apathy and insanity.

“These beggars and litter-collectors exist as invisible and forgotten shadows of Shanghai, moving in a sort of parallel reality but strictly linked to the same boom that excites the city. It is just the other side of the capitalist coin, the extreme poverty of the periphery juxtaposed with the growing wealth of the center, adopting the same capitalist strategies for surviving in a dramatic, grotesque fashion.” – Sara Beretta, “A Mad Dance on Shanghai Streets: Zhao Dayong’s Street Life”

After graduating from China’s Lu Xun Art Academy in 1992, Zhao Dayong worked for a number of years as a professional artist and advertising director, first in Beijing and later in Guangzhou. In 1997, he founded Guangzhou Dake, a design company. He was also founding editor of Culture & Morals, a now deceased journal for the contemporary arts in China. Zhao began exploring the medium of digital video in 2002. His first documentary film, STREET LIFE, premiered at Austria’s Viennale in October 2006. Zhao’s second documentary film, GHOST TOWN, a collage of stories that take place in the former government seat of Zhiziluo in remote northwestern Yunnan province, premiered at the New York Film Festival in 2009. His first fiction feature, THE HIGH LIFE, premiered at the Hong Kong International Film Festival in 2010, winning both the FIPRESCI Award and the Silver Digital Award. THE HIGH LIFE made its European premiere in the main competition at the Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival in November 2010, where it won both the Werner Fassbinder Prize and the FIPRESCI Jury Prize.

UP THE YANGTZE (沿江而上)
Dir. Yung Chang, 2008
China, 94 mins.
In Mandarin with English subtitles.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 3 – 7:30 PM
TUESDAY, JULY 9 – 7:30 PM
SUNDAY, JULY 14 – 7:30 PM
WEDNESDAY, JULY 24 – 7:30 PM

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“Everywhere there are reminders of progress and sacrifice.”

The Three Gorges Dam, the largest power station in the world in terms of installed capacity, spans the Yangtze River, the largest and most revered river in Asia. It’s named for the three gorges it flooded, the Qutang, Wu Xia, and Xiling, which stretch for 124 miles and were renowned for their scenic beauty. Reportedly 1.3 million people (and up to 2 million) living in 1,500 cities, towns, and villages along the river were displaced as a result of its implementation.

In 2007, before the waters rose completely, 16 year old Yu Shui sets off from her impoverished family and their riverside home to work on a Yangtze river cruise called Farewell Cruises, offering a final glimpse of the Yangtze to wealthy tourists before the waters rise. Her parents, illiterate farmers, are saddened by having to send their daughter off to work instead of allowing her to continue her studies. Yu Shui suddenly has a new English name, Cindy, and is thrust into a whole new world where she must cater to wealthy foreigners on their vacations. Along with Yu Shui is Chen Bo Yu, or “Jerry,” an only child from a middle-class family who, with far less to lose, takes his job far less seriously. As Yu Shui struggles to navigate the modern world, her family seeks higher ground.

“It’s a tender and profound portrait of unwieldy, mass-scale modernization at work, a process multifaceted enough to include Yu Shui’s dawning optimism, Chen Bo Yu’s dispiriting setbacks, and a cheery tourist rendition of “My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean” that also serves as a lament for tradition’s demise.” -Nick Schager, Slant

Yung Chang is the director of UP THE YANGTZE (沿江而上), CHINA HEAVYWEIGHT (千錘百鍊), and THE FRUIT HUNTERS. He is currently completing a screenplay for his first dramatic feature, Eggplant (茄子), and in post-production for a feature documentary about Robert Fisk, the controversial Middle East correspondent, co-produced by the National Film Board of Canada. His latest, Gatekeeper, is on the festival circuit and streaming on Field of Vision, Laura Poitras’ curated online film unit. Chang is the recipient of the Don Haig Award, the Yolande and Pierre Perrault Award, and the Guggenheim Emerging Artist Award. He is a member of the Directors Guild of Canada. In 2013, he was invited to become a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the organization behind the Academy Awards / Oscars®.

FINGERILLA
dir. Micah Vassau, 2017
90 mins. United States.

THURSDAY, JULY 25 – 7:30 PM (with cast & crew in person for Q&A)
ONE NIGHT ONLY! (This event is $10)

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In a far away, fucked up land, there lives a broke country-fried blonde who isn’t so bright… Consuming raw chicken and collecting beer cans out of the river to make ends meet, she spends her ditzy days caring for her decrepit grandmother in their dilapidated abode. But after a sinister demon of static steals an egg that she believes to be her baby, she is flung unto a seriously perverse quest to be reunited with said egg.

Rummaging through her shabby woodland town by jet ski, inhaling all the drugs that cross her path, she encounters a myriad of total nutjobs. Some try to turn her on to God, some let her suck on their toes, while others pour 40s over her head, or seek to demolish her innocent soul.

No childhood imagination is safe from this disturbingly depraved fable of nooky, dope, and degeneracy. Savvily shot on VHS, edited by cerebrums of relentless corruption, and scored with pretty much any genre of music you can think of, FINGERILLA is a fairy tale trauma you’ll certainly want to spare your children of.

CONTENT WARNING: Seriously… leave your kids at home.

There’s only one way to prepare for the return of the maestro of low-fi culture clash and camp, and that is to throw ourselves at the altar of alterity and join what were once called degenerates. Jon Moritsugu will soon be releasing NUMBSKULL REVOLUTION with long-time collaborator Amy Davis, which promises to be a satire of art world antics in the desert. We can expect it to include themes of otherness in American dystopia, a messy avalanche of sound, and mutated forms of self-expression, all of which can be previewed in this summer series. Moritsugu’s early films take apart the postmodern moment with mutilated joy, expressing the senseless with style and dragging whatever constitutes punk culture straight to the trash bin.

All month we will also be selling special Jon Moritsugu merch. What kind of merch, you ask? We can’t explain online.

MY DEGENERATION
dir. Jon Moritsugu, 1990
70 mins. United States.

TUESDAY, JULY 2 – 10 PM
SUNDAY, JULY 7 – 7:30 PM
TUESDAY, JULY 16 – 7:30 PM
FRIDAY, JULY 19 – 10 PM
WEDNESDAY, JULY 24 – 10 PM

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Continuing the rich legacy of late-night Girl Group mondo pictures, MY DEGENERATION updates the hippie sleaze of BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS and the punk delirium of LADIES AND GENTLEMAN, THE FABULOUS STAINS with a dispatch from the late ‘80s art school wastoid pukescape. Just as ‘indie rock’ was about to cash its check with the meteoric ascent of Nirvana and company, the film follows teen band Bunny Love’s rise to the ambassadorship of the American Beef Institute. Replete with fuzzed-out regurgitations of the midnight movie semiosphere, it’s the cinematic equivalent of the sub-genre Robert Christgau once referred to as “pig-fuck.” Moritsugu’s future wife Amy Davis co-stars, plus a parade of top-notch tracks from Vomit Launch, The Fizzbombs, Halo of Flies, and Bongwater. So puerile, it caused American’s favorite film critic (and BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS scribe) Roger Ebert to walk out after 7 minutes. Two middle fingers all the way up!

*Preceded by the shorts MOMMY MOMMY WHERE’S MY BRAIN (1986) and L’IL DEBBIE SNACKWHORE OF NEW YORK CITY (1987).

MOD FUCK EXPLOSION
dir. Jon Moritsugu, 1994
67 mins. United States.

FRIDAY, JULY 5 – 10 PM
THURSDAY, JULY 11 – 7:30 PM
MONDAY, JULY 15 – 7:30 PM
FRIDAY, JULY 26 – 7:30 PM **Q AND A WITH DESI DE VALLE (M16)!**

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The Nipponese bikers have leather jackets and London, a broken-family blonde, wants a leather jacket more than anything. Her sister Nasty has one, but she’s a post-Quaalude comic artist and won’t give it up. London’s brother is a dumb wannabe mod, clinging to a style that is just nativism with thick-framed glasses. Top Mod Madball sums up their situation with a joke:

“Why did Hitler kill himself?”

“To get to the other side!”

All London has to do is party with the bikers and tell Kazumi that he has a great bod, but instead she’s in love with death-obsessed M-16. Cleopatra, the supernatural succubus and queen of feces, tries to give London some T-R-U-T-H but she won’t hear it! Everything is leading in a fucked-up, not-knowing-how-to-fuck direction not to mention the ultimate showdown between the pale mods and a powerful biker gang.

Preceded by the shorts SLEAZY RIDER (1988) and CRACK (1999).

TERMINAL USA
dir. Jon Moritsugu, 1993
57 mins. United States.

THURSDAY, JULY 4 – 7:30 PM
MONDAY, JULY 8 – 7:30 PM
SATURDAY, JULY 20 – 7:30 PM
FRIDAY, JULY 26 – 10 PM  **PHONE CALL WITH JON MORITSUGU AND AMY DAVIS!**
WEDNESDAY, JULY 31 – 7:30 PM (ORIGINAL ROUGH CUT!)
**Q AND A WITH CINEMATOGRAPHER TODD VEROW!**

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Family comes first in this disaster portrait of a comically depraved Japanese-American household on the verge of Armageddon. Wholesome suburban sitcom sensibilities are rigorously contorted through a deliciously deranged cocktail of vices and filthy secrets all wedged under one roof. Any hopes of quality time deteriorate into a feverish shitstorm, before dinner ever has a chance to be served.

While pill-popping mom and homicidal-minded dad are busy reprimanding their nihilist junkie son, Kazumi (Moritsugu), his pregnant, nymphomaniacal cheerleader sister desperately tries to keep a blackmailing sex tape under wraps, and the protractor-wielding prodigy twin brother, Marvin (also Moritsugu), harbors a secret lust for skinheads. As Kazumi casually bleeds out from a gash dealt by debt-collecting drug dealers, his fashion-damaged girlfriend, Eight-Ball (Amy Davis), is of no help, as she may have an extraterrestrial agenda of her own.

Laying to utter waste the dignified image of the “model minority” in doubtlessly the most gnarly soap-opera to ever be funded by PBS and aired on televisions across America, TERMINAL USA gives wings to the term “dysfunctional” and lets it soar.

*Preceded by the shorts BRAINDEAD (1987) and DER ELVIS (1988).

**Brand new VHS re-release by Random Man Editions for sale!

HIPPY PORN
dir. Jon Moritsugu, 1991
97 mins. United States.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 3 – 10 PM
FRIDAY, JULY 12 – 7:30 PM
SUNDAY, JULY 14 – 5 PM
THURSDAY, JULY 18 – 10 PM
MONDAY, JULY 22 – 10 PM

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“Let’s face it, all we’ll be doing for the next 75 minutes is smoking, drinking wine, and complaining about not having anything to do.”

Frenetic disaffection holds reign in HIPPY PORN, Moritsugu’s demented portrait of 90s scum-punk, anti-existentialist youth life. Populated by Warhol Factory rejects who find themselves caught in the wrong time, Moritsugu’s film goes beyond holding nothing sacred, and takes all cultural markers, be they religious, political, or fashionable as equal opportunity material for degenerated profanation.

Starring Moritsugu regular Victor of Aquitaine as L, accompanied by fellow faux-punks M and Mick, HIPPY PORN sees these young college wastoids milling about in deserted lots, cheap-o sets meant to double as underground clubs that remind one of Jack Smith, and their bedrooms. The long stretches of indifferent conversation are broken up and energized by aggressive flashing interludes of disorienting montage that belie the filmmaker’s punk roots.

Soundtracked by an impressive Matador lineup including Superchunk, The Frogs, and Unsane, it’s no surprise that HIPPY PORN ran at the Action Christine Cinema in Paris for over year, where it was certainly appreciated for its indelible brand of American antipathy crossed with a familiar sense of chain-smoking philosophizing.

Preceded by the shorts L’IL DEBBIE SNACKWHORE OF NEW YORK CITY (1987), BRAINDEAD (1987) and CRACK (1999).