MORBID WEEKEND
dir.Chris Shields, 2026.
USA, 68 min.
In English.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10 – 5PM
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 14 – 10PM
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16 – 7:30PM w/ Q&A
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18 – 5PM w/ Q&A
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25 – 10PM
A pizza delivery person dies, and a series of strange coincidences follow.
“There is nothing like Morbid Weekend, an exquisite assembly, a-a-a-a-a-almost more of a curation, of mesmerizing urban tableaux cut together in the dreamiest rhythms that sound the sensual depths of the nocturnal subconscious” – Guy Maddin
“Morbid Weekend is one of those films that moves just a bit ahead of the viewer but comes together as it unfolds in a way that preserves its essential mystery. Shields shows us that the isolation of his characters is rooted in form. The photo scroll scene functions as a quotidian meditation on cinema, motion and the look of love. Have a lovely weekend.” – Christopher Harris
FILMMAKER STATEMENT:
Morbid Weekend is a love letter to the San Gabriel Valley with all its eerie other-worldliness, poetic cinema, and shitty jobs. In a way it simply flowed from my life, the people in it, and the way I see time and space artistically. The film was made by a group of friends. There was no script. There’s almost no dialogue. The biggest expense was, appropriately enough, ordering food for everyone.
In my video work, I have always attempted to make the stupid and banal a little more beautiful, and nothingness a little more emotive. My mantra while making Morbid Weekend was high and low without compromise. I tried to embrace the totality of my artistic interests (punk and experimental music, horror, duration, poetry, humor, ellipses, film writing, etc), synthesizing the utter crap I love (Ray Dennis Steckler, Don Dohler, and worse) with a more elegant mode of cinema (India Song, Lancelot du lac, What Time Is It There?, Last Chants for a Slow Dance, Serene Velocity, and so many more) that’s equally important to me. In the end, I hope Morbid Weekend is a unique experience for the viewer that reads like poetry on screen and opens possibilities for them. I like to say it’s Tsai Ming-liang meets Pizza Hut.
Chris Shields is a film critic and filmmaker based in Los Angeles. As a writer he frequently contributes to Sight and Sound, Reverse Shot, Film Comment, Screen Slate, Cineaste, Vinegar Syndrome, Cinematographe, LARB, and a host of other film publications. As a filmmaker he has a large body of experimental video work that has screened around the world including at Chicago Underground Film Festival and Winnipeg Underground Film Festival. His experimental film, Channels, is featured on the streaming platform Paracme. He is the co-writer and co-star of Lindsay Denniberg’s cult favorite Video Diary of a Lost Girl (available from AGFA and Vinegar Syndrome) and her forthcoming feature Killer Makeover. He is also a moderator for the American Cinematheque, conducting Q and As with filmmakers such as Jon Jost and Tsai Ming-liang. As a musician he performed for years as Mr. Transylvania, a punk/noise performance project, and in the bands United Waters and Alien Trilogy. He has also had every minimum wage job imaginable, including pizza delivery. Morbid Weekend is his feature directorial debut.