Thursdays this Summer
6/23/2016 @ 7:00 PM
The Gospel According to St. Matthew
(Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1964) · Critics have noted how odd for such a profoundly religious film to come from a director known for his Marxism. But, for Pasolini, Christ is the ultimate revolutionary and martyr to the cause. Shot in a poor Italian district with an amateur cast, Pasolini achieves a documentary-type realism that is effective because, as Roger Ebert notes, "it was made by a nonbeliever who did not preach...or romanticize...but tried his best to simply record [the story]."
runtime: 137 min format: 35mm
Doc Films presents a summer film series to celebrate the 50th anniversary of local production company Kartemquin Films, founded by University of Chicago alums Stan Karter, Jerry Temaner, and Gordon Quinn. Highlighting these roots, most of the films presented have a connection to the University of Chicago or were filmed on Chicago's south side. The series kicks off with a screening of Kartemquin's first film, Home for Life (1966) on June 30.
6/30/2016 @ 7:00 PM
Home for Life
(Gordon Quinn and Gerald Temaner, 1967) · Kartemquin’s very first film, Home for Life chronicles the emotional journey of two elderly individuals' first months in an assisted living facility. Conflicted about their new position while wishing to maintain their independence and productivity, they begin to realize that they can no longer care for themselves. Brutally honest and artfully composed, this intimate documentary is both touching and instructive of the transitions of old age.
runtime: 80 min format: 16mm
7/7/2016 @ 7:00 PM
The Chicago Maternity Center Story
(Jerry Blumenthal, 1976) · Opening around the turn of the 20th century, the Chicago Maternity Center ensured that mothers who chose home delivery would have a safe resource to help them through the process. However, due to funding cuts from Northwestern University, it was forced to close in 1974. Like many Kartemquin films, the film touches on greater social issues by looking closely at the details of a few individual stories.
runtime: 60 min format: 16mm
7/14/2016 @ 7:00 PM
Kartemquin Shorts Program
(Various) · This program features four short films primarily set on the South Side. HSA Strike ’75 focuses on the largest and longest doctors’ strike in US history, which took place at Cook County Hospital in 1975. Hum 255 showcases activism on campus as students occupy an administrative building in 1968. Anonymous Artists of America captures a psychedelic rock concert, while Grassroots Chicago documents six vignettes of community organizing across Chicago.
format: Digital
7/21/2016 @ 7:00 PM
Hoop Dreams
(Steve James, 1994) · Hailed as the most inspiring tale of urban life ever documented, Hoop Dreams is a meditation on inner-city culture centered around two teenagers and the hopes and aspirations they pin on the game of basketball. The critically-acclaimed documentary’s emotional content sets the tension high, making for one of the most gripping films of the late 20th century. The invaluable perspective on Chicago’s social problems makes this film all the more important.
runtime: 170 min format: DCP
7/28/2016 @ 7:00 PM
Typeface
(Justine Nagan, 2009) · Typeface delves into life at a Wisconsin museum and print shop. Reflecting upon the place of printmaking techniques in today’s world, this documentary explores the intersection of modern design and traditional craft. Indeed, the film examines how recent interest in typography and graphic design has brought attention to the dwindling community of artisans, revealing an ambiguous relationship between analog and digital. This screening will feature legendary designer Dennis Ichiyama, who is featured in the film, as well as Bob Zei of The Society of Typographic Arts and Starr Marcello, the film's associate producer and now COO and director of the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the UChicago Booth School of Business.
runtime: 63 min format: Digital
8/4/2016 @ 7:00 PM
Bruce Lee Against Supermen
(Chia Chun Wu, 1975) · In this kung fu flick, Bruce Lee lookalike Bruce Li fights to save Dr. Ting, who has found a way to end world hunger, and his daughter from the clutches of an evil organization. Boldly flouting copyright laws, Li first appears as the masked Kato and later as part of the spandex-clad duo “The Green Hornet.” The Hornet must defeat “Superman”—hired by the villains for “$100,000 cash, 10 nice girls, and a truck full of booze!"—and his army of supermen.
runtime: 79 min format: 35mm
8/11/2016 @ 7:00 PM
The Ape
(William Nigh, 1940) · In the ludicrous but entertaining The Ape, horror star Boris Karloff gives an engrossing performance as the well-intentioned mad scientist Dr. Bernard Adrian. Adrian hopes to cure a young woman’s polio but requires human spinal fluid for his serum. When a dangerous ape escapes the circus and wreaks havoc in Adrian’s lab, the mad doctor decides to don the guise of the ape (literally) to collect more spinal fluid samples—directly from the townspeople. Print preserved by the Library of Congress.
runtime: 62 min format: 35mm
8/18/2016 @ 7:00 PM
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
(F.W. Murnau, 1927) · Winner of the Academy Award for Unique and Artistic Picture at the first Academy Awards, Sunrise remains one of the most poetic and emotional of all silent films. As its subtitle suggests, the film is a universal fable, one with unnamed characters in which a farmer’s affair with a woman from the city threatens to destroy his life. Visually expressive, with camerawork that was experimental for its time, Sunrise is a dreamlike masterpiece of morality.
runtime: 94 min format: 16mm
8/25/2016 @ 7:00 PM
The Ballad of Ramblin' Jack
(Aiyana Elliott, 2000) · In this poignant documentary, Aiyana Elliott follows her father, who was born as Elliott Adnopoz to middle-class Jewish parents in Brooklyn but became folk music legend Ramblin’ Jack Elliott. Mixing between archival and contemporary footage, she tells the story of a man in love with the Old West, who ran away to join a rodeo at 14, learned from Woody Guthrie, and mentored Bob Dylan. At the same time, she struggles to better understand her often-absent and seemingly elusive father.
runtime: 112 min format: 35mm
