The Black Maria Film Festival is named after Thomas Edison’s motion picture studio. So it seems only fitting that this year’s event includes Bill Morrison’s film “Decasia: The State of Decay.”
In little more than an hour, the filmmaker chronicles the deterioration of nitrate film stock–the medium of most cinema history–in a collage of black-and-white images that depict factory workers, a Ferris wheel and a whirling dervish. The festival also features contemporary shorts, including “Seasons,” which the late Stan Brakhage created with Phil Solomon by hand etching images inspired by Japanese wood cuts, onto film emulsion.
Film Studies Center at the University of Chicago, Room 307, Cobb Hall, 5811 S. Ellis Ave., 22nd Annual Black Maria Film and Video Festival: Experimental Shorts, 7 p.m. Thu., “Night of the Meek” and “Decasia,” 9:30 p.m. Thu., free; 773-702-8596.
–Nancy Maes
Critic’s picks
“Citizen Kane” (Orson Welles, 1941) (star)(star)(star)(star) Director-cowriter-star Welles’ masterpiece, the tragedy of a newspaper tycoon who won too much and loved too little–and the usual consensus pick for the greatest movie ever made–plays 11:30 a.m. Sat.-Sun., at the Music Box, 3733 N. Southport Ave., $6.50; 773-871-6604.
“Beau Travail” (Claire Denis, 2000) (star)(star)(star)1/2 Denis’ modern French Foreign Legion version of Herman Melville’s deeply disquieting 19th Century British Navy novella “Billy Budd” a film of brooding beauty and exotic menace. In French with English subtitles. 7:15 p.m. Wed., at Alliance Francaise, 54 W. Chicago Ave., free; 312-337-1070.
“The Great Train Robbery” ((star)(star)(star)(star)) and others. With live piano accompaniment. Silent Film Society of Chicago fundraiser, 7 p.m. reception, 8:15 p.m. screening Fri., at Society for the Arts’ 1112 Gallery, 1112 N. Milwaukee Ave., $60.
–Michael Wilmington
Other Openings
Block Museum of Art, 40 Arts Circle Drive, Northwestern University, Evanston, Block Cinema: “Scanners,” 8 p.m. Fri., “My Darling Clementine,” 8 p.m. Thu., $5; 847-491-4000.
Chicago Filmmakers, 5243 N. Clark St., 2nd Fl., Films by Vivian Ostrovsky: “Nikita Kino,” “Public Domain” and Copacabana Beach,” $7; 773-293-1447.
Chicago Latino Film Festival, Biograph Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Ave.; Block Museum of Art, 40 Arts Circle, Northwestern University, Evanston; Facets Cinemateque, 1517 W. Fullerton Ave.; I.C.E. Cinema, 2258 W. 62nd St.; Three Penny Cinema, 2424 N. Lincoln Ave. and a number of local colleges, universities and cultural organizations. Featured are works by independent and well-known filmmakers from Latin America, Spain, Portugal and the United States, along withtributes to Maria Felix and Kay Jurado, Fri.-Apr. 16, $9 for most screenings, $70 for festival pass for 10 shows; 312-409-1757.
Evanston Public Library, 1703 Orrington Ave., Reeltime: April Flicks and Filmmakers, shorts and discussion with panel of filmmakers, 7:30 p.m. Wed., free; 847-866-0312.
Fermilab, Ramsey Auditorium, Wilson Hall, Kirk Rd. and Pine St., east of Batavia, Fermilab Film Series: “Bedazzled,” 8 p.m. Fri., $4; 630-840-ARTS.
Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State St., Asian American Showcase, shorts, features, documentaries and experimental animation by young, emerging directors, many of the filmmakers will be present, Fri.-Apr. 13; “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” Fri. and Mon.; “Frontier Life,” Sun. and Thu.; “My Dinner with Weegee” and shorts, filmmaker Donigan Cumming will be present, Thu., $8; 312-846-2600.
LaSalle Theatre, 4901 W. Irving Park Rd., LaSalle Bank Classic Film Series: “The Beginning or the End” and shorts “I Can Hardly Wait” and “U.S. Reveals H-Bomb,” 8 p.m. Sat., $5; 312-904-9442.
Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 E. Chicago Ave., Bollywood Rising: “The Sheep Thief” and “Asoka,” 7 p.m. Sat.; “The Tightrope Walker” and “The Terrorist,” 7 p.m. Sun., $7; 312-397-4010.
Music Box, 3733 N. Southport Ave., “Cowboy Bebop: The Movie,” opens Fri., $8.50; “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” and “Stranger Than Paradise,” midnight Fri.-Sat., $8.50; 773-871-6604.
Oriental Institute Museum, 1155 E. 58th St., “In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great: Son of God,” Sun. 1:30 p.m., free; 773-702-9507.
–N.M.
