Some people work in cubicles from nine to five, others spend 14 hours riding in a pickup truck scouring Chicago for scrap metal. Scrappers is a documentary making its world premiere today at the 17th annual Chicago Underground Film Festival at the Gene Siskel Film Center. The film follows Oscar and Otis on their job through Chicago's labyrinth of alleys. Oscar is an immigrant from Honduras picking scrap to provide for his family. Otis is a 73 year old South Side native working to provide for his 12 kids. The film takes an intimate look into the families, the subculture and how the business is impacted by external forces. The directors Brian Ashby, Ben Kolak and Courtney Prokopas will be present for an audience discussion after today's screening at 4:45 p.m. It will also be shown again on July 1 at 8:00 p.m. more ›

One of our city's most vital but perennially overlooked movie events, the Chicago Underground Film Festival deserves more attention. Including from us. Yes, we're guilty of neglect too. It's all too easy for us to focus on the European Union Film Festival and, of course, CIFF. more ›

Lectures more ›

Would Hollywood make a movie about a swingin' 70's housewife, complete with musical numbers? Or a documentary about New York City's Union Square in the days immediately following 9/11? Would Hollywood make a movie about Thax? more ›

We're sweltering in the heat here, the CTA sometimes seems to barely function and both of our baseball teams suck. All annoyances no doubt. But let's not forget that in the midst of all this a little thing called the Iraq War just keeps marching on: $442 billion and several thousand lives later. We can protest against it and agitate for change but most of the time it's much easier for us to put it... more ›

Now in its 13th year, the Chicago Underground Film Fest is almost becoming an institution. Yet after more than a decade of presenting challenging, weird and hilarious films, CUFF still manages to seem fresh. Music videos are no longer the delivery system for underground music. But many filmmakers still use film as a way to explore how one art form enhances the other. Several film series at the fest including Jeff Krulik’s "The Maryland Trilogy",... more ›

There’s been a lot of ink spilled about Chicago’s cornucopia of music events this summer, but yesterday’s RedEye also clued us in to several film festivals that are happening in the next three months, including ones we’ve covered like the Silent Film Festival and the Chicago Outdoor Film Festival as well as upcoming events we haven’t like Reeling’s Gay Games fest, the Onion City Experimental Film Festival and the Chicago Underground Film Festival. Here are... more ›

Tonight at Schubas is the (free!) DVD release party for Why Should The Devil Have All The Good Music, the winner of the 2004 Audience Choice award at the Chicago Underground Film Festival. The Reader’s J. R. Jones gives a good capsule review of the film here and Bob Mehr profiled the filmmakers in a Meter article here. Our familiarity with Christian rock is mostly limited to accidentally hearing an early Creed album at a... more ›

Independent film festivals are often a hit-and-miss affair. For every film that combines humor, insight, or drama with the visual excitement that is the medium of film, there are usually two or three works that sap your will to live just by watching them. Moreover, August is usually the month when major film studios start dumping the lesser lights in their summer release schedule. Oh save us, Chicago Underground Film Festival! This is CUFF’s 12th... more ›

How far can you stretch an art form until it snaps under the stress? Is there such a thing as being “too indie?” The organizers of the Chicago Underground Film Festival are asking for your answers to these and other imponderables. Submissions for the fest in August the fest are being accepted now through June 1st. The entry fee is $35 or $30 if your entry is postmarked by May 1st. Check their site for full details. more ›

Exciting news for students of the history of the sixties and Chicago’s place in it: the Chicago Historical Society will present a screening and discussion of the Academy Award-nominated film The Weather Underground this Tuesday from 6:30 to 9:30 PM. Though the film was shown at this year’s Chicago Underground Film Festival back in August, tomorrow's post-screening discussion here will include former Weathermen Bill Ayers and Bernadette Dohrn with co-director Bill Siegel. more ›

Since it's the dog days of August ("dog days" now officially connotes 50-degree temperatures) and none of us have anything better to do with our time, get ready to go festival crazy. Not only does the Chicago Underground Film Festival begin this week, but Wednesday also marks the start of the Interchange Festival 2004. Their website describes it thusly: A collective of Chicago musicians, promoters and the city's top clubs and record stores have... more ›

Hey, kids! The Chicago Underground Film Festival is coming soon and Chicagoist knows you want to get in on all the esoteric cinematic goodness. One of the fest's most noteworthy events is the world premiere of Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music? � a documentary about Christian rock, featuring interviews by the local (The Detholz!), the semi-famous (Pedro the Lion), and, not, fortunately, the shitty (Creed). The film even managed to net the cover story in this week's New City, an article that provides an entertaining look into the film's production and its secular approach to a very spiritual subject. Also noteworthy is the fact that Heather Whinna, Chicagoist's boss, codirected this film. (You should've seen the looks on people's faces yesterday after picking up New City in the lobby... Priceless like a MasterCard commercial.) more ›