Summer Cinesplosion

By Scott Smith in Arts & Entertainment on Jun 13, 2006 6:36PM

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 a few other independent-minded film events we’re looking forward to this summer:

Doc Films: You’ve gotta love the self-deprecating wit of U of C’s student-run film society. The title of their press release states “Doc Films programmers serve up a predictably strange summer calendar” and proclaims this summer’s lineup to be “almost worth staying in Hyde Park for.” We think they’re being modest with a slate that includes Andy Warhol’s version of A Clockwork Orange, Stagecoach, Adam’s Rib, Rio Bravo and works by some of film’s greatest auteurs like Bergman, Hitchcock, and Antonioni.

Fast Forward: The gents behind Fast Forward thought this Saturday’s event might be its last. But thankfully, the folks behind Woot.com stepped in with some cash, and it looks like Chicago’s only overnight movie-making festival will, like James Bond, return. If you’d like to participate, you can still sign up at Atomix Coffeehouse. If you just like to watch, then get to the Dessa Kirk Gallery near Lake and Kedzie at 8 p.m. this Saturday.

Bicycle Film Fest: We know Chicago is a bike-friendly town, but who knew that there’d be an entire film festival devoted to the love of two-wheelers. The Bicycle Film Festival is a traveling event that hits the Museum of Contemporary Art from August 4th through the 6th. The lineup is still being finalized, but organizers promise screenings of M.A.S.H., a film about fixed gear riders in San Francisco, and Pedal, which follows a bike messenger through NYC. Plus, we have a soft spot for Peaches so her video for “Lover Tits” is one we can’t wait to see.

Plus, don’t miss the Who Gets To Call It Art? screenings and discussion panel at Facets or the David Lynch retrospective at Music Box in July featuring Eraserhead and several of the "Twin Peaks" genius’s short films at midnight screenings.