Stranger than Fiction: Documentary Premieres
Each January the Gene Siskel Film Center puts special emphasis on the art of the documentary with a provocative concentration of new work in the series Stranger than Fiction. Many of the screenings featured in this wide-ranging selection include filmmakers in person for audience discussion. This year our series of premieres initiates The Documentary Challenge, a yearlong showcase for documentary filmmaking made possible in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
The focus is on contemporary issues and ethical dilemmas in films including CITIZEN McCAW (freedom of the press), KILLER POET (redemption of a convicted murderer), THE ORDER OF MYTHS (race relations), and WHO DOES SHE THINK SHE IS? (women’s issues). A privileged look at behind-the-scenes stories and unusual lifestyles is found in ICE PEOPLE, JOHNNY CASH AT FOLSOM PRISON, and LIVING WITH THE TUDORS.
Films with an architectural theme have always been popular in Stranger than Fiction, and we present two new ones: BIRD’S NEST: HERZOG & DE MEURON IN CHINA and the made-in-Chicago MAN AND HIS ERECTIONS.
Weeklong runs from January 16 through February 5 feature exciting documentary additions to the month: PRAY THE DEVIL BACK TO HELL (January 16-22); STRANDED: I’VE COME FROM A PLANE THAT CRASHED IN THE MOUNTAINS (January 23-29), and DEAR ZACHARY: A LETTER TO A SON ABOUT HIS FATHER (back by popular demand, January 30-February 5).
Stranger than Fiction: Documentary Premieres is made possible in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art.
Stranger than Fiction: Documentary Premieres is made possible in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art.
--Barbara Scharres
Architecture x 2!
BIRD’S NEST: HERZOG & DE MEURON IN CHINA
2008, Christoph Schaub and Michael Schindhelm, Switzerland, 88 min.
One of the first “wins” of the Beijing Olympics took place in 2003, when the Swiss-based architectural team of Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron bested their international competitors to earn the commission to design the Olympic stadium, the most visible symbol of the games. Chinese authorities cleared the way to provide the Euro-star architects with unprecedented artistic freedom, and they responded with a quest for an innovative design with roots in Chinese culture. The filmmakers follow the process from beginning to end in what can only be described as an architectural adventure story. In German, Mandarin, and English with English subtitles. DigiBeta video. (BS)
A wine reception, hosted by the Consulate General of Switzerland in Chicago, will follow the screening.
Wednesday, January 21, 6:30 pm
Rujanee Mahakanjana in person!
MAN AND HIS ERECTIONS
2008, Rujanee Mahakanjana, USA, 62 min.
With combined serious and satirical intentions, Chicago-based director/performance artist/interior designer Mahakanjana asks, “Why does man build tall buildings?” The resemblance of the skyscraper to a certain human appendage comes in for slyly humorous examination as she weaves the fictional story of a porn star with E.D. into a documentary exploration of motives and design influences among the members of Chicago’s diverse architectural community. Interviews and appearances by Chicago-based designers include architects Steve Wierzbowski, Byron Durham, and Harry J. Wirth, interior designer Andrew Benner, and psychologist James W. Anderson. DV-Cam video. (BS)
Director Mahakanjana will be present for discussion at both screenings.
Sunday, January 18, 5:00 pm
Wednesday, January 21, 8:15 pm
Architecture x 2 discount!
Buy a ticket at our regular prices to either BIRD’S NEST or MAN AND HIS ERECTIONS and get a ticket to any performance of the other film at this discount rate (tickets must be purchased at the same time): General Admission $7; Students $5; Members $4. (This discount rate applies to the second film only.)
CITIZEN McCAW
2008, Sam Tyler, USA, 80 min.
“The scariest film involving journalists since ZODIAC.”--John Diaz, San Francisco Chronicle
Freedom of the press is at risk at the core of this story pitting a wealthy newspaper publisher against the editorial staff of her own paper for a lowdown dirty battle that plays out in public with ominous repercussions for the free press. Billionaire Wendy McCaw purchased the Santa Barbara News-Press in 2000, and went on to flamboyantly advance her own interests and causes in its pages. McCaw is alleged to have crossed the line in 2006, with demands for alterations and omissions in the news coverage dictated by her personal world-view. A full-blown staff revolt followed, triggering scores of firings, lawsuits, and a vile campaign smearing a nationally respected editor. HD video. (BS)
Sunday, January 4, 5:30 pm
Wednesday, January 7, 6:00 pm
ICE PEOPLE
2008, Anne Aghion, France/USA, 77 min.
“An intriguing slice-of-life…staggeringly beautiful and imposing landscapes.”--Dennis Harvey, Variety
“Gives viewers a glimpse of a side of science that is rarely seen.”--Edyta Zielinska, TheScientist.com
Director Aghion spent seven weeks in minus-60 degrees Fahrenheit temperatures in Antarctica, living in close quarters with four scientists who dig through the otherworldly wasteland with implements as small as a spoon. Rich in stunning vistas of the bottom of the world, this astonishing film rewards the viewers with you-are-there moments like the discovery of a perfect fossilized leaf or freeze-dried strands of moss, confirming that a very different Antarctica once supported lakes and a lush forest. HD video. (BS)
Saturday, January 24, 8:00 pm
Tuesday, January 27, 8:30 pm
JOHNNY CASH AT FOLSOM PRISON
2008, Bestor Cram, USA, 87 min.
The story behind Johnny Cash’s life-changing move to record a concert live at California’s Folsom Prison in 1968 is told through photographs, rare audio outtakes, and interviews with men who were there. Although the concert itself was not filmed, director Cram has constructed an intricate history from archival footage of the before and after, including the little-known story of convict Glen Sherley, composer of “Greystone Chapel,” which Cash added to the concert as a surprise that was to have tragic repercussions for the inmate. Interviews include Merle Haggard, Rosanne Cash, John Carter Cash, and more. HD video. (BS)
Monday, January 12, 6:00 pm
Thursday, January 15, 8:15 pm
Special guests in person!
KILLER POET
2008, Susan Gray, USA, 77 min.
“Dark and absorbing…its superior craft lies in its ability to embrace the chilly uncertainty of its subject matter.”--Harry Vaughn, Weekly Dig
In 1960, 21-year-old Norman Porter gunned down a Boston store clerk during a bungled robbery. He was then accomplice to the murder of a prison guard in an escape attempt, and after more than 20 years behind bars, escaped again, this time successfully. Porter fled to Chicago where he lived under the name J.J. Jameson for two decades until apprehended in 2005, to the shock of those who knew the quasi-vagrant only as an eccentric but prominent fixture on the local poetry scene. Director Gray chronicles Porter/Jameson’s rise and fall as she examines all sides to the controversial issue of his redemption. DigiBeta video. (BS)
Publisher David Gecic, Puddin’ Head Press, and poet Shelley Nation will be present for audience discussion on Sunday.
Sunday, January 25, 5:00 pm
Thursday, January 29, 8:15 pm
LIVING WITH THE TUDORS
2007, Karen Guthrie and Nina Pope, UK, 83 min.
Regression back to an age imagined to be more serene and bucolic is the foremost desire of the 500 or so re-enactors who faithfully flock each summer to Kentwell Hall in Suffolk, England, to wear starched neck-ruffs and codpieces and speak in pidgin Tudorese for weeks at a stretch. Over a four-year period, filmmakers Guthrie and Pope delve into this faux 16th-century with gusto as costumed participants ferreting out the illusions, delusions, and dreams of folk including the former security guard who acts as lady of the manor, an escapist lawyer, a misfit teenager with a dandyish bent, and the owner of the estate, who maintains a bemused distance from the lucrative revels. HD video. (BS)
Sunday, January 11, 5:30 pm
Wednesday, January 14, 6:00 pm
THE ORDER OF MYTHS
2008, Margaret Brown, USA, 97 min.
“Brilliantly captivating…a smart, generous, poignant, quietly disturbing movie about secrecy and hospitality.”--Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times
“Exotic and thoughtful…gets under your skin with its celebratory colors and vibrant music.”--James Greenberg, Hollywood Reporter
The director makes the most of insider access to her hometown of Mobile, Alabama, chronicling the workings of secret societies, black and white, carrying out the elaborate preparations for Mobile’s two historically separate but not quite equal Mardi Gras celebrations. In a town where the white Mardi Gras queen is a wealthy debutante descended from a slave-trader and the black queen is a school teacher descended from a slave brought over on one of his ships, there are secrets galore begging to be uncovered and rapprochements yet to be made. 35mm. (BS)
Friday, January 2, 6:00 pm
Monday, January 5, 8:00 pm
Thursday, January 8, 8:00 pm
Pamela Tanner Boll in person!
WHO DOES SHE THINK SHE IS?
2008, Pamela Tanner Boll, USA, 84 min.
This engaging documentary assembled from the unconventional stories of five formidably determined women artists answers the rhetorical question of the film’s title with a torrent of images that validate their career choices while detailing the cost in personal terms. Director Boll (co-executive producer of Academy Award-winning BORN INTO BROTHELS) follows these women of diverse backgrounds, ranging in age from 27 to 65, as they balance motherhood and home life with careers as painters, sculptors, and actors, often forced to sacrifice marriage and long-term relationships in the process. HD video. (BS)
Director Pamela Tanner Boll will be present for audience discussion at all screenings.