The 21st annual Onion City Experimental Film and Video Festival is now: It’s running June 16-20 in Chicago at several different venues, including the Gene Siskel Film Center, The Nightingale and Chicago Filmmakers. That’s five nights of exceptional experimental films from all over the globe. It’s also a collection made up of 99% shorts and one feature film.

Due to personal time constraints and my just wanting to get this up in time, I can’t gush over the lineup as fully as I’d like. But, this looks looks like a killer lineup including films by some of the old masters: Ernie Gehr, Jean-Luc Godard and Ken Jacobs; plus some classic films by Bruce Conner. Then, there’s the newer names like Kerry Laitala, Naomi Uman and Robert Todd. Actually, I feel a bit bad calling out some names over others because there are a ton of filmmakers listed below, all of whose work is being celebrated here.

But, one last note before I get to the lineup: I can actually recommend a film! That would be Ben Russell‘s Trypps #6, which is screening on the last night June 20. The film was commissioned for and I saw it as part of Mike Plante’s terrific Lunchfilm series. Trypps #6 is as bewildering as it is beautiful. If you can only go one night, go see that film for sure. But really, you should go check out all these amazing efforts:

June 16
8:00 p.m.: “Opening Night Program”
Horizontal Boundaries, dir. Pat O’Neill
New York Lantern, dir. Ernie Gehr
De Tijd, dir. Bart Vegter
Une Catastrophe, dir. Jean-Luc Godard
Elements, dir. Julie Murray
False Aging, dir. Lewis Klahr
Cosmic Ray, dir. Bruce Conner
Permian Strata, dir. Bruce Conner
Night Side, dir. Rebecca Meyers
My Tears Are Dry, dir. Laida Lertxundi (Read the review)
Black Rain, dir. Semiconductor

June 17
7:00 p.m.: Pontytail, dir. dir. Barry Doupé. A computer animated feature about virtual reality characters rebelling against their static life.
Screening with Up the Rabbit Hole, dir. Asa Mori

June 18
7:00 p.m.: “Group Show One: Past Perfect”
The Scenic Route, dir. Ken Jacobs
Distant Things, dir. Katy Woods
Bernadette, dir. Duncan Campbell

9:00 p.m.: “Group Show Two: Vision Quest”
Spirit, dir. Dominique Furgé
The Seasons, dir. Makino Takashi
Chromatic Cocktail, dir. Kerry Laitala
Dirty Goggles of Perception (Left and Right), dir. Joe Grimm

June 19
7:00 p.m.: “Group Show Three: Shards of Space and Place”
Tape Film, dir. Chris Kennedy
To Be Regained, dir. Zach Iannazzi (Read the review)
Crossings, dir. Robert Fenz
New Jersey Gradual, dir. Gregg Biermann
Journey to Q’xtlan, dir. Peter Rose
I’m a New York Based Artist, dir. Pierre Yves Clouin
Pro Agri, dir. Nicky Hamlyn
Canaries in the Coalmine, dir. Rob Ray
After Writing, dir. Mary Helena Clark

9:00 p.m.: “Group Show Four: The Spirit That Guides Us”
Optra Field III-VI, dir. T. Marie
tiempo pudente, dir. Yoel Meranda
océanéant, dir. Yoel Meranda
Beirut 2/14/05, dir. Alexandra Cuesta
atlantis, dir. Pieter Geenen
Wolf’s Froth/Amongst Other Things, dir. Paul Abbott
And the Sun Flowers, dir. Mary Helena Clark
From Ruins to Rexistance (Das Ruinas a Rexistencia), dir. Carlos Adriano
Kempinski, dir. Neil Beloufa
Film for Invisible Ink Case No. 142: Abbreviation for Dead Winter (Diminished by 1,794, dir. David Gatten
Parallax, dir. Christopher Becks

June 20
5:00 p.m.: “Group Show Five: The Loneliness of the Long Distance Filmmaker”
Trypps #6, dir. Ben Russell (Read the review)
nothing is over nothing, dir. Jonathan Schwartz
Unnamed Film, dir. Naomi Uman

7:30 p.m.: “Group Show Six: The Familiar Re-Made”
Sequences + Interruptions, dir. Nicky Hamlyn
The Sky Taped Together, dir. Michael Sirianni
Lake, dir. Jake Barningham
The Parable of the Tulip Painter and the Fly, dir. Charlotte Pryce
Ysbryd, dir. Julie Murray
Buoy, dir. Seoungho Cho
Postcard #3: Niagara Rises, dir. Carolyn Faber
Les Chaises, dir. Vincent Grenier
Quiver, dir. Robert Todd
Three/3: In the Ocean, On Land, dir. Peter Bo Rappmund

9:15 p.m.: “Group Show Seven: Culture Clash”
Alternity, dir. Van McElwee
Paris Times Three, dir. Carina Johnson
When Worlds Collude, dir. Fred Worden
Collide-a-scope, dir. Gregory Godhard
Sutro, dir. Jeanne Liotta
The Eternal Quarter Inch, dir. Jesse McLean
Poor Man’s Puce Moment, dir. Jessie Stead
Sand Saga, dir. Shana Moulton
The Presentation Theme, dir. Jim Trainor

For more info, please visit the official Onion City website.