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2015 Onion City Experimental Film And Video Festival: Official Lineup

By Mike Everleth ⋅ January 26, 2015

Text logo for Onion City Festival logo

The Onion City Experimental Film and Video Festival will be celebrating its 26th spectacular edition in the great city of Chicago on January 28-31. The fest’s opening night will take place at the Gene Siskel Film Center, while the other nights will play out at Columbia College Chicago’s Ferguson Theater.

Typical of many recent previous editions of Onion City, this will be a showcase of international avant-garde and experimental cinema that includes 46 short films and one feature from eight different countries, including the U.S., France, Portugal, Italy, Turkey and more.

The fest opens on the 28th with films such as the 4th entry in Phil Solomon‘s acclaimed machinima musings project, Psalm IV: “Valley of the Shadow;” a new animation by Janie Geiser, The Hummingbird Wars; plus films from experimental stalwarts like Robert Todd and Fern Silva.

The one feature screening will be on January 31 at 3:00 p.m. and is one of the last films of the late Harun Farocki, Sauerbruch Hutton Architects, which details the worklife at a German architectural firm.Other highlights of the fest include Philip Hoffman’s Aged, which is an extremely personal documentary of the final days of Hoffman’s dad; plus new work by Clint Enns, A Knight’s Walk (and other speculative events); Jesse McLean, I’m in Pittsburgh and It’s Raining; Zach Iannazzi, California Picture Book; Jesse Malmed, Good Neighbors; Josh Weissbach, Model Fifty-One Fifty-Six; and more.

The full Onion City lineup is below, but for more info please visit the fest’s website.

January 28

7:45 p.m.: “Opening Night Program”
The Hummingbird Wars, dir. Janie Geiser
Iterations, dir. Gregg Biermann
Broken Tongue, dir. Mónica Savirón
The Innocents, dir. Jean-Paul Kelly
Wayward Fronds, dir. Fern Silva
Afar, dir. Robert Todd
Tribute to Busby, dir. Eytan Ipeker
It’s not a prison if you never try the door, dir. Joshua Gen Solondz
Psalm IV: “Valley of the Shadow”, dir. Phil Solomon

January 29

7:30 p.m.: “Shorts Program One”
A Knight’s Walk (and other speculative events), dir. Clint Enns
Lezuo, dir. Giuseppe Boccassini
Enduring Ornament, dir. MM Serra and Josh Lewis
Kingdom Come: Rituals, dir. Vika Kirchenbauer and Martin Sulzer
The Somber Vault, dir. John Powers
Calgon, dir. Stephanie Wuertz and Sasha Janerus
sound of a million insects, light of a thousand stars, dir. Tomonari Nishikawa
Catalogue, dir. Dana Berman Duff

January 30

6:30 p.m.: “Shorts Program Two”
Kriminalistik, dir. Janie Geiser
I’m in Pittsburgh and It’s Raining, dir. Jesse McLean
A Symptom, dir. Ben Balcom
California Picture Book, dir. Zach Iannazzi
45 7 Broadway, dir. Tomonari Nishikawa
Model Fifty-One Fifty-Six, dir. Josh Weissbach
Narcissi, dir. Shiloh Cinquemani
Rose, dir. Shiloh Cinquemani
Vidée, dir. Diane Kitchen
Tender Feet, dir. Fern Silva

8:30 p.m.: “Shorts Program Three”
Silicon Valley Rhapsody, dir. Klaus Wyborny
Asleep [Adormecido], dir. Paulo Abreu
Prospector, dir. Talena Sanders
The Age of Animals, dir. Gregg Biermann

January 31

3:00 p.m.: Sauerbruch Hutton Architects, dir. Harun Farocki. A documentary portrait of a German architecture firm.

5:00 p.m.: “Shorts Program Four”
Heads Rest [ReposeTetes], dir. Pierre Yves Clouin
On the Evening, dir. Olivia Ciummo
The Golden Hour, dir. Ross Meckfessel
Good Neighbors, dir. Jesse Malmed
They’re not fava beans, they’re scarlet runner beans, dir. Tânia Dinis
Aged, dir. Philip Hoffman

7:00 p.m.: “Shorts Program Five”
The Flies (The Birds II), dir. Susann Maria Hempel
Seven Times a Day We Bemoan Our Lot and at Night We Get Up to Avoid Dreaming, dir. Susann Maria Hempel
Red Caprice, dir. Blake Williams
Fag, dir. Scott Fitzpatrick
Bozuk, dir. Burak Çevik
+X, dir. Simon Payne
NOT AND OR, dir. Simon Payne
08.09.14, dir. Yoel Meranda
That Dizzying Crest, dir. Jeremy Moss