Chicago Filmmakers: Summer Sideshow

Aug. 27
8:00 p.m.
Chicago Filmmakers
5243 N. Clark
Chicago, Il
Hosted by: Chicago Filmmakers
As summer starts to wind down, take a riotous trip back to the fun-filled ’80s with a collection of goofy short films, spoofs, music videos and documentaries from the Reagan era. The good times will roll with music from the Residents, Ron and Nancy promoting drug use, an Academy Award-nominated short film and work from SNL alumni.
The full lineup of films that will be screened — in glorious 16mm! — is below, but some of the highlights are: Solly’s Diner, 4 a.m., an Academy Award-nominated short film starring and directed by cult character actor Larry Hankin, most well known as the “other” Kramer on Seinfeld. Java Junkie is a short film directed by former SNL writer/actor/director Tom Schiller and stars ’80s comedy movie icon Terri Garr.
There’s also four One-Minute Movies featuring oddball indie rock band The Residents. Plus, there are early short films by indie film directors Greg Mottola (Superbad) and Gus Van Sant (Milk).
It’s a really quirky batch of films that are rarely screened. For more info, please visit the Chicago Filmmakers official website.
Backabout, dir. John Francis (1980, 6.5 min.)
The Clog, dir. Chris Terry (1984, 6 min.)
Slice of Life, dir. William Kent (1988, 5 min.)
Plight of the Headless, dir. David Reinisch (1983, 8 min.)
Solly’s Diner, 4 a.m., dir. Larry Hankin (1979, 10.5 min.)
Java Junkie, dir. Tom Schiller (1980, 4 min.)
Reagans Speak Out on Drugs, dir. Cliff Roth (1988, 7 min.)
No Pain, No Gain, dir. Tom Brozovich (1988, 7 min.)
One Minute Movies, dir. Graeme Whifler (1980, 5 min.)
Harvest Town, dir. Tom Schroeder (1990, 5 min.)
Terminal Round, dir. Gary Fleder (1988, 8 min.)
Swingin’ in the Painters Room, dir. Greg Mottola (1988, 13.5 min.)
My Friend, dir. Gus Van Sant (1983, 3 min.)
Otis Barton and His Spaceship of the Jungle, dir. Donald Finamore & Sandy Tung (1979, 29 min.)
American Sign Off, dir. John David Allen (1983, 2 min.)
Underground Film Feedback (5 comments)
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I was in the 1980 film Backabout dir. by John Francis . I have been unable to locate it, or the director anywhere online. I would love to see it again, or get ahold of John Francis. Can anyone help me ?
Not on camera but I helped make the mechanical mirror wipe device of the credits. I saw the film somewhere on internet years ago. Yes it would be very good to locate John. He made an inventive bilingual training film for potato harvesting while he and I worked at WSU in Pullman. Such a talented character, if alive, he would be in late 70’s in 2019.
Found! John Francis and the film BACKABOUT. See now on Youtube. https://youtu.be/8BjYDqlEEII
Theresa, John is in Oregon. With some Internet searching you can find him.
“Backabout” is now on youtube. John is in Oregon and is still doing interesting and adventuresome things. Jan 1 2020