This Thursday night is a pretty important night. No, not because of the Biden/Palin Vice Presidential debate, silly! It’s because there’s some really awesome screenings going on. So, set the DVR (everyone has one of those, right?) or just watch the VP highlights on YouTube the next day. You know they’ll be on there. Or, if you live in Canada, you don’t care about the debates anyway. So, get out of the house!

9:00 p.m.
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Cinema Abattoir
“The Cinema of J.X. Williams”
Other Cinema‘s Noel Lawrence travels up north to present four works by obscure and mostly forgotten underground auteur J.X. Williams. Of the films, I’ve seen Psych-Burn, which is included in OC’s Experiments in Terror 2 DVD and it’s awesome. (Both that particular film and the DVD.) Here’s what’s screening:
Peep Show (1965)
Psych-Burn (1968)
Virgin Sacrifice (1970)
Satan Claus (1975)
Plus, these films by modern underground filmmakers will be shown before Williams’:
Gash, dir. Usama Alshaibi
Runaway, dir. Usama Alshaibi
Patient, dir. Usama Alshaibi
Man spricht Deutsh revisited, dir. Filmgruppe Chaos
Antékid, dir. Serge de Cotret
Satan Bouche un Coin, dir. Jean-Pierre Bouyxou
Antychryst, dir. Adam Guzinski

6:00 p.m.
Chicago, IL
Conversations at the Edge
“15 Years of CUFF”
Celebrate 15 years of one of the biggest underground film festivals in the world, the mighty and powerful Chicago Underground Film Festival. Bryan Wendorff, who founded and still runs the fest, will appear in person to present some of the best short films ever screened at CUFF. They are:
Clit-O-Matic: The Adventures of White Trash Girl, dir. Jennifer Reeder
Drowning, dir. James Fotopoulos
Wustinspringmaus, dir. Jim Finn
Black and White Trypps #3, dir. Ben Russell (Watch online)
Velvet Welk, dir. Darren Hacker
Wheels of Fury, dir. Dan and Paul Dinello w/Amy Sedaris
Stuffing, dir. Animal Charm
Depart, dir. Thomas Comerford
Bouncing in the Corner #36DDD, dir. Dara Greenwald (Read the review)
Receiver, dir. Jon Leone
I Am a Conjuror, dir. Emily Vey Duke & Cooper Battersby
Security Anthem, dir. Kent Lambert

Also, on the film festival front, two of them are opening tonight:

8:00 p.m.
San Francisco, CA
ATA Film & Video Festival
Mock Up on Mu, dir. Craig Baldwin. See my festival post for info.

8:00 p.m.
Bay City, MI
Hell’s Half Mile Film & Music Festival
More Shoes, dir. Lee Kazimir. See my festival post for info.