The Center for International Exhibition and Performance since 1987
In the lead up to this year’s Democratic convention being held in Chicago this August, HotHouse is presenting its second election- themed film series, UNCONVENTIONAL. In our first session on June 8th we will be showing the following:
BETTY BOOP FOR PRESIDENT - Max Fleischer 1932 6 min.
Betty Boop for President is a 1932 Fleischer Studios animated short film starring Betty Boop. It was released by Paramount Pictures on November 4, 1932
THE GREAT DICTATOR - Charlie Chaplin 1940 2 hrs. 5min.
After dedicated service in the Great War, a Jewish barber (Charles Chaplin) spends years in an army hospital recovering from his wounds, unaware of the simultaneous rise of fascist dictator Adenoid Hynkel (also Chaplin) and his anti-Semitic policies. When the barber, who bears a remarkable resemblance to Hynkel, returns to his quiet neighborhood, he is stunned by the brutal changes and recklessly joins a beautiful girl (Paulette Goddard) and her neighbors in rebelling.
Free on CAN TV Channel 21, click here to stream.
About the UNCONVENTIONAL film series:
Replete with odds and ends commenting on the ‘democratic process”, curators Marguerite Horberg and Peter Kuttner have put together a series looking at the excluded, the corrupt, the righteous, the activists, and the paranoid. This is a fun mix-tape of sarcastic oddities to give light to often dark material as well as arc- bending moments from the recent past . Film maker Kuttner and HotHouse’s Executive Director, Horberg enjoy virtual “crate digging” and coming up with lists of rarely seen films, documentaries and guerilla camera work from street sources, and dustbins of history. In this program, the films have mostly been unearthed from public domain files and all are presented here free for CAN TV Channel 21 as well as via online links for “watch at your leisure”. UNCONVENTIONAL is as a cultural companion to the summer circus wherein the next candidate for US President will be chosen from the Democratic caucus.
With recent campus sit ins reminiscent of the 1960’s
The series will be introduced by award-winning and best selling author RICK PERLSTEIN. His books ( The Invisible Bridge: The Fall of Nixon and the Rise of Reagan; Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America, and Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus) cover some of the history that parallels our series and we are honored to have him frame the series with his remarks.
His essays and book reviews have been published in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Nation, The Village Voice, and Slate, among others. A contributing editor and board member of In These Times magazine, he lives in Chicago.
HotHouse’s commitment to presenting film and video as a regular part of its multi-arts programming launched with PATCHWERX- the directors -of- color series curated by Russell Watson in our space on Balbo. Since the 2010 instigation “From the Lions Point of View, An African Jubillee” (which celebrated the 50th anniversary of liberation for 19 countries in Africa) we we have presented some 75 screen gems for free as part of the quest to include elevate documentary work along with less known commercial films.
UNCONVENTIONAL
SATURDAYS JUNE 8 THROUGH JULY 6 at 7pm
FREE ON CABLE ACCESS TV CHANNEL 21