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. Independent of our live sessions, we will be providing the links for the following films for independent viewing.
MEDIUM COOL - HASKELL WEXLER 1969 1hr. 59 min.
John Cassellis (Robert Forster) is a hardened TV news cameraman who manages to keep his distance while he captures daring footage of a nation in the throes of violent change. He maintains this professional detachment when he covers the social unrest in Chicago surrounding the 1968 Democratic National Convention. But, when he discovers that the TV network has been quietly cooperating with the FBI, the enraged Cassellis realizes that he too must join the fight against the establishment.
EL GRITO LEOBARDO - LÓPEZ ARETCHE 1968 1 hr 42 min
In the summer of revolt 1968, student Leobardo López Aretche captured the protests in Mexico City, and the state’s brutal response, up close – and like many of his subjects and fellow comrades, would pay a high price for his audacity. Fifty years later, his movie is no longer a secret.
El Grito: the film banned for revealing the truth about Mexico in 1968
PUNISHMENT PARK - PETER WATKINS 1971 1 hour 31 min
In this fictional documentary, U.S. prisons are at capacity, and President Nixon declares a state of emergency. All new prisoners, most of whom are connected to the antiwar movement, are now given the choice of jail time or spending three days in Punishment Park, where they will be hunted for sport by federal authorities. The prisoners invariably choose the latter option, but learn that, between the desert heat and the brutal police officers, their chances of survival are slim.
COVER UP — BEHIND THE IRAN-CONTRA AFFAIR - Barbara Trent 1988 1hr. 12 min
Cover Up — Behind The Iran-Contra Affair is a thorough investigation into information suppressed during the Iran-Contra hearings in 1987 where it was found that senior officials in the United States government secretly facilitated the sale of arms to Iran. The film reveals a shadow government of former CIA operatives, drug smugglers, top US military personnel and others, revealing evidence of the history of CIA involvement in drug running from the Vietnam heroin era to the Central American cocaine epidemic — raising serious questions about the so-called “war on drugs” and other government movements since the 1980s.
A GRIN WITHOUT A CAT 1977 Chris Marker 2 hours 57 min.
From the young anti-war protesters in America to the death of Che Guevara and the rise of leaders like Fidel Castro and Mao Tse-Tung, this documentary examines the rise and fall of the lefty movement of the 1960s and 1970s. The first segment delves into the beginnings of this liberal faction, focusing on 1967, when anti-Vietnam fervor sweeps the United States and invigorates the political debate. In part two, the disintegration of the movement, dubbed the "new left," is laid out.
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