“Conversations” program centers on Reeder’s films

Filmmker Jennifer Reeder

FEMINIST FILMMAKER JENNIFER REEDER, an associate professor of art and art history at UIC, screens a sneak peak from her new film Blood Below the Skin, Sept. 25, along with her recent shorts, in the new season of the School of the Art Institute’s “Conversations at the Edge” experimental film screening series.

The story is about three high school girls, who bond over an unanticipated incident.  Two are falling in love with each other, and a third caring for her own mother after her father’s disappearance.

Award-winning Reeder has produced some 45 film/videos and written a dozen screenplays, mostly stories about women’s experiences.

Her work is consistently showcased at festivals around the world. Blood Below the Skin is her most ambitious film, she says, in terms of budget and dialogue.

The “Conversations” program includes Reeder’s films: Seven Songs About Thunder; Tears Cannot Restore Her, Therefore, I Weep; And I Will Rise If Only to Hold You Down, and A Million Miles Away

At the Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State St., 6:30 p.m.

PRODUCER LAURIE LITTLE of Luminist Films is embarking on a sci-fi noir short The Distant Architect, about an architect who begins to question whether she is a cyborg, written and being directed by Clara Alcott.

As Little says, “As a teacher of Culture, Race and Media and Documenting Social Justice at Columbia College, my focus is on the social sciences and women’s issues which drew me to the themes and metaphors of Clara’s screenplay.” 

Jose Luis Rios (A Perfect Soldier) is DP.

Contributions to the production are tax-deductible through fiscal sponsor, The Near Northwest Arts Concil. Near Northwest Arts Council  A Kickstarter campaign ending Nov. 1 seeks $9,000 to help fund the production.

DORIAN WEINZIMMER is in final stages of post-production on his rock & roll horror thriller Chicago Rot.  Weinzimmer’s co-writer Brant McCrea stars as “The Ghoul,” a “wrongfully imprisoned street legend” released from prison to search for the man who murdered his mother and “robbed him of his soul.” With Shira Barber. Jeremy Vranich is producer.

FREE SPIRIT MEDIA, Young Chicago Authors, and DCASE (the Chicago Dept. of Cultural Affairs and Special Events) on Sept. 27 launch The Chicago Track, a new workshop series to train 18 to 25-year-olds in casting, camera, special effects, costume design, and producing. 

They’re kicking it off with an event at Columbia College’s Haus, Quincy Wong Center for Artistic Expression, 623 S. Wabash, from 1-4 p.m.

STACY COOPER of Land of Misery Films is writing and directing Chase: Tony Takes on the World, a comedy about a struggling actor hustling to make it to New York. Foster Williams, Jr. stars.  With Harold Dennis.  Cooper is producing with Land of Misery partner Bradford Stevens.

BLACK WORLD CINEMA’S Floyd Webb presents Norry Niven’s From Above, starring Danny Glover, written by James Bird, recounting Glover’s character’s love for a Native American woman whose family has a “strange communion with electricity.”  With Graham Greene and Chelsea Ricketts. 

It’s Oct. 2 at 7 p.m. at Studio Movie Grill Chatham 14, 210 W. 87th St.

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