Shorts Program 4: Thinking at the 28th annual Onion City Experimental Film and Video Festival will include works by Craig Neeson, eteam, Ben Edelberg, Michael Robinson, Olivia Ciummo, and Ben Balcom.

How do we consider our personal thoughts and feelings as part of a larger contemporary collective consciousness? The artists in this program strive to make connections which put forth a greater truth.

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THIS IS A PORTRAIT OF ME AS A CHILD (Craig Neeson, 2017, 3 min, US)
Can you avoid the Gorgon stare of weaponized fatherhood? Will you survive the phosphorescent flash-burn of tradition? Do you over-identify with the apex predator in your home? Will you let the jaws of mimesis devour you?

WAYPOINT, FOLLOW, ORBIT, FOCUS, TRACK, PAN (eteam, 2017, 14 min, Croatia/US)
Every country employs specific techniques for disguising its soldiers, every army has developed its own camouflage uniforms. Croatia is one of the few countries in the world that uses a digitized shape of its own territory in its camouflage military design. Why? The question is not meant to be answered by human reason. It does not relate to the perception of human eyes. Night vision cameras, binoculars, heat detectors and drones have their own ways of seeing the world.

EMPTY NIGHTCLUB (Ben Edelberg, 2017, 8 min, Canada/US)
Empty Nightclub is a maze of urban streets, dark corridors and dance floors. The video weaves scenes from Orlando, New York, Chicago and Toronto to take the viewer on a mysterious journey. Are we looking for the party or are we desperately searching for the exit?

ONWARD LOSSLESS FOLLOWS (Michael Robinson, 2017, 17 min, US)
A password-protected love affair, a little vapor on Venus, and a horse with no name ride out in search of a better world. Against the mounting darkness, a willing abduction offers a stab at tomorrow.

MISSING IN-BETWEEN THE PHYSICAL PROPER (Olivia Ciummo, 2016, 6 min, US)
Missing In-Between the Physical Proper is a collage of sound and video that speaks to relations between the planet, death, and transformation. Re-photographed landscapes and text suggest ideas of commodification.

SPECULATIONS (Ben Balcom, 2016, 18 min, US)
A portrait of Bellona, somewhere in the middle west. Catastrophe lingers in the periphery. Shadows crossing shadows, standing side by side. Some of these people we used to meet at random while out working or walking. They talk about feeling their way through this precarious place. Most of them are gone now. The city soaks them up.

TRT: 65 minutes; All Digital Projection

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PROGRAMMING:

Opening Night: Ouroboros
https://www.facebook.com/events/1597733373607736/

Program 1: Growing
https://www.facebook.com/events/406953959726051/

Shorts Program 2: Moving
https://www.facebook.com/events/2054621001481266/

Shorts Program 3: Touching
https://www.facebook.com/events/150012512476519/

Incense, Sweaters & Ice
https://www.facebook.com/events/169321673704183/

Shorts Program 5: Sensing
https://www.facebook.com/events/194453984479723/

Shorts Program 6: Listening
https://www.facebook.com/events/2140454019516086/

Shorts Program 7: Looking
https://www.facebook.com/events/412164299229013/

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A Production of Chicago Filmmakers:

Onion City is one of the premiere international festivals exclusively devoted to experimental film and video.

Onion City was founded in the 1980s by the Experimental Film Coalition and run by them for many years. Chicago Filmmakers assumed responsibility for the festival in 2001, and expanded the size and opened it up to video work as well as film. It is generally 8-10 programs over four days and features roughly 60-70 works from around the world. Aside from the competition programs, there are occasional special presentations of new or old films of note or guest presentations. Screenings take place at Chicago Filmmakers and other venues around mid-June.

The mission of Onion City is to provide local and regional audiences with an opportunity to view a wide variety of contemporary experimental works, focused on artistic excellence but also with an eye towards representing differing styles, forms, and nationalities.

Chicago Filmmakers is a not-for-profit media arts organization that fosters the creation, appreciation, and understanding of film and video as media for artistic and personal expression, as well as media of important social and community impact. Chicago Filmmakers’ twofold mission is to serve independent film and digital video artists by supporting the creation and dissemination of new media arts works and to serve Chicago audiences by screening artistically innovative, socially relevant, and diverse films and videos.

Chicago Filmmakers nurtures the development of aspiring filmmakers of all ages by offering classes, workshops, and summer camps; empowers artists to create new work through production grants, equipment access, fiscal sponsorship, and other services and resources; and encourages the professional advancement of media artists through seminars, panel discussions, lectures, rough-cut and open screenings, as well as networking events and other opportunities for artistic exchange. Chicago Filmmakers develops diverse audiences through its year-round weekly film and video exhibition programs and its two annual film festivals, Reeling the Chicago LGBTQ International Film Festival and The Onion City Experimental Film and Video Festival.

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Tags: Ben Balcom, Ben Edelberg, Chicago, Chicago Filmmakers, Craig Neeson, Edgewater, eteam, Illinois, Michael Robinson, Olivia Ciummo, Onion City Experimental Film & Video Festival, Onion City Shorts Program 4, Thinking