5th Z film fest is last in line of outsider events
By Richard Knight Jr
Special to the Tribune
Published October 14, 2005
As the 41st Chicago International Film Festival continues to roll out the stars and high-profile screenings, adventurous cinemagoers with a taste for the artistic extreme will get just that this weekend with the fifth annual Z Film Festival. The one-night-only event, dedicated to the outer fringes of avant garde short cinema, takes places Saturday at the appropriately named Nihilist Records (2255 S. Michigan Ave., 4E) beginning at 9 p.m.
Like previous incarnations of this homage to beyond-borders cinema, fest directors Usama and Kristie Alshaibi have lined up a program that's sure to be an equal-opportunity offender.
"We try to select things that show a filmmaker's unique gifts," Usama said. "And we don't shy away from violence, sexuality or perversity of any kind. We don't make a distinction between porn and high art or underground or experimental film."
Not surprisingly, selections at this year's fest (most of which run under five minutes) include a lot of works that can't be described in a mainstream publication. Some that can include "Baby Pepper," a parody commercial in which riot police are encouraged to use miniature pepper spray cans on the babies of protesters; "Chirpy," an animated film in which a little yellow bird graphically commingles with a horse, which Alshaibi describes, tongue in cheek, as a "love story"; "Lix on the Bowl," in which Chicago performance artist Tossy Timmy (a.k.a. Julie Fabulous) deconstructs "traditional gender identification" in a sex education knockoff; and "Alone But Not Lonely," which finds two men inviting a new acquaintance back to their shed for some beers and a little bit of torture. Some of the works are performance art pieces captured on film, and there are animated shorts and experimental selections.
Aside from the shorts program (and screenings of a selection of past crowd pleasers), the event will feature live performances by Boy From Brazil, a musician from Berlin whose music Alshaibi described as "electro rockabilly," with VJ Sniper from Israel providing visuals. Chicago "noise legends" Panicsville will also be on the bill.
This year's Z Fest will actually be the last annual one ("The Death of Z" is the event's official title). After five years at the helm, the Alshaibis are deep into post-production on a documentary they shot in Iraq about Usama's return to the country where he was born. But they will continue to present theme-based screenings in the future.
"We're artistic outsiders, and this is a festival for people that have different artistic tastes," Usama said. "This festival is vital for this work to be seen. So many institutions are out there censoring us; so many grant organizations have been self-censoring because of the conservative climate. These works are very important--especially right now."