Articles by Xan

Bicycles, Ship Wrecks, Hip-Hop, Phrenology, and always, always more!
Friends, ’tis summer - ride your bike to see an unparalleled variety of international short films at our favorite microcinemas:

THURSDAY JUNE 26, 8:30 PM at Hideout $8 advance tickets
FRIDAY JUNE 27, 7:30 PM at Experimental Station $5
and last chance
SUNDAY JUNE 29, 7:30 PM at Hideout $8 advance tickets

Experimental Station recommended for ages 14 & Up* (language)
Hideout shows are 21 & Over
Hideout 1354 W. Wabansia St. (off Elston) Chicago
Experimental Station 6100 S. Blackstone Ave. (South Side) Chicago

FILM BRIGADE PROUDLY PRESENTS:
THE PATTERNS TRILOGY (live-action narrative)

Jamie Travis, Vancouver
A suspense thriller, love story, and dreamscape present in three parts
the epic anti-romance of Michael and Pauline.

A VERY NICE HONEYMOON (docu-animation)
Jeff & Phill Simmonds, New Zealand
The directors’ great-grandparents were on the SS Wairarapa when it wrecked off the coast of New Zealand in 1893. Five generations tell Mariano and Elizabeth’s story of love, tragedy and survival. Elizabeth describes her first-hand experience of New Zealand’s third-worst maritime disaster in which approximately 131 people lost their lives.

A HIP-HOP TRIBUTE TO RUSH HOUR (comedy)
Daniel Kibblesmith, Chicago
In 2003, Def Jam Recordings released “Music Inspired by Scarface,” an original hip-hop tribute to the 1983 gangster film. Not to be outdone, the 222 Warehouse presents a collection of today’s hottest artists, paying their respect to a film that already has an entirely Rap and R&B soundtrack.

JOE MOVER (live-action) click here for trailer
Lev Gorn & Gabe Fazio, New York
Joe is a should-be-retired-blue-collar worker in the disintegrating world of industrial Long Island. Working amidst a group of oddballs, Joe twists off a cap from a bottle of soda and wins a chance to fulfill a life-long childhood dream.

OZ (animated)
Brian Monte & Darren Santa Maria, New York
A visual experiment created in a single day with just over 400 drawings. Each artist alternated every six drawings and could only see the previous frame when proceeding, resulting in a visual Mad-Lib of sorts.


TANDEM (live-action comedy)
Adam Ginsberg, Minnesota
Part beat-poet ode to companionship, part love-of-bikes story.

DIFFERENT BRANCHES, SAME TREE (documentary)
Nadia Burgess, New York
Humorous short documentary about race, culture, and perception.

ECT: THE STORY OF TWO WOMEN (animated)
Laura Piraino, Boston
A documentary style animation exploring the experiences of two women who undergo electroconvulsive therapy.

PORTRAIT OF AN IMAGINED WOMAN (experimental)
Caitlin Horsmon, Missouri
A meditation on expanded portraiture, cobbling together a feminine figure through glimpses of the animal and the lived - predator, prey, and extreme close-ups of domestic epiphanies.

ALSO! Bike Bonanza Mega-Raffle valued at $130 includes
- bike helmet
- bike lock
- two Laken water bottles
- bike notepad & composition book
- snacks and more
Enter at all three shows - Winner to be announced at Sunday Hideout show.

* Our programs are not MPAA rated *
Recommendations on suggested age of viewer made based on program content.
Reason for recommendation is in (parentheses).

We are charged up and blushing a little, thrilled to announce the Chicago Short Film Brigade has been awarded a grant from the Young Leaders Fund, a division of the Chicago Community Trust.

Film Brigade is dedicated to keeping its submission process as equal-opportunity and low-hassle as possible. As policy, we don’t charge an entry fee. Entry fees, commonly charged by festivals and competitions, often create a discouraging barrier for filmmakers, particularly first-timers.

The Young Leaders Fund grant will allow us to ensure our no-entry fee policy remains viable -while simutaneously ensuring we have the opportunities larger festivals are able to afford.

We are also dedicated to the continued diversification of our audience. This grant from the Young Leaders Fund will aid us as we add an additional show location on the south side at Experimental Station, premiering in June.

MANY THANKS TO
THE YOUNG LEADERS FUND and CHICAGO COMMUNITY TRUST

The time is now, friends. Do not delay!
Submit your short film, anything under 20 minutes would be a thrill for us to consider for upcoming shows.

Download the info page with submission details HERE or send us a note via our email address at the very bottom of this page.

Our 2nd Annual Dance Derby Fundraiser Spectacular!

CONGRATULATIONS TO GRAND PRIZE WINNER
VICTOR HUGO SALCEDO aka “Shirt & Tie Guy”
Big thanks to all 200+ of you who attended.

(click HERE for trailer)

This isn’t a game of win or die, and definitely not a test of technical ability.
It’s a big dance party for everyone, with prizes.
Help raise funds for the annual award,
quarterly shows, and newest show location!

DANCE DERBY is SATURDAY MAY 10
Hideout, 1354 W. Wabansia St. (at Elston), Chicago
10 PM, $10 door donation, 21+over

Kick off the night at 10 PM with live music from
YVES FRANCOIS et ROCAMBU JAZZ
Lively, highly danceable retro-Afro-Cuban Caribbean music from 1900s-1950s Congo, Cuba, Puerto Rico, France, Martinique and Northern Africa. “New Orleans trumpets growl while clarinets swoon under palm trees of the Caribbean! Guitars make a web of koras and thumb piano-like sound while drummers bring New Orleans back home to Africa.”
AND THEN! Josh Abrams, Dave Fischoff, & Ben Marcus
will spin an eye-popping variety of Pop, Funk, Soul, Disco, Afro-Pop, & Tropical bootyjams all night.

Derby Judges DAN RYBICKY, MIA PARK, & THEASTER GATES
will lead dancers through the “endurance segment” (don’t worry, it’s not that long) and “heartbreak round”. This is not about skill!
It’s about gumption, tenacity, and giving it all you’ve got.

GRAND PRIZE WINNER walks away with tons of prizes, including:
a brand-new pair of white Chuck Taylors, donated by STRANGE CARGO,
to be turned over to CHRIS UPHUES for custom, one-of-a-kind artwork
PLUS $25 gift certificate from AMERICAN APPAREL and
a FILM BRIGADE Season Pass, among many other prizes.

WE THANK THE FOLLOWING FOLKS FOR DONATIONS TO THE EVENT:
Strange Cargo
Drag City
Numero Group
Chris Uphues
Piece
American Apparel
Aay Preston-Myint
Andrea Fritsch & Golden Age
The Bird Machine

Click here for photos of the first Derby

Humans! Nature! Animals! …and of course, Politics.

THURSDAY APRIL 10, 8:30p
and
SUNDAY APRIL 13, 5:30p (same program, different day)

Celebrate spring with hot popcorn, brand new posters by Jay Ryan, and an
unparalleled variety of international short films at our favorite Microcinema:
Hideout 1354 W. Wabansia St. (off Elston)

Tickets are $8 at the door. Advance tickets are recommended, though there is a $2 fee

Show runs approximately 90 minutes, includes a break.

FILM BRIGADE IS PROUD TO PRESENT:


THE NATURE OF REBIRTH (documentary) *Chicago premiere!
Johanna Lampi, Helsinki
We all die… but what is dying? Puszcza Bialowieska, Europe’s oldest forest, straddles the border between Belarus and Poland. This film follows the cycle of life and the relationship between human and nature through four people living in the forest.

BAG OF HAMMERS (claymation) *Chicago premiere!
Clyde Petersen & Forrest Baum, Seattle
Colorful music video with a band of rowdy clay people, ice cream, and one grumpy grandpa. Music by Thao With the Get Down Stay Down.

CROSSIN’ ALL THE BOUNDARIES (documentary) *Chicago premiere!
Rebecca Parrish & Brooke Bassin, Chicago/New York
Journey across boundaries of race and class through a small town on the Mississippi Delta three weeks before the 2008 presidential primary. Find out how people relate to the candidates and to national politics as a whole.

PEOPLE IN ORDER:
“AGE” and “BIRTH” (documentary) *Chicago premiere!
Lenka Clayton & James Price, London
Two films that populate human scales. AGE gives us a person of every age from 1 to 100, BIRTH introduces us to thirty-four women in stages of pregnancy from 4 to 41 weeks.

FOR THE MASSES (animation) *Chicago premiere!
Corrie Francis, California
City-dwellers flock to an urban wilderness looking for a brief escape from the city’s constant presence. Though tamed and tied by its surrounding metropolis, the mountain is anything but passive…

THE SADDEST BOY IN THE WORLD (live-action tragicomedy)
Jamie Travis, Vancouver
Timothy Higgins, picked last for the team, is the saddest boy in the world. Friendlessness, suburban complacency, and prescription drugs have conspired against the youngster to make this his worst year yet. Musical chairs and birthday cake can’t save him now.

I STILL LIKE JESSICA (animated)
Rodney Rothman & Arthur Jones, New York
Rodney dated Jessica for about two weeks when he was 13 and she was the first girl he ever kissed. “I have probably thought of the kiss fifty-thousand times”, he tells her on the phone. Jessica, now an adult, doesn’t remember.


THE BROTHER’S IN TROUBLE (experimental) *Chicago premiere!
Sara Strahan, New York
Using super-8 home movies, found footage, and camera-less techniques, TROUBLE explores the relationship between media and our construction of memory. Original score by Melissa Grey.

VETERINARIAN (animation) *Chicago premiere!
Signe Baumane, Latvia/New York
The vet’s job is never done and to make it worse, he’s suffering from a broken heart. One night, the animals he has treated come to him in a dream.

CLICK HERE FOR A ONE-PAGE INFO SHEET ABOUT THE BRIGADE’S 2007 SEASON

Behold! Our upcoming season:

Three NEW episodes at the Hideout
(1) Season Premiere Hideout - Thursday, April 10 - 8:30 PM
second chance, same episode Sunday, April 13 - 5:30 PM

(2) Summer Show “Bike In” Hideout - Thursday, June 26 - 8:30 PM

(3) Season Finale Hideout - Thursday, October 23 - 8:30 PM

SPECIAL EVENTS:
MAY 10, Hideout - second annual DANCE DERBY Fundraising Spectacular
“They Shoot Shorts, Don’t They?”

AUG 23 Film Brigade at Bucktown Arts Festival

FILMMAKERS !
FIRST-TIMERS, DABBLERS, ASPIRING & VETERAN DIRECTORS:
Our Call For Entries is now open. No entry fee, No deadline.
Did you know that in January, the audience gave away a cash award of $350 to their favorite film of 2007? Send us your film. Click here for info.

First-time filmmaker Steve Furman’s RIDE OF THE MERGANSERS.
We love it, you loved it enough to give it the $350 prize!

Special honorable mention to first runner up
Micah Barber and his film, WINTER IS OUTSIDE.

Big beautiful thanks to everyone who came to the show and cast their votes!
We’re so honored to have enjoyed the excellent company of directors who attended: Curtis Taylor, Jeff Harms, Christina McClelland, Micah Barber, Aay Preston-Myint, & Steve Furman.

Here’s an interview about the show, featured on Chicago Public Radio.

Many thanks to the following folks for generous in-kind donations of food and award items:
Facets Multimedia
Whole Foods Market
Odd Obsession
Quimby’s
Piece Pizza
Milk & Honey Cafe
Sacred Art

Sweet volunteer love from Belem Martinez, Julian Aranda, Andrea Fritsch, Graham Stephenson, Jennifer Brandel.

Mega-Thanks to Jim Dempsey for an excellent Gene Siskel Film Center run.
See you March 6 at the Hideout!

Holy bananas, what a year! Four different episodes, six shows, two outdoor screenings, a special event with live music, and more… Click here for one-page info sheet about our 07 season. Thanks for making our premiere-year great!

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
Film Brigade: THE BEST
Thursday, JANUARY 24 at Gene Siskel Film Center
8:15 PM Screening and Awards

Join us at the deluxe, high-art environs of the Siskel Center for 100-minutes’ worth of short film thrills (includes intermission), and stick around to help us give out some awards. Just one film will walk away with the Audience Award of $350.

This program also re-runs Sunday, January 27th at 5:30 PM (screening only).

So! After much debate (at times a tad heated and emotional) we carefully reviewed all 52 films from our 07 season, whittling it down to just 13 selections.

WE ARE THRILLED TO ANNOUNCE SELECTIONS FOR THE
CHICAGO SHORT FILM BRIGADE’S BEST OF 2007:

OYSTER PUFFS (Animated Comedy)
Brett Harding, Chicago/New York
A man with undulating-hands, the ostrich-lady on a date, an inconsolable hippo, and a fly in the wrong place at the wrong time.


RIDE OF THE MERGANSERS (Documentary)
Steve Furman, Minnesota
Just 24 hours after hatching, tiny Merganser ducklings make a perilous leap to the ground below in an age-old rite rarely observed by humans.

WINTER IS OUTSIDE (Live Action Drama)
Micah Barber, Chicago
When two religious visitors visit Shawn’s west-side neighborhood, it leads to an unexpected conversation.

SOME GHOSTS… (Animation/Experimental)
Aay Preston-Myint, Chicago
Enter the dream world of a spaceman in his sleep chamber, where malevolent spirits escape from a haunted medicine cabinet to descend on houndstooth hillsides.

PIE CYCLE (Animation/Experimental)
Christina McClelland, Iowa City
Hand-drawn illustrations make up a fresh, swift series of interactions between mysteriously quilted humans, big dark bears and cherry pies.

CARMICHAEL & shane (Live-Action Comedy)
Alex Weinress/Rob Carlton, Australia
A single father has his own approach to raising twin boys… Choose a favorite.

BOBBY BIRD: THE DEVIL IN DENIM (Animation)
Carson Mell, California
Through flashbacks, a tour of an aging rock star’s various tattoos. Why is a spider on his chest, a nude acrobat on his neck, and the names of many women etched in his flesh?

BUOI CHIEU/AFTERNOON
Kim Spurlock, New York (Live Action Drama)
Vietnamese ghost story of quiet death and family bonds transmitted via radio airwaves.

HAND OF BRIDGE (Live Action Musical)
Curtis Taylor, Seattle
Filmed in the saturated palette of a Hollywood melodrama, this is the first film version of a 1959 Samuel Barber/Gian Carlo Menotti comic chamber opera.

MERMAID (2-D Stop Motion Animation)
Lisa Barcy, Chicago
The marriage of Carl and Doris, darlings of the marine biology world, has gone south. She attempts to salvage its remains, he pines for the most elusive of sea creatures.

MACHINE WITH CHAIR (Experimental)
Arthur Ganson, Massachussetts
Breathtaking kinetic sculpture by a one-man artist, engineer, filmmaker.

TEAT BEAT OF SEX (Animation)
Signe Baumane, Latvia/New York
Lighthearted rants about sex. Musings on insatiable desire, awkward sizing, and Mother’s ill-fated, unconvincing advice.

THE BITE (Animation)
Jeff Harms, Chicago
A man tries to protect the woman he loves.

It still blows our minds that this is our fourth and final show of the season.
Thanks for making our premiere-year great!

Join us THURSDAY OCTOBER 25
at our favorite microcinema, Hideout 1354 W. Wabansia St. (off Elston)

Show starts 8:30 PM, runs about 90 minutes, includes a break.
Tickets are $8 at the door. Advance tickets are recommended, though there is a $2 fee.

This will be a non-smoking show, with lovely patio smoking available.
Hideout is 21+. (All ages additional location coming soon, bear with us!)

For sale during the show: Hot popcorn! Fresh made Sugarkist pies!
We proudly present:


WINTER IS OUTSIDE (Live Action Drama)
Micah Barber, Chicago
When two Mormon missionaries visit Shawn’s west-side neighborhood, it leads to an unexpected conversation.


MERMAID (2-D Stop Motion Animation)
Lisa Barcy, Chicago
The marriage of Carl and Doris, darlings of the marine biology world, has gone south. She attempts to salvage its remains, he pines for the most elusive of sea creatures.

CRONE
Ben Gerlis & M.E. Please, London (Stop-Motion Animation)
The dark, surreal tale of a quaint village green in which all is not quite as it seems.

HAND OF BRIDGE (Live Action Musical)
Curtis Taylor, Seattle
Married couples settle in for a nightly bridge game. During polite card-play, they each secretly pine for hidden desires. Perversions and lust briefly rise. Filmed in the saturated palette of a Hollywood melodrama, this is the first film version of the 1959 Samuel Barber/Gian Carlo Menotti comic chamber opera.

TEAT BEAT OF SEX (Animation)
Signe Baumane, Latvia/New York
Lighthearted rants about sex. Musings on insatiable desire, awkward sizing, and Mother’s ill-fated, unconvincing advice.

CASHMERE ON CREDIT (Live Action Narrative)
Maximilian Hult, Sweden
A man suspects he’s dying but doesn’t trust doctors. If his tailor agrees to make him an expensive suit on credit, does that mean he’s not doomed after all?

PUSS IN BOOTS (Live-Action Experimental)
Julie Fab & Heather Marie, Chicago
So wrong it’s right? A foot-fetish delight.

CACKLE (Live Action Experimental)
Erin Diebboll, Brooklyn
A woman captivated by a clucking noisemaker directs a surreal factory equipped with an assembly line of doily-ed eggcups and marching chickens.

DON’T STOP BELIEVIN’ (Music Video)
Mark Bachara & Michael McGrath, Chicago
A guilty pleasure featuring a ridiculous homage to late 70s and 80s music videos.
A visual salute to Chicago.


CREATION (Live Action & Animation)
Zea Barker & Michael Pope, Massachusetts
An artist deep in frenzied inspiration labors to draw characters as they begin to take on a life of their own.

For more information, contact us via the email address at the bottom of this page.

Folks, we can’t believe October 25th marks the fourth and final episode of our 2007 season. Call For Entries is open!

We’ve just now started to look at the maths: Three different episodes, five shows, two outdoor screenings, a special event with live music, and more… all of it featuring over 52 short films, about 9 countries, and a handful of music videos.

Can you tell we’re also getting ready for our annual Best Of event at the Gene Siskel Film Center? In January we’ll give you, the audience, the power to GIVE AWAY a cash award to your favorite short film of the year. You helped us raise that money by coming to our shows, packing the house every time. Thanks for being a part of it-

WOW Dubuque!
Thanks for showing us an excellent time last Saturday night! Hoo boy you guys can dance.
So much gratitude to Julie Steffen, Gene Tully, Mike Ironside, our lady K, Tim McNamara, Prudential Financial, the Rotary guys, M-Studios Galena, the Occidental Brothers Dance Band International, Julien Inn, makers of all 18 films we screened before the dance floor opened up, and ALL of you who packed the house. What a treat. Thanks for showing us what Dubuque is all about. We hope to see you very soon!

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 15: Voices From the Warehouse District Dubuque, Iowa
We’re proud to be back for our second year with this extraordinary annual arts event, an off-site exhibit sponsored by the Dubuque Museum of Art! Join us at a beautiful vintage warehouse (10th & Jackson) down by the Mississippi River for a whizz-bang-pow short film program good for ages 15 & up. We’re thrilled to have convinced the Occidental Brothers Dance Band International to trek out to Iowa with us for this special night. Door donation $10, includes films AND live music. Doors open at 7, films at 7:30.
Sponsored by Prudential Financial.

Special Event! Sunday, August 5 Hideout 8 PM, Chicago

World Premiere of IMITOSIS, directed by Britta Johnson
Join us for the world premiere of Andrew’s very first video, “Imitosis”, directed by stop-motion delight Britta Johnson and produced (non-Brigade) by Xan.

Drawing on the color palettes and photographic style of science books from the late 1960s, this gorgeous, twitchy, twirling piece - part science-film, part dream-world - also captures Andrew’s signature multi-instrumental performance.

Evening features a shorter-than-normal-Brigade program with piano action from Abraham Levitan, a snazzy visual program, plus a DJ dance party (afro-pop with Josh Abrams & Nathaniel Braddock). Music & visuals will last about an hour total. Dance party til late!

Proceeds toward Film Brigade’s annual award fund and ‘08 operational budget.
Door charge $10. Advance tickets here.
Ample bike parking! Smoke-free event.

Hot Summer! Hot Films! Hot Show!
THURSDAY JULY 19

See you at our favorite microcinema -
Hideout 1354 W. Wabansia St. (off Elston)

Show starts at 8:30 PM.
Running time approximately 90 minutes, includes a break.

This will be a non-smoking show, with lovely patio smoking available.
Hideout is 21+. (All ages additional location coming soon, bear with us!)

Tickets are $8 at the door.
Advance tickets are recommended, though there is a $2 fee.

For sale during the show: hot popcorn! Fresh made Sugarkist pies! Snazzy t-shirts, etc.
We bring you:


MOTODROM
Joerg Wagner, Germany (Experimental Documentary)
The mezmerising world of hell-riders in a wooden barrel.
Men, their motorbikes, speed and stunts with a whiff of gasoline and adrenaline.

BUOI CHIEU/AFTERNOON
Kim Spurlock, New York (Live Action Drama)
Vietnamese ghost story of quiet death and family bonds transmitted via radio airwaves.

CONDILICIOUS
Bashir Salahuddin & Diallo Riddle, Los Angeles (Political Satire)
In a rare display of musicality, the Secretary of State takes on the Senate.


CUTOUT
Marc Cantone, New York (Live Action Drama)
When a once famous Italian-American crooner learns his estranged son has put the family home up for sale he sneaks into the house, slips into the pool and refuses to get out.


STANLEY KUNITZ: POET LAUREATE
Alix Lambert (Documentary)
An elderly poet’s life at home, where he muses upon words and takes us on a tour of his writing room. Mr. Kunitz passed away last year.


MACHINES (selection of 3)
Arthur Ganson, Massachussetts (Experimental)
Breathtaking kinetic sculptures by a one-man artist, engineer, and filmmaker.

POST NASAL DRIFT
Britta Johnson, Seattle (Experimental)
Intricate and elaborate stop-motion animation about two species competing for control of a mysterious floating hand.

POLYFOTO
Daniel Meadows, England (Digital Storytelling)
Swift and sweet, family stories told by a British photographer known for his Free Photographic Omnibus, a converted double-decker bus.

GI JOE Public Service Announcements (selection)
Eric Fensler, Chicago (Comedy)
Back by popular demand! Dedicated to the 4 or 5 of you out there who’ve not seen them.

The Brigade is, as always seeking short films, videos, digital works, little ditties, flukes, masterpieces, experimental, narrative, animated, documentary, etc. for our upcoming fall shows.

Download our Call For Entries here

Send inquiries to the email address listed at the very bottom of this page.

Thanks so much for filling the Hideout and Isabella’s up to the gills once again for this past episode! We love being with you.

See you at the Hideout AGAIN on Thursday, July 19th at 8:30 PM.

YES we are currently accepting short films of all flavors and varieties with a TRT under 20 minutes. Please refer to the CALL FOR ENTRIES.

Stay tuned for details on our additional locations starting up later this year!

Celebrate the impending blitz of green and warm weather with excellent company, hot popcorn, handmade SugarKist pies, and an unparalleled variety of international short films!

ALSO at the show, an opportunity to win items donated by Brigade board member
Andrew Bird. (scroll to bottom of page for details)

After the show, stick around for dancing with DJ Treetop Lover.
See you at our favorite microcinema
Hideout
1354 W. Wabansia St. (off Elston)

Show starts at 8:30 PM.
Running time approximately 90 minutes, includes a break.
This will be a non-smoking show, with patio smoking available.

Tickets are $8 at the door.
Advance tickets are recommended (our last show sold out), though there is a $2 fee.

We bring you:


OYSTER PUFFS premiere!
Brett Harding, Chicago/New York (Black Comedy)
A man with undulating-hands, the ostrich-lady on a date, a fly in the wrong place at the wrong time… and an inconsolable hippo.

THE BITE premiere!
Jeff Harms, Chicago (Animation)
A man tries to protect the woman he loves.

ERAMOS POCOS/ONE TOO MANY premiere!
Borja Cobeaga, Spain (Live-Action Drama)
When his wife leaves him and his layabout son, Joaquin brings his mother-in-law from the rest home to keep house for them.

BOBBY BIRD: THE DEVIL IN DENIM
Carson Mell, California (Animation)
Through flashbacks, a tour of an aging rock star’s various tattoos. Why is a spider on his chest, a nude acrobat on his neck, and the names of many women etched in his flesh?

VEGETARIAN SHEPHERD premiere!
Hannah Robbins, Missouri (Documentary)
A quick ode to 19 year-old Hannah’s vegetarian dog.


BIRDCATCHER
Chris Hefner, Chicago (Experimental)
An examination of human urges, fetishism, hunting… and the confused tension between science and things beyond reason.


MOLLY BANNAKY: A History in Black & White premiere!
5th & 6th Graders - Cambridgeport School, Massachusetts (Animation)
The striking story of a mixed-race relationship that survived despite the harsh laws prohibiting interracial marriage during this country’s formative years.


CARMICHAEL & shane
Alex Weinress/Rob Carlton, Australia (Black Comedy)
A single father has his own approach to raising twin boys… Choose a favorite.

CORNDOG COOKER
Tom Strickland, Michigan (Live-Action Comedy)
A fed-up working man, Corndog Cooker wonders when his big break might come.


BUT SOFT premiere!
Britta Johnson, Seattle (Stop-Motion Animation)
Birds build a dreamy nest.
- - - - - - - - - - - -

Also at the show! An opportunity to win TWO tickets to Andrew Bird’s upcoming record release show in Chicago at Riviera Theater (April 20) PLUS signed by Andrew for the winner, this Armchair Apocrypha tour poster handmade by Diana Sudyka (designer of Brigade logo). 18×25″, 5-color print on 80lb coverweight paper. Surefire collector’s item.

and ROANHORSE!

We are mighty proud to announce the capture of our newest board member,
Vanessa Roanhorse.

She’s been helping us for a while now, so… we asked her, she said yes.
We are thrilled.

Thanks V- you are brave.

The Brigade is currently accepting submissions for the upcoming Spring program!

We look for films of ALL kinds: flukes, epics, first-timers, experimental, animation, fiction, documentaries, music videos - you name it, we want it.

This is an ongoing series open to submissions of film, video and digital works from directors of all ages and levels of experience.

It’s a great opportunity to put your film in front of diverse audiences, many of whom don’t normally seek out short films.

Films for the upcoming show are best received by March 15.

Our Call For Entries is ongoing, forever and always.

New! We now have upload space on iDisk and our FTP site. Contact us for more details!
Download details HERE

Thank you Chicago, Thank you Dubuque!
We are still overwhelmed that so many people came to the Season Premieres in Chicago and Dubuque! You guys left the house on a cold, cold night to join us for some shorts. Those shows were jam-packed and full of love and we can’t wait till the next one.

We are so thrilled to present our first show of the Season!

Nothing better on a winter’s night than some cozy company, hot popcorn and huge variety of international short films. See you at our favorite microcinema-

Hideout
1354 W. Wabansia St. (off Elston)

Show starts at 8:30 PM.
Running time approximately 90 minutes, includes a break.

Tickets are $7 at the door.
Advance tickets are recommended, though there is a $2 fee.

This one’s going to be a doozy! We bring you:

PIE CYCLE
Christina McClelland, Iowa City (Animation/Experimental)
Hand-drawn illustrations make up a fresh, swift series of interactions between mysteriously quilted humans, big dark bears and cherry pies.

GESTURE DOWN (I Don’t Sing)
Cedar Sherbert, California/Mexico - Documentary
First-person rumination on place, longing, and identity - themes of significance for the director, who is a descendent of (and sometimes estranged from) the La Huerta Indian community of northern Baja California, Mexico - where the film is shot.

THANK YOU, MASK MAN
Lenny Bruce/Jeff Hale (Vintage Animated Comedy)
Local folks are upset with the Lone Ranger because he won’t stay around to be thanked after a good deed. Based on classic comedy routine by Lenny Bruce.

LOS OJOS DE ALICIA (The Eyes of Alicia)
Ugo Sanz, Basque/Spain - Live-Action Thriller
Andrea awakes in an empty room… From a TV across the room, a woman guides Andrea through a harrowing gauntlet of emotion - giving her a choice between her painful past and the option to live.

SOME GHOSTS…
Aay Preston-Myint, Chicago (Animation/Experimental)
Enter the dream world of a spaceman in his sleep chamber, where malevolent spirits escape from a haunted medicine cabinet to descend on landscapes of quilted hutments among houndstooth hillsides.


STILL LIFE
Jon Knautz, Ontario (Live-Action Thriller)
A young college student suffering from post-finals sleep deprivation stops through a small town and makes an unnerving discovery. An eerie, Twilight Zone-style experience.

RIDE OF THE MERGANSERS
Steve Furman, Minnesota (Documentary)
Just 24 hours after hatching, tiny Merganser ducklings must make a perilous leap to the ground below in an age-old rite rarely observed by humans.


KaBOOM!
PES, New York (Stop-Motion Animation)
An elaborately built city made of vintage household items and toys is under the threat of a looming peanut.

THE MAKING OF KaBOOM
PES, New York (Documentary)

WET DREAMS AND FALSE IMAGES
Jesse Epstein, Brooklyn (Documentary)
A Brooklyn barber covers his wall with magazine pin-ups and wishes real women could look more like the babes on his “wall of beauty”.

THE WITCH AND THE COW
Signe Baumane, Latvia (Animation)
A tiny witch tries to milk an immense and unmoving cow. With one absurd turn after another, things get out of control.

Brigade screenings run quarterly in Chicago (Hideout) and Dubuque (Isabella’s).
Episodes in each town are similar, though not often identical. Read the rest of this entry »

This program screened for packed audiences in Dubuque, Cedar Rapids, Minneapolis, and Madison as opening band for board member Andrew Bird on a benefit tour he did for the Brigade. Click here for more details. Read the rest of this entry »