News

July 9, 2013

CFA Films Head to the Capital

This morning we packed up three CFA films to ship off to our nations capital. They’ll take part in the National Gallery of Art’s annual showcase of film preservation from international archives and special collections. This year’s programs range from rediscovered American rarities to artists’ films and unsung shorts from the 1960s, and to major French classics celebrating their fiftieth anniversaries...

June 4, 2013

CFA Media Mixer 2013: Meet this Year’s Artists

This year marks the second year of our CFA Media Mixer event. So… what’s the Media Mixer event all about? Well, the premise is simple: three filmmakers, paired (blind date style) with three audio artists, had the full run of CFA’s vault to create some video art. We’ll premiere the finished videos on Thursday, June 6th alongside lots of other...

May 10, 2013

Frank Koza (1920-2013)

Two canisters filled with newsreel trims found in CFA’s Frank Koza Collection We are sad to have to once again announce the death of another Midwest filmmaker and cinematographer – Frank Koza.  Frank had a long history of shooting news, first based out of the east coast and then Chicago.  He was a member of the International Cinematographer’s Guild Local...

May 2, 2013

Goldsholl and Janiak Design Films Slated for Preservation

CFA is happy to announce that the National Film Preservation Foundation has awarded CFA another grant to photo-chemically preserve four more films from the archives.  FACES AND FORTUNES, DISINTEGRATIONS LINE #1, DISINTEGRATION LINE #2, and ADAM’S FILM all reflect the influence of the “American Bauhaus” movement introduced by Laszlo Moholy-Nagy during the late 30s/early 40s in Chicago.  Designer and filmmaker...

May 1, 2013

Mike Gray 1935-2013

I feel this is one big mistake. Mike has been working on multiple projects (books and films) with his partner and wife Carol Gray. He sprints when he moves, never lollygagging from one place to the next. By the way, he is not finished with THE ORGANIZER featuring the work of community organizer and Black Panther Bobby Lee (also known...

April 24, 2013

A Big Welcome and Another Thanks…

CFA welcomes Bridgette McCullough Alexander to our Board of Directors.  She joins a growing, vibrant, creative and supportive group of people who shore up CFA and enrich our programs.  I am genuinely happy and proud to be in their company.  Bridgette joins Andrea Gambino, Margaret Newman, Jacqueline Stewart, Stephen Journey and myself on the Board of Directors. My friend and...

April 23, 2013

Some more great news today for CFA and the Ruth Page Dance Collection…

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has awarded CFA another grant to further process the Ruth Page Collection. This means the 16mm films and videotapes in the collection will be digitized, giving the folks at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts, dance scholars, historians, student dancers, and anyone who has an interest in artistic movement access to these materials....

April 9, 2013

Discovering Kodacolor at CFA

Kodacolor box found in the Chicago Academy of Sciences’ collection While processing the Chicago Academy of Sciences’ (Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum) collection, I came across an unfamiliar stock among some 1930s-40s home movies. Found on metal 100’ and 50’ spools sans box, the edge markings read “Kodacolor Safety Film” and dated from 1936. What struck me immediately was that not only...

April 4, 2013

CFA Acquires 3 Films by Larry Janiak

For the past few months we have been gathering information about the Chicago-based design firm Goldsholl Design & Film Associates for our upcoming program MEET MORT & MILLIE (Sunday, April 7th at the Chicago Cultural Center). Former employess of the firm turned out to be some of our best sources – Susan Keig, Wayne Boyer and last but not least,...

April 3, 2013

Meet Our Panelists!

For this year’s Out of the Vault program, MEET MORT & MILLIE, we’ve gathered an exciting batch of people to help shed light on the industrial films of Goldsoll Design & Film Associates. But before we get to our panelists, let’s first meet our moderator– Amy Beste! Amy recently authored a chapter on the Goldsholls in Chicago Makes Modern: How Creative Minds Changed Society,...

March 30, 2013

Martin Scorcese’s 2013 Jefferson Lecture

This year’s National Endowment for the Humanities 2013 Jefferson Lecture will be delivered by director Martin Scorsese. The annual Jefferson Lecture, sponsored by NEH, is the most prestigious honor the federal government bestows for distinguished intellectual achievement in the humanities. Mr. Scorsese, of course, needs no introduction, but a significant factor in his selection has been his advocacy and involvement...

March 25, 2013

CFA Media Mixer Updates

Last spring we asked 3 filmmakers (Kent Lambert, Jessica Bardsley, Ellen Castleberry & Andy Resek) and 3 musicians (CAVE, Tim Kinsella, Josh Abrams) to team up and make a short film using CFA footage. We then premiered their finished films at our first annual CFA MEDIA MIXER benefit. Our goal behind this creative-based project was to inspire artstic use of our incredible films and collections. The event...

March 8, 2013

Celebrating International Women’s Day (all year round) at CFA

At CFA we celebrate ladies all year long, but days like International Women’s Day give us a great excuse to further celebrate the abundance of inspiring women associated with our collections –  Katharine Bowden (an early graduate of Valporaiso University), Margaret Conneely (amateur movie-maker extraordinaire), Sylvia Davis (producer of an early 1950s Chicago WBKB-TV wrestling show), Terry Davis (international travelogue...

February 28, 2013

Willie Wright: 1 of 2 Willies Featured in IMAGINATION MUSIC

Nightsong (1964) This Saturday, Chicago Film Archives and the Black Cinema House present a film screening (IMAGINATION MUSIC: DIXON & WIRGHT) about two Chicago artists named Willie – Willie Dixon & Willie Wright. Willie Dixon is a household name in these parts, but there’s a chance you may not have heard of Willie Wright – and that’s ok! We just...

February 27, 2013

SCMS comes to Chicago!

stills from Michelle Puetz & Nathan Holmes’ program “City Symphonies” Each year members of the Society for Cinema & Media Studies (SCMS) meet up for their annual conference in cities throughout the country, and this year (March 6-10)… it just so happens to be in Chicago! The SCMS is the leading scholarly organization in the United States dedicated to promoting...

February 5, 2013

Margaret Heads to the UK!

This March, Margaret Conneely’s MISTER E heads to The Horse Hospital – a three tiered progressive arts venue in London that provides an umbrella for new media, film, fashion, literature and music. A domestic “black comedy,” MISTER E expresses some of the edgier mischief and discontent that women of the 1950s could rarely express openly. This short film narrates the revenge acted out by...

February 1, 2013

Romanticizing Decay

Every so often we run across a reel of film that has been damaged by the elements (water, heat, humidity, etc). Sometimes this deterioration results in beautiful yet horrifying effects. Hypnotic visuals like these are often utilized by New York-based filmmaker Bill Morrison (Chicago born!), who is most well known for his experimental collage film DECASIA (2002). Since our vaults...

January 30, 2013

Out of the Shadows

Left: Sybil Shearer (image courtesy of the Morrison Shearer Foundation); Right: John Neumeier Slowly, slowly modernist dancer and choreographer Sybil Shearer is emerging from the shadows.  After a successful dance premiere at Carnegie Hall in 1941, Shearer decided to come to Chicago to develop her art in the open landscapes of the Midwest.  She built a studio in Northbrook, IL...

January 28, 2013

A Spotlight on Mort & Millie Goldsholl

Full cover and spine of CHICAGO MAKES MODERN At the turn of the new year, University of Chicago Press and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago published the anthology Chicago Makes Modern: How Creative Minds Changed Society. This much-needed scholarship, co-edited by Mary Jane Jacob (School of the Art Institute of Chicago) & Jacquelyn Baas (University of California...

January 17, 2013

Chicago Academy of Sciences: Sidney Downey

Since November I have had the privilege to work on an expansive collection of 16mm films belonging to the Chicago Academy of Sciences. The Chicago Academy of Sciences, dubbed “the first Museum in the West,” was founded in 1857 to give scientists and nature aficionados a place to study and share the specimens they collected. Over the years, the Academy has...