Films
The Illinois Parables
D: Deborah Stratman, USA / Canada 2018, 15 min | Showing first: Optimism, 15 Min
The event will be cancelled if poor weather is forecasted. The decision will be announced on Twitter and Facebook on the day of the event at approx. 5pm.
Important:
At this time, the GGG rule (tested-vaccinated-recovered) applies for this event. More about Covid-19 admission regulations
The Illinois Parables
D: Deborah Stratman, USA 2016 60 min, OV
Eleven parables recount events from the history of the state of Illinois about faith, force, technology, and exodus. From the violent eviction of the Cherokee to the establishment of a utopian community of French Icarians, the invention of the nuclear reactor, and the murder of Black Panther leader Fred Hampton, the film relays histories of settlement, removal, violence, messianism, and resistance. Illinois, here, functions as a structural ruse, allowing its histories to become allegories. Thus they explore how societies are shaped by conviction and ideology and suggest links between technology, religion and governance. Utilizing reenactment and archival footage, the film asks who or what we end up blaming or endorsing in our desire to explain the unknown.
Showing first:
Optimism
D: Deborah Stratman, USA, Canada 2018, 15 min, OV
Draw down the sun. Dig up the gold. The urge to relieve a winter valley of permanent shadow and find gold in the gravel is part of a long history of desire and extraction in the far Canadian north. Cancan dancers, curlers, smelters, former city officials, and a curious cliff-side mirrored disc congregate to form a town portrait. Shot on location in Dawson City, Yukon Territory. (Deborah Stratman)