"University of Illinois Chicago (UICC) student film that documents the Chicago Fire Department house and fire officers of 158 West Erie Street. Images of the officers at work and play are interspersed with portraits of the firehouse, which is located in Chicago's River North neighborhood." Chicago Film Archives
"Celestinos filmó la cinta en una vieja casa de Chimalistac, al sur de la Ciudad de México. Según la historia en ella habitan dos hermanas que viven un encierro real y metafórico a causa de su sexualidad reprimida. Las primeras imágenes de la película muestran a una de ellas vestida de novia, mientras que otra lleva la cola del vestido. La escena da pie a un erotismo doloroso: una de ellas se acaricia para que la cámara muestre en close up sus lágrimas. Un flash back nos muestra la causa: el momento de su infancia en que una monja de visita en la casa le dio manotazos por haberle mostrado una imagen de una mujer desnuda que encontró por casualidad. El personaje busca liberación. (...) La otra hermana también busca salir de la casa (emblema del ámbito doméstico familiar), y encontrar su libertad sexual" (Vázquez Mantecón, 2012)
"Celestinos filmed the tape in an old house in Chimalistac, south of Mexico City. According to the story, the house is inhabited by two sisters that live in a real and metaphorical confinement because of their repressed sexuality. The first images of the film show one of them dressed as a bride, while the other carries the tail of the dress. The scene is followed by a painful erotism: one of the caresses herself to make the camera show her tears in close up. A flash back shows the cause: the moment of her childhood when a nun hits her hands because she showed her a picture of a naked woman that she found by chance. The character seeks liberation. (...) The other sister is also looking forward to leave the house (emblem of the familial domestic scope), and to find her sexual freedom" (Vázquez Mantecón, 2012)
"Era una película que desarrollaba un tema muy propio de la contracultura de la época: la posibilidad de regresar a la naturaleza para vivir una vida al margen de la contaminación y de la vida moderna. Se trataba de una cinta de menos de diez minutos de duración, que contaba una historia breve pero ilustrativa de la naturaleza de los debates entre los jóvenes mexicanos cercanos a la contracultura. [...] La historia de Sergio García hacía una crítica al escapismo hippie, esperanzado por la posibilidad de crear un mundo alterno al de la realidad del capitalismo industrial" (Vázquez Mantecón, 2012).
"It was a film that developed a topic very related to the counterculture of the time: the possibility of going back to nature to live a life away from pollution and the modern life. The film lasted less than 10 minutes, and it told a brief but illustrative story about the nature of the debates between the Mexican youth that was close to the counterculture. [...] The story by Sergio García was a critique of the hippie escapism, hopeful for the possibility of creating an alternate world to the reality of industrial capitalism" (Vázquez Mantecón, 2012).
"A University of Chicago student film production and “Young Chicago Filmmakers Festival” award winner in 1971, Holden Franz Aust’s "In The Divine Plan" pits Nietzsche against Jesus in an ultimate ideological battle. Christian moralism meets Nihilism." Chicago Film Archives
"A successful man living in a great metropolis is increasing awareness of the unjust social reality that lives in the absurdity. This immerses him in a uneasiness that sinks into alcoholism and depression. In his wandering through the streets viewer gets to be the unfortunate suicide of another victim of the meaninglessness of life, which will produce a series of dreamlike hallucinations bordering on the madness. In a stroke of consciousness of his misfortune, he does run aimlessly without course. Devastated, to the dawn, with the light of the dawn he sees to be reborn the hope personified in an innocent girl who stretches the hand donating bread" Internet Archive.
"Expression of the evolution of man out of suffering seen through the use of animated portraits, decaying clay sculptures and various optical effects." Chicago Film Archives
"RATAMATA is a portrait of the diverse opinions of Chicagoans (ranging from high school students to habitual mayoral candidate Lars Daly) as they reflect on the general state of affairs in America, the war in Vietnam, social and racial conflict, freedom and personal liberty, happiness, and social justice." Chicago Film Archives
"Student film made at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago set to "Sugar Mountain," a song by Canadian folk rock singer and composer Neil Young." Chicago Film Archives
"The film depicts a Boy Scout's walk through a rural setting. He's later joined by a group of children who follow him through meadows and corn fields." Chicago Film Archives
"Un documental sobre las acciones plásticas de Raúl Tovar, pintor pop integrante del Salón Independiente, egresado –igual que Celestinos– de la ENAP. En él aparecen jóvenes con los cuerpos pintados de negro y las bocas rojas en algo parecido a un happening, la elaboración de un mural colectivo con frases icónicas de la época ("la imaginación al poder", "Peace", "Love", citas de Lao-Tse, etcétera). En la película predominaba un ambiente psicodélico que no llegaba más allá de la obra del pintor y del contexto juvenil en el que se producía" (Vázquez Mantecón, 2012).
"A documentary about the plastic art actions of Raúl Tovar, a pop painter member of the Independent Hall, alumni –same as Celestinos– of the ENAP. In it, young people appear with their bodies painted in black and their mouths painted in red in some sort of happening, there is also the making of a collective mural with iconic phrases of the time ("all power to the imagination", "Peace", "Love", quotes by Lao-Tse, etcetera). A psychedelic ambiance prevailed, not going beyond the work of the painter and the youthful context produced at the time" (Vázquez Mantecón, 2012).
Total Pages: 299
Amateur Cinema