SEPTEMBER 25, 2005

PRESS RELEASE:   9/26/2005

CONTACT: Kristie Alshaibi, Program Director: kristie@zfilmfestival.com

The 5th Annual Z Film Festival: The Death of Z

Saturday, October 15, 2005 @ 9:00 PM

Nihilist Records ( http://nihilistrecords.net )

2255 S. Michigan Ave., 4E

Chicago, IL 60616 USA

Suggested Donation: $8

Featuring the live music and performance of Boy From Brazil with VJ Sniper - from Berlin, Germany ( http://www.boyfrombrazil.com/ )

And Chicago noise legends Panicsville

Why do we call it the "Death of Z?"   The five-year-old Z Film Festival is due for a bit of a revamp.   We're hiring a few new curators to program small theme-based shows, and giving the annual festival the ax.   ZFF5 is the last of its kind.   But don't worry, the spirit of Z will live on in these micro-fests, and it will remain a playground for the freaks, the misfits, the rejects, and the criminals struggling against this country's increasingly conservative zeitgeist.   In this time when the FBI is assigning agents to a new "anti-obscenity squad," and the administration is finding back-door ways to restrict and chip away at our right of free expression, it is imperative that venues remain open for works that test the limits of acceptability. We maintain our solid anti-censorship stance, and continue to showcase movies that defy and redefine boundaries.   We are bringing some new blood into our organization to help us with these goals. Join us for a batch of new movies, and a few of our favorites from past Z Fest programs.

High quality movie stills available upon request

PAST PRESS

"...not your average anything. Strange, beautiful, grotesque, but obscenely smart... apathy's not on the agenda.

- Oakland Urbanview, October 2003

"...patrons are likely to walk away profoundly altered."

- Michael Workman, New City, December 12, 2002

"...the last word (letter?) in fringe film and video-making."

"Be warned. This is not a festival for the squeamish or artistically inflexible."

- John Petrakis, Chicago Tribune, December 7, 2001

PROGRAM #1: THE FIFTH ANNUAL Z FILM FESTIVAL

(running time: 45 minutes)

1.) Baby Pepper

Carl Russo (San Francisco, CA)

1 min., 20 sec.

http://www.ratso.net/babypepper.html

c_russo@msn.com

In the new world order, it's tough being a cop.   Choosing the proper crowd-control technique is tricky for Officer Chott when he finds himself face-to-face with a radical but adorable junior protester.

2.) The Loneliest Little Boy in the World

Mike Derenlewski (Detroit, MI)

5 min., 10 sec.

http://topqualityrockandroll.com

The director's reaction to the loss of a great friend.   Score by Frankie and the S.E.M.M. - all audio sources material taken from live Canalis Crux performances.   Inspired by and dedicated to Michael O. Petee.

3.) Lix on the Bowl

Tossy Timmy (Chicago, IL)

4 min., 20 sec.

Juliefab2001@yahoo.com

A sex education film for perverts.

4.) Animation Station

Zzalgern0n & the 3 rd graders of Animation Station (Glendale, CA)

2 min., 12 sec.

http://zzalgern0n.com

pizza@zzalgern0n.com

A series of 8-year-olds' Flash animations, arranged into short film form

5.) Germs

Christa Conforti   (San Francisco, CA)

3 minutes

christa@numodern.com

Stop motion animation - a monkey gets sick at the fair and succumbs to the germs.

6.) Alone But Not Lonely

Chris Barry

12 min., 30 sec. (Toronto, Ontario)

www.morlando.com

A group of bored men invite an acquaintance back to their shed for some beers...

7.) Loosen the Stool

Richard Newton (Hollywood, CA)

2 minutes

watchinginthedark@charter.net

Sometimes you need a little help from your friends.

8.) Large Gourd

Justin Brady Cooper (Chicago, IL)

6 minutes

nessiecoop@hotmail.com

Subject was having a hard day at work...

9.) Auto-Pilot

Charles Lum (Brooklyn, NY)

3 minutes

clublum@verizon.net

http://www.artic.edu/~clum

A tricky formalist exercise imbedded under the guise of a video diary.

10.) The Hydra

Paul Lloyd Sargent (Chicago, IL)

5 minutes

http://www.recycledcarbon.com

enolagrey@hotmail.com

Meet Michael Angelo, a mythical, many-headed creature, rocking out like it's the end of the world.

 

PROGRAM #2: THE BEST OF Z FEST (running time: 65 minutes)

Festival Directors Usama and Kristie Alshaibi screen some of their favorite Z Fest selections from the past five years, from the first annual Z Film Festival to Audiophilia to Sleaze Z Fest.

  1. 440.0 Hz; Michele Beck and Jorge Calvo; 3 minutes
  2. Lucky; Debra Tolchinsky; 2 minutes
  3. Do You Find Me Attractive?; Jason Moran; 3 minutes
  4. The Bats; Jim Trainor; 8 minutes
  5. Hey Mister, You're in the Girls' Room; Carey Burtt; 5 minutes
  6. Convulsion Expulsion; Usama and Kristie Alshaibi; 3 minutes
  7. Je ne regrette rien; Meg McCarville; 3 minutes
  8. Hambone; Steve Hall & Cathee Wilkins; 3 minutes
  9. I Love Jesus; Anne Hanavan; 2 minutes
  10. Lucille; Enid Baxter Blader; 2 minutes
  11. X is Y; Richard Kern; 4 minutes
  12. Proxy; Mark Hejnar; 7 minutes
  13. Two Paths of Supplication; Michael Laughlin; 2 Minutes
  14. Christian Ways; Piotr Tokarski; 6 minutes
  15. Chirpy; John Goras, 12 minutes

 

Kristie Alshaibi
Program Director
Z Film Festival
http://www.zfilmfestival.com

 

 

MARCH 14, 2005

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
Z FILM FESTIVAL
CHICAGO, IL USA
MARCH 14, 2005

Due to some major restructuring of our organization, the 5 th Annual Z Film Festival dates are being moved once again.   Z5 will now take place this Fall.

If you have already submitted work for the fest, don't worry!   We are still considering your entry for the autumn show!   And you may have the opportunity to screen at this, our very last and final annual festival!   As always, your entry will also be considered for the Best of Z Fest traveling program!

Yes, you read correctly!   This is our FINAL Annual Z Film Festival.   Our own work as filmmakers is taking up more and more of our time and energy, and thus, we are scaling down the fest.   Please note, however, that we will still put on the smaller more intimate shows with themes like Sleaze Z Fest, and Audiophilia.    It's only the regular annual fest we are taking out of the schedule in 2006.

So, if you wanted to submit work, and missed the deadline, go ahead and send it now!   We will be accepting entries until the end of August!   And if you send your movies now, we'll also keep you in mind for future screenings!

We're looking forward to making the last Annual Z Film festival the best ever!  

See you in the Fall!

Kristie Alshaibi
Program Director
Z Film Festival
http://www.zfilmfestival.com

 

 

OCTOBER 12, 2004

The Z Film Festival Presents:
SLEAZE Z FEST 2

Saturday, October 23
9:00 PM

Heaven Gallery
1550 N. Milwaukee
2nd Floor
Chicago

Admission:
$10 general, or $8 if you dress ultra-sleazy!

18 and over show.

Join us for an evening of naked antics, dirty images, strange fetishes, raunchy fashions, sexy gifts for the audience, and a big load of sticky gooey self-love! Wear your sleaziest outfit and get $2 off admission, and enter the Sleaziest Fashion contest to win amazing prizes from the Honeysuckle Shop!

Starting at 9:00 PM, DJ Atomly will get you in the mood while you peruse the perverse paintings of Gregory Jacobsen and erotic photography of Fred Burkhart, Piotr Tokarski, and Chris Kellner, exhibited throughout the gallery.

Around 9:30 PM the short movies begin (see listing below).

This year’s Sleaze Z Fest doubles as a pre-launch party for noisydaughter.com – a web community for “naked fashion and hot noise,” focused on electro music and dramatic new wave style aesthetics. Right after the movies, some of the web site’s (and Chicago’s) hottest models will bare some skin in our half-naked fashion show, while strutting around in original creations by Camilla Ha, Josi Madera (weirdmirror.org), Mary Bigelow, Sara Reinhold, and others. Purchase original apparel and accessories right off their warm bodies!

After that we’ll announce the winners of our sleaziest fashion contest!

And finally, our friends from Odd Obsession Video will present our 1982 feature Café Flesh (see description below).

THE MOVIES:

Electrocute Kill! Kill!
4:20
www.electrocute.de, electrocute@zipmail.com
Live performance footage from Berlin’s Electrocute, narrated by the original pussycat, Tura Satana - courtesy of Look Look Magazine, presented by noisydaughter.com

Playmates
3:30
Michael Medaglia, www.prettypictures.com, michael@prettypictures.com
A heartwarming story about a little girl and her dolly.

I Touch Myself
7:40
Steve Hall & Cathee Wilkins, iHeartRock1970@aol.com
Sweet Candy Adams gets together with Jr. Double Dong on a journey of self-discovery

Queef Lady
1:30
An excerpt from Lost and Found Video Vol.1
courtesy of Odd Obsession Video, www.oddobsession.com

Paranoid
2:40
Anne Hanavan, lostshoeproductions@mac.com
The third in a series of sexually explicit self-portraits by filmmaker Anne Hanavan.

Self-Contained
2:15
Usama Alshaibi, www.dancehabibi.com, usama@dancehabibi.com
Emerging from the plastic cocoon.

Sick Men
2:30
Michael Madaglia, , www.prettypictures.com, michael@prettypictures.com
A visual and musical journey into the minds of men as they enter little dark rooms and do what they do best.

Excerpt from “The Beast”
3:40
From Lost and Found Video, Vol. 1
Courtesy of Odd Obsession Video, www.oddobsession.com

Fools Rush In
2:50
Meg McCarville, tinyangel666@hotmail.com
A girl is paralyzed in a goo-drizzled transformative nightmare.

Disposer
7:00
BC Furtney, bcfurtney@yahoo.com
Brad is lonely. Late one night he calls a phone-chat line for singles. Sultry Melanie is sounds like everything he’s looking for, but what he gets is very unexpected…

Penis Pump Instructional Video
2 :00
Excerpt from Lost and Found Video, Vol. 1
Courtesy of Odd Obsession Video, www.oddobsession.com

Hambone
2:40
Steve Hall & Cathee Wilkins, iHeartRock1970@aol.com
An enthusiastic pork fetishist just can’t wait for the ham to come out of the oven.

Le Toxic Exotic Erotic Spank O Rama
3:20
Tim Finchum, tossyt@hotmail.com
A parade of surreal, fetishy, lurid antics. A sexy nugget of delightful perversion.

Sexy Work Out
1:00
Excerpt from Lost and Found Video, Vol. 1
Courtesy of Odd Obsession Video, www.oddobsession.com

The Naked Nudes of Bare-ass Creature Island
26:00
Richard Lavalliere & Ian Griffin, whatsthatsmell@punkass.com
Rex Madallion, Paranormal P.I., is hired by Mr. F to rescue his wife and her reading group, who are being held as naked cult slaves on a tropical penal island by the evil entity Krelmo.

FASHION SHOW
Followed by our Odd Obsession Feature Presentation:

CAFE FLESH
1982
75 minutes

Visually stunning, theatrical, and witty - 1980s performance art porn at it's finest!

The Time... Five Years After the Nuclear War. The Survivors... Post-Nuke Thrill Freaks Lookin' for a Kick.

Able to exist, to sense... to feel everything but pleasure.

In a world destroyed, survivors break down to those who can and those who can't. 99% are Sex Negatives. Call them erotic casualties. They want to make love, but the mere touch of a person make them violently ill. The rest, the lucky one percent, are Sex Positives, those libidoes escaped unscathed. After the Nuclear Kiss, the positives remain to love, to perform... and the others, well, we Negatives can only watch...can only come...to... Café Flesh.

CONTACT INFO:

http://www.zfilmfestival.com
Program Director Kristie Alshaibi at kristie@zfilmfestival.com
Festival Director Usama Alshaibi usama@zfilmfestival.com

 

 

JULY 14 , 2004


SLEAZE Z FEST DATE CHANGE
Z Film Festival Special Screenings
Chicago, Illinois, USA
http://www.zfilmfestival.com


In order to solicit more submissions, the date for the 2nd Annual Sleaze Z Fest has been changed. The new date (pending confirmation with venue) is October 23, 2004. We are now accepting submissions, and the new deadline for entries is Sptember 18, 2004.

 

THE 2ND ANNUAL SLEAZE Z FEST (October 2004)
DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION: September 18, 2004

Here's your chance to send us your dirtiest, raunchiest, most perverted, sleaze Z shorts! Don't be shy, after last year, nothing shocks us. Define sleaze on your own terms, whether it be suggestive, hardcore, repulsive, pornographic, or just plain graphic. Give it to us! We'll show the best submissions to dripping hordes of moviegoers during our festival of perversity.

 


Entries can be produced on any film or video format, but must be submitted on VHS, Mini DV, or DVD (any regions NTSC or PAL). Cassettes must be NTSC format only.


Each film or video must be accompanied by a completed entry form (photocopies are acceptable) and an entry fee. Fees are waived for moviemakers who have shown work in previous Z Fest screenings, and for submission outsdie of Norrth America.


Submission guidelines and entry form can be found on our web site at http://www.zfilmfestival.com
or contact Program Director Kristie Alshaibi at kristie@zfilmfestival.com


 

JUNE 8 , 2004

AUDIOPHILIA LINE-UP ANNOUNCED
Chicago, Illinois, USA
http://www.zfilmfestival.com


Z FILM FESTIVAL PRESENTS
"AUDIOPHILIA"
Sunday, June 19, 2004
Doors open at 8:00PM
Show starts at 10:00 PM


NO COVER!


darkroom
2210 W. Chicago Ave.
Chicago
21 and over
Sponsored by http://www.themodernist.com

LIVE PERFORMANCES BY:
INSECT DELI &
ANDY ORTMANN
with Video Butoh by
CAMILLA HA &
ECHOPLASM

 

MOVIES:


My First Film Noir
Neil Ira Neddleman
9 minutes, computer generated, 2004
experimental

neilneedleman@optonline.net

A film noir that is neither film, nor noir. Rather, a playful exploration of narrative- subverting titles and "mood music." The soundtrack comes from a variety of film noir - sliced, diced, rearranged, and run backwards.

 

N.ew Y.ork C.asino
Kyle Henry
4min. 19 sec., 16mm film, 2002
experimental

kylehn@hotmail.com

Las Vegas comes to Manhattan. Prepare for debt consolidation. The voices of time square demand consumption.

 

Lucky
Debra Tolchinsky
2 min. 8 sec., computer generated, 2002
experimental

info@debratolchinsky.com
www.debratolchinsky.com

Lucky feels like he is finally free of everything that has been previously holding him back, including his body. The doctors however see him as a strange case of a man trapped inside industrial plastic and vow to use all the technology at their disposal to reconstruct him. Nominated for a Hollywood Motion Picture Sound Editors Golden Reel Award.

 

Facelift
Anthony Flackett
1 minute, DV, 2004
experimental

aflackett@massart.edu
www.djflack.com

Goofy expressions with beats to brighten your day.

 

Faces (Tvazhe)
Shannon Zangs & Piotr Tokarski
1 min. 16 sec., DV, 2004
experimental

piotrszatan@hotmail.com

Girls likes girl and she's going for it.

 

Also Spoke
Piotr Tokarski
2 min. 16 sec., DV, 2004
experimental

piotrszatan@hotmail.com

Love lost, begin lush.


Max
Debra Tolchinsky
57 sec., computer generated, 2003
experimental

info@debratolchinsky.com
www.debratolchinsky.com

"Max" suffers from believing he will embody his ideal self if he both gains and loses limbs, convinced there isn't enough of him and, at the same time, there is way too much. Max is inspired by a condition known as Apotemnophilia, a condition in which people set out to rid themselves of one or more limbs and is a reflection on the relationship between mental illness, physical form, sense of self, social belonging and the proper use of medical technology.

 

Magic is Küntmaster: Hold My Scissors
Camilla Ha and Usama Alshaibi
3 min. 25 sec., 2004
music video

monkeyhump@hotmail.com

Dominated by blood-thirsty Maenads, this video elaborates on the theme of obsessive love
that rapidly manifests into a mythical gore-fest.

 

Bobby's Friends
Tim Finchum (aka "Tossy Timmy")
3 minutes, Pixel, 2004
experimental

tossyt@hotmail.com

Strange images and twisted sounds illustrate the obsessive-compulsive underbelly of one young man's doll collection.

 

Dolly
Debra Tolchinsky
1 min. 28 sec., computer generated, 2002
experimental

info@debratolchinsky.com
www.debratolchinsky.com

Dolly is lost, utterly lost, somehow trapped inside a doll's head. But her doctor coldly analyzes her case along conventional psychological lines, not recognizing the reality of her nightmarish predicament. Nominated for a Hollywood Motion Picture Sound Editors Golden Reel Award.


Sequence 1
Gregory Gathman and Adam Terchin
16 min. 27 sec., DV, 2004
experimental

ggathman@comcast.net
rptile5@comcast.net

Random/non-random entities embracing the pitfalls of psychogenic fugues.

 

Panicsville: Stabbed in the Face
6 min. 53 sec.
Video by Usama Alshaibi
Music my Andy Ortmann
music video

ortmann@nihilistrecords.net
panicsville.nihilistrecords.net/

A ritualistic mix of live footage, a foot, and orifices

 


Plastic Crimewave Sound: Grade Ceased
Doug Lussenhop
7 minutes, DV, 2003
music video

douggpound@hotmail.com
www.nihilistrecords.net/pcs/

"It is loud, crude psychedelic sludge, with heavily amped and effected guitars slicing through the swamps of midnight, with vocals buried in tanks of Japanese laughing gas, and rhythms sliding along like moist candy dropped from the lips of Alan Vega. "
-The Wire, 2003

 

Lodger: I Love Death
Hannes Hayha (Finland)
3 min. 39 sec., Flash Animation, 2004
music video

www.lodger.tv
lodger@lodger.tv

How boring can life be?

 

Introduction to the Party Dream
Stacey Goldschmidt and Mike Carney
10 minutes (excerpt), DV, 2004
documentary

analogmonkey@hotmail.com
www.partydream.com

Over the past year, Chicago filmmakers Stacey Goldschmidt and Mike Carney have been following "Gil Mantera's Party Dream". GMPD are a two-piece band consisting of two brothers from Ohio. Their live shows have become legendary amongst those in the know and now they have been captured on video for the rest of the world to discover and enjoy.


HABIBI VIDEO
A selection of music videos bought in the streets of Baghdad. Includes the Saddam Rap by
"Joe Guitar" produced after the US occupation; and a song by famous Iraqi singer Basim Al-Ali called "Ya Khala" (Oh Auntie). This video was shot in southern Iraq on the Gulf and has a distinct style of music called Chobi. Also of note is an official Ba'athi propaganda video that was created a couple of months prior to the occupation. The song loosely translates to: "don't worry (Saddam) you take it easy and we will fight for you."

 

For more information:
http://www.zfilmfestival.com
Festival Director, Usama Alshaibi, usama@zfilmfestival.com
Program Director, Kristie Alshaibi kristie@zfilmfestival.com
General info: infor@zfilmfestival.com, 312-927-5692


 

MAY 24 , 2004

Z FEST SUMMER PROGRAMS CONFIRMED
Chicago, Illinois, USA
http://www.zfilmfestival.com


The Z Film Festival presents the first installment of its summer showcase with:

AUDIOPHILIA
The Sound of Video
June 20, 2004
Sunday

doors open at 8:00 PM


@ darkroom
2210 W. Chicago
Chicago, IL
(NO COVER)


Featuring Butoh* performance by CAMILLA HA
*[bu·to or bu·toh] n. A dance form developed in postwar Japan which rejects Eastern and Western dance conventions, expressing intense emotions through slow, controlled, and sometimes distorted movements.

With music by
INSECT DELI
ANDY ORTMANN (DJ)

Live Video Performance by
ECHOPLASM

Cinema of sound from Chicago and beyond. With music videos from PANICSVILLE, MAGIC IS KÜNTMASTER & The Saddam Rap from Baghdad.

THIS SHOW IS FREE!!

Sponsored by http://www.themodernist.com
For more info visit: http://www.zfilmfestival.com

Deadline for entries for this program is May 30, 2004. Please see our web site for entry form and guidlelines.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Our second Summer showcase has also been confirmed:

THE 2ND ANNUAL SLEAZE Z FEST

August 14, 2004
Saturday
doors open at 9:00PM

@THE HEAVEN GALLERY
1550 N. Milwaukee Avenue
Chicago, IL USA

tickets will be $8 at the door


We have a new hostess this year, and our sleaziest show yet! Check back for details.

Deadline for entries for this program is July 2, 2004

Please see our website for submission form and guidelines.

http://www.zfilmfestival.com
or contact Program Director, Kristie Alshaibi for more information
kristie@zfilmfestival.com


 

APRIL 10, 2004


CALL FOR ENTRIES
Z Film Festival Summer Screenings
Chicago, Illinois, USA
http://www.zfilmfestival.com


The Z Film Festival is now accepting submissions for the following summer screening programs:

AUDIOPHILIA (June 19, 2004)
DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION: May 30, 2004

The sound of video: digital, analog, noise, vibration. Short movies that focus our ear bones, and enter our head primarily through the holes on either side of our skulls. The audible must be a key element in works submitted for this program. Experimental works, unconventional narratives, music videos, and movies that defy categorization are all welcome.

 

THE 2ND ANNUAL SLEAZE Z FEST (date TBA)
DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION: July 2, 2004

Here's your chance to send us your dirtiest, raunchiest, most perverted, sleaze Z shorts! Don't be shy, after last year, nothing shocks us. Define sleaze on your own terms, whether it be suggestive, hardcore, repulsive, pornographic, or just plain graphic. Give it to us! We'll show the best submissions to dripping hordes of moviegoers during the sticky sweaty heat of summer.

 


Entries can be produced on any film or video format, but must be submitted on VHS, Mini DV, or DVD (any regions NTSC or PAL). Cassettes must be NTSC format only.


Each film or video must be accompanied by a completed entry form (photocopies are acceptable) and an entry fee.


Submission guidelines and entry form can be found on our web site at http://www.zfilmfestival.com
or contact Program Director Kristie Alshaibi at kristie@zfilmfestival.com