film – Stories From The Block

Iranian artist and filmmaker Mania Akbari brings personal new work to Block Cinema

Bynublockmuseum February 28, 2020 0 Comments

Block Museum hosts Chicago premiere of A Moon for My Father (2019) At age 30, acclaimed artist and filmmaker Mania Akbari was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a double mastectomy. This experience became the core of the Iranian director’s personal new work A Moon for My Father (2019), an essay film made in collaboration with her partner, the British sculptor Douglas White. On...

“I invest in myself and I make my films”: Jessie Maple on breaking boundaries and filmmaking [Audio]

Bynublockmuseum February 6, 2020 0 Comments

Director Jessie Maple is a true trailblazer: the first African-American woman to join the International Photographers of Motion Picture & Television union, she also established a long-running venue for independent Black filmmakers in her own home. New York Women in Film and Television called Maple’s work “a forerunner of the independent, minority filmmaking that would cultivate...

“Something unexpected underneath the surface”: Sound Designer Gary Rydstrom on “The Elephant Man” [Audio]

Bynublockmuseum November 25, 2019 0 Comments

On October 10, 2019 Block Cinema joined with Northwestern's MA in Sound Arts and Industries to welcome Academy-Award-Winning Sound Designer Gary Rydstrom for a discussion of David 's Lynch's 1980 classic The Elephant Man. Although noted for its evocative black and white cinematography and for John Hurt’s sensitive and powerful performance as Merrick, the film’s emotional landscape derives,...

Meet Block Museum Fellow Simran Bhalla

Bynublockmuseum October 24, 2019 0 Comments

In September 2019 the Block Museum welcomed Simran Bhalla as a 2019-2020 graduate fellow. Block Museum Graduate Fellowships are offered to two graduate students annually, one from Art History and one from any department within the Graduate School. Graduate Fellows are integral members of the museum staff and support projects through exhibition and collection research,...

Block Museum brings rare Latin American films to Chicago

Bynublockmuseum September 23, 2019 0 Comments

Ism Ism Ism is the first major survey of Latin American experimental cinema in U.S. The Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University has announced that it will bring the groundbreaking film program “Ism, Ism, Ism: Experimental Cinema in Latin America (Ismo, Ismo, Ismo: Cine experimental en América Latina)” to Chicago Oct. 3 to Nov. 16 in partnership with four other venues in Chicago....

Filmmaker Talkback: Nathaniel Dorsky on “The Arboretum Cycle”

Bynublockmuseum November 5, 2018 0 Comments

Since the 1960s, experimental filmmaker Nathaniel Dorsky has been making a distinctive and stunning body of work. His silent 16mm films are lyrical explorations of the world around him, focused on the textures, colors, and rhythms of everyday objects and movements. His sharp eye for details reveals the small moments of beauty and wonder to be found everywhere, if one would simply take the time to...

Filmmaker’s Talkback: Director Kyle Henry and Writer Carlos Treviño on “Rogers Park”

Bynublockmuseum October 22, 2018 0 Comments

Local filmmaker and Northwestern professor Kyle Henry’s Rogers Park captures the life, diversity, and flavor of the northside Chicago neighborhood in its story of two couples as they attempt to keep their relationships afloat. Henry and screenwriter Carlos Treviño craft a film that is both universal in its characters’ raw and authentic emotional lives and a specific and rich portrait of a...

Meet Mort and Millie – A Look Into the World of the Goldsholl Design Associates from Chicago Film Archives [Video]

Bynublockmuseum September 25, 2018 0 Comments

The Block Museum of Art's exhibition Up Is Down: Mid-Century Experiments in Advertising and Film at the Goldsholl Studio, is the result of remarkable partnerships including a collaboration with the Chicago Film Archives. The Chicago Film Archives have been working over ten years to archive, house and preserve the films of Mort and Millie Goldsholl. In addition to serving as the source for...

Block Museum Named Among Terra Foundation Grantees for Art Design Chicago 2018

Bynublockmuseum July 5, 2017 0 Comments

The Terra Foundation for American Art announced on June 29, 2017 a broad slate of grants given in support of Art Design Chicago, a wide-ranging initiative the Foundation is spearheading to explore Chicago’s vibrant creative history and enduring influence on art and design. Terra leadership confirmed 33 grants for Art Design Chicago projects given to 31 cultural organizations located in...

Feast of Astonishments Opening Program: Artist Roundtable

Bynublockmuseum January 16, 2016 0 Comments

A roundtable discussion of Annual New York Avant Garde Festivals, moderated by Hannah Higgins, professor of art history at University of Illinois at Chicago, and featuring Carolee Schneemann, multidisciplinary artist who transformed the discourse of the body, sexuality, and gender; Alison Knowles, multi-media Fluxus artist; Jim McWilliams, designer of most of the posters for the Avant Garde...