THE CHICAGO UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL PRESENTS OKIE NOODLING

A Documentary by Brad Beesley

For More Information Contact: Bryan Wendorf, Festival Director

773-278-0683

“In the world of documentaries, there are some truly bizarre subjects that have been explored. But I haven’t seen anything as strange and compelling as OKIE NOODLING.”- Chris Gore, Film Threat

The Chicago Underground Film Festival continues its year-round screening series of independent film and video with the Chicago Premiere of OKIE NOODLING a documentary film by Bradley Beesley.

There’s nothing quite like the thrill of catching a 60-pund catfish with your bare hands, and that’s just what oklahoma fishermen have been doing for hundreds of years. Diving into creeks, rivers, and lakes, noodlers search for bank-dwelling catfish. These murky waters are home to the wild world of noodling. Although you won’t find the term in Webster’s Dictionary, noodling is the ancient but obscure sport of submerging one’s body and using only bare hands to catch huge catfish. OKIE NOODLING chronicles the tradition from its roots as a Native American hunting technique to the present day status of this rural subculture. The gritty down home movie was shot on 16mm with an Original score by Oklahoma’s own, The Flaming Lips. The hour long video premiered at the 2001 South by Southwest Film Festival, where it one both Audience Award for best documentary and First-Runner-Up in the eature documentary competition.

“Noodlers are a dying breed, not a lot of people want to stick their hand up a hole and get bit by something “- Jerry “Catfish” Rider

Also screening will be Beesley’s half-hour documentary THE FLAMING LIPS HAVE LANDED chronicling the band from its inception in 1983 to their most recent Soft Bulletin tour.Through personal interviews, countless photographs, live footage and music videos, the film tells a comprehensive tale of the band’s evolution From punk rock to psychedelia to pop, the boombox experiments and critical success.

For more information and press screeners, contact: Derek Brown, Hellfire Marketing 405-528-3812

hellfirestteam@aol.com

http://www.hellfireltd.com

The Chicago Underground Film Festival (CUFF), now in its 9th edition is an annual event devoted to independent, underground and experimental film and video. Unlike many other “independent” film events our goal is not to imitate old-guard, market-driven festivals such as Sundance. Instead we seek to promote works that dissent radically in form, content and technique from both the tired conventions of Hollywood and the increasingly stagnant IndieWood mainstream. While our annual festival remains our primary activity, CUFF has expanded to include a post-production grant and year-round screenings and events. The 2002 Chicago Underground Film Festival will be held August 22-28 at Landmark’s Century Cinemas Theatres.

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