– February 9, 2014

OPENING NIGHT!

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What I Love About Concrete
Katherine Dohan, Alanna Stewart, USA, 2013 87 min., Video

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The Chicago Underground Film Festival is proud to present the midwest premiere of What I Love about Concrete a homespun DIY fairy tale from first time filmmakers Katherine Dohan and Alanna Stewart .In this angsty, yet charming story Molly (Morgan Rose Stewart) struggles with some surreal supernatural problems alongside the usual adolescent anxieties about applying to college and becoming an adult. One morning she wakes up next to a dead swan, lays an egg, learns the ins and outs of becoming a swan from a gaggle of old birds, makes a potion to revive a boy who is also a swan that she’s been carrying around in her backpack all week, and clashes with a mild-mannered librarian by day who turns out to be a cannibalistic stork by night. Such are the trials and travails of high school.

Shot in the filmmakers’ hometown of Memphis, Tennessee, the quirky and loveable cast of oddball hometown characters, often ruffling the feathers of Molly, interact in scenes of suburban decay and lush southern wilderness. Using creative and low budget special effects with stop-motion animation and hand-made props, Dohan and Stewart create a whimsical and lively coming of age story about a girl who learns to spread her wings and fly. – Chicago Underground Film Festival

Preceded By:

A Million Miles Away Jennifer Reeder, USA, 2014 28 min., Video

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An adult woman on the edge of failing and a pack of teenage girls simultaneously experience a supernatural version of coming-of-age. The transformation is equal parts tense and tender. It unravels patiently to the infectious beat of an 80s era heavy metal anthem rearranged as a lamentation. – Jennifer Reeder