This program brings together four award-winning works from the 2025 Chicago Underground Film Festival, spanning speculative fiction, archival excavation, political documentary, and hybrid nonfiction. Collectively, these films examine labor, memory, disappearance, and resistance—using cinema as a tool for cultural inquiry and historical recovery.
Chicago Underground Film Festival
Award Winners: Best of the Chicago Underground Film Festival 2025
Friday, March 6
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Showtimes
Friday, March 6
7:00pm
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$12 /General Admission
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The evening opens with three short films that approach social systems from radically different angles: a 16mm sci-fi satire about technological “solutions” in cooperative spaces; a video essay resurrecting a forgotten chapter of Chicago’s underground film history; and an archival documentary chronicling New York squatters who transformed abandonment into collective survival. A post-shorts Q&A with Isaac Brooks, Josh B. Mabe, and Ben Creech will explore process, collaboration, and the role of alternative exhibition in preserving marginalized stories.
The program concludes with Rajee Samarasinghe’s internationally acclaimed debut feature, a formally daring hybrid documentary confronting enforced disappearances in post–civil war Sri Lanka. Blending investigative nonfiction with allegorical fiction, the film expands the possibilities of political cinema while bearing witness to histories often erased from official record.
Together, these works reflect CUFF’s ongoing commitment to artist-driven cinema, historical preservation, and films that challenge dominant narratives—presented as a shared public experience.
Fresh Values
Directed by Drew Durepos & Isaac Brooks
Winner — Best Narrative Short, Chicago Underground Film Festival
A speculative 16mm comedy in which a struggling urban food co-op adopts AR technology—only to watch innovation metastasize into surveillance and absurdity. Total Runtime – 49 minutes
American Alternative: Kurt Heyl
Directed by Josh B. Mabe with Ben Creech
Winner — Best Use of Archival Footage, Chicago Underground Film Festival
A video essay resurrecting the overlooked legacy of Chicago underground filmmaker Kurt Heyl, built from raw archives and firsthand testimony.
Survival Without Rent
Directed by Elana Meyers & Katie Heiserman
Winner — Best Short Documentary, Chicago Underground Film Festival
An archival documentary chronicling 1980s New York squatters who transformed abandoned buildings into a radical community of artists and activists.
Your Touch Makes Others Invisible
Directed by Rajee Samarasinghe
Winner — Truer Than Fiction Award, 2026 Film Independent Spirit Awards
Winner — Best Editing, Chicago Underground Film Festival
A hybrid documentary-fiction feature examining enforced disappearances in Sri Lanka through clandestine collaboration, allegory, and investigative rigor.
CHICAGO UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL
Founded in 1993, the Chicago Underground Film Festival (CUFF) is the longest-running film festival in the world dedicated to independent and experimental cinema. Operated by Chicago Underground NFP Corporation, CUFF presents artist-driven films that exist outside mainstream commercial distribution. CUFF curates an annual multi-day festival along with year-round public screenings, filmmaker talks, and conversations hosted in neighborhood theaters and cultural venues throughout Chicago. Programs emphasize accessibility, thoughtful curation, and direct engagement between filmmakers and audiences. By supporting independent artists and providing affordable access to innovative film work, CUFF contributes to Chicago’s cultural landscape and fosters an engaged community around contemporary cinema.
