Man with a Movie Camera (2025) is a collectively authored three-channel video which reinterprets the 1929 film of the same name through the lens of internet-based aesthetics.
Drawing a lineage from the experiments of Soviet montage to contemporary trends such as sludge content, desktop documentary, corecore, and database cinema, Man with a Movie Camera (2025) attempts to reinvigorate the popular avant-garde project of a universal cinematic language which was originally developed almost a century ago by Dziga Vertov and The Kinoks.
Man with a Movie Camera (2025) was directed and edited by a stylistically diverse range of artists working autonomously and in tandem: Esteban Alarcón, Hank Allen, Breeding Castle, Melissa Cha, Crisis Acting, Dana Dawud, Kayla Drzewicki, Gavin Dubois, Andrea Florens, Janelle Howerton, Levels of Nuance, Tanner Masseth, Emma Murray, Jose Perez, Progga, Abbey Pusz, Redacted Cut, Blake Robbins, Max Rooney, Paranoia State, Twee Whistler, Elijah Valter, Jay Villalobos, and Brian Wiebe.
USA, 2025, 68 min, Stereo Sound, DCP
ONION CITY OPENING NIGHT HOSTED BY FACETS
Onion City Experimental Film Festival is thrilled to present the world premiere of Man with a Movie Camera (2025), a collectively authored three-channel video which reinterprets the 1929 film of the same name through the lens of internet-based aesthetics.
The 35th edition of the Onion City Experimental Film Festival takes place Thursday, April 3 through Sunday, April 6 at Chicago Filmmakers’ Firehouse Cinema in Edgewater, with select special events taking place at FACETS, Leisure Gallery, Northwestern University’s Block Cinema, and Public Works Gallery, and with local collaborators: the Center for Concrete and Abstract Machines, Chicago Film Society, independent curator Ben Creech, and Block Cinema curator Michael Metzger. Over 40 selected films will be presented in six competition screenings, along with six special events premiering work by Chicago filmmakers, screening rare and restored prints, and showcasing moving images in expanded formats. This year’s festival is programmed by Nicky Ni and Elise Schierbeek.
ONION CITY EXPERIMENTAL FILM FESTIVAL
Onion City is devoted to the work of avant-garde and experimental film and video makers. Countries represented in this year’s programming include Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, The Netherlands, Spain, South Korea, Turkey, the United States and the United Kingdom. This year’s Onion City curators are Nicky Ni and Elise Schierbeek. Onion City is presented by Chicago Filmmakers, celebrating over 50 years championing underground, experimental, and radical film. www.chicagofilmmakers.org
The full festival line-up and ticketing information can be found at www.onioncityfilmfest.org.
