Brain Studios, founded by Kin Marie and Brenden Smith in early 2020, presents a curated lineup of their short films.
Tyler Michael Balantine Presents…Sunday’s Best
Brain Studios: Short Films
Sunday, February 15
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Showtimes
Sunday, February 15
2:00pm – Introduction & Shorts Program
3:00pm – Post-Screening Q&A with Brain Studios
4:00pm – Reception with Food in Studio
Ticketing
$12 /General Admission
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Films in this program include:
KIN
- LIBIAMO!
- At a bustling food spot in Auburn Gresham, regulars eagerly await their orders when a customer and their toddler enter. The customer’s curiosity about the best menu item ignites a passionate debate among the patrons.
- EVERYTHING IS EVERYTHING
- Everything is Everything is a conversational-style documentary that explores the heartfelt commemorations of Juneteenth by Chicago natives during the summer of 2024.
- scatter*
- Scatter* is a self-reflective, multi-sensory video essay written and narrated by Ari Says Stuff, exploring what it means to move through the world with ADHD. How do we live neuro-divergently in a world built for the neurotypical.
- Long Distance
- Romanticize not! These are two people who violently needed this back and forth.
BRENDEN
- Ubuntu
- Through a series of narrative and documentary films, Brenden traces his lineage and connects the thread that sews us all together– “I am because we are”.
- urnvrrllyhere
- An experimental short film about presence, perspective, and love.
BRAIN STUDIOS
- Uber Friends
- Written and directed by Liz Johnson, two lonely young men discover the true meaning of male friendship during an Uber ride.
- Please Stay With Me
- Written and Directed by Mike Beal, a desperate father’s botched bank heist drives him into a haunted house where he’s stalked not by ghosts, but by his own sins.
- CHAOS
- Directed by Kin Marie and Brenden Smith, “CHAOS” is an experimental narrative music video centering the life of Young Jasmine, a high school junior grappling with the complexities of love, identity, and societal pressures such as colorism, fatphobia and desirability politics at a young age.
BRAIN STUDIOS
Brain Studios was founded by Kin Marie and Brenden Smith in early 2020, born out of conversations at Kin’s Englewood artist residency. Their vision is rooted in building a Chicago where creators are prioritized over traditional metrics of resume and status. Brain Studios offers independent artists a dynamic space for sound, pre-production, and post-editorial/color services, while fostering an accessible environment for all artists to bring their work to life.
Kin Marie is a Chicago-based artist and filmmaker native to the South Side of Chicago. Their current practice centers on the visual culture of Black and queer identities, exploring these experiences through both everyday and interpretive lenses. Named Chicago’s Best Filmmaker of 2023 by the Chicago Reader, Marie employs visual media as a tool for critical research and experimentation, probing the intersections of art, mediation, and social space.
Brenden Smith, a seasoned filmmaker hailing from Chicago, brings a decade of exceptional technical skill in editing and directing to his diverse body of work. Rooted in the belief that everyone possesses a compelling story, he utilizes this philosophy to forge connections among people through the transformative power of community and collective storytelling.
TYLER MICHAEL BALENTINE PRESENTS… SUNDAY’S BEST
From the programmer of Life Within the Lens at Music Box Theatre, Tyler Michael Balentine brings Sunday’s Best, a Black History Month program featuring short films from local Black filmmakers who are either currently working in Chicago or have done so in recent years.
